太阳
The sun
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Rob…
大家好，欢迎收听《六分钟英语》。我是罗伯。
… and I'm Neil. Hello.
大家好，我是尼尔。
Hello, Neil, and what a glorious sunny day it is today.
尼尔，你好。今天真是阳光明媚的一天。
Not a cloud in the sky!
天空没有一丝云彩。
Spring is definitely here!
春天真的来了。
Now, Neil, you’re a bit of a sun worshipper, aren’t you?
尼尔，你有些太阳崇拜，是么？
You like sunbathing…
我知道你非常喜欢日光浴。
I do indeed!
是的，没错！
I love sitting in my deckchair in the garden, catching some rays…
我喜欢坐在花园里的躺椅上晒太阳。
Hmm, yes, you look a bit orange actually.
恩，你的皮肤都晒成棕褐色了。
Are you sure that tan's not fake?
你确定你这棕褐色不是假的？
Very cheeky, Rob, very cheeky…
罗伯，你这么说太无耻了。
Now the reason I mentioned sunbathing is because we’re discussing the sun in this programme.
我之所以提到日光浴是因为我们今天节目要讨论的就是太阳。
Yes, that’s right.
没错
The sun is our nearest star – although it’s a staggering 150 million kilometres away.
太阳是距离我们最近的恒星，虽说最近，也相隔了1.5亿公里。
Earth is one of nine planets that orbit – or circle around – the sun.
地球是绕日（围绕太阳转）九大行星之一。
And life on Earth couldn’t exist without its warmth and light.
没有太阳的光和热，地球上的生命无法生存。
And we should mention… the sun is absolutely massive.
值得一提的是太阳真的非常庞大。
Its volume is so large you could fit a million Earths inside it.
其体积可以容纳一百万个地球。
That’s amazing!
太不可思议了！
It’s also incredibly hot.
太阳也非常热。
Hotter than anything you could imagine.
比你能想到的任何东西温度都高。
So Neil, can you answer this question: How hot is the surface of the sun?
那么，尼尔，你知道太阳表面究竟有多热吗？
Now I’ll help you out by telling you that the sun’s core – that’s the centre – is a blistering five million degrees Celsius.
给你一个提示，太阳核心，也就是太阳的中心，温度达到了五百万摄氏度。
But how hot is the sun’s surface? Is it ...
但是太阳表面温度是多少呢？
a) 1.5 billion degrees Celsius
a) 15亿摄氏度
b) 1.5 million degrees Celsius
b) 150万摄氏度
or c) 5500 degrees Celsius
c) 5500摄氏度
Hmm. I have no idea.
我不知道。
They all sound quite warm to me.
对我来说这些温度都很高。
But … I think it must be a bit cooler than the core.
但是我觉得表面温度应该比核心温度低一点。
So I’m going to go for 1.5 million degrees.
所以我选150万摄氏度。
Okay. Well, we'll find out if you're right or wrong later on.
在节目的最后我们来看看你回答得是否正确。
But now let’s listen to Professor of Solar Physics Louise Harra to discover what the sun is made of.
现在，我们来听听太阳物理学教授路易斯?哈拉讲述太阳的成分。
It’s just a big ball of gas.
太阳就是一个充斥着气体的巨大球体。
And we measure it… it’s made mostly of hydrogen.
我们测量后估计，太阳主要是由氢气组成。
So it’s roughly 90% hydrogen, it’s maybe 8% helium, and the rest of it’s made up of things like iron, carbon, oxygen, nickel.
大概成分有90%的氢气，8%的氮气，其余的成分有铁、碳、氧和镍。
So the main gas is hydrogen, which accounts for 90% of the sun’s matter.
所以太阳中主要气体是氢气，占太阳物质的90%。
Now, 'matter' means what something is made of.
这里的“物质”是指某个事物的组成成分。
And hydrogen creates all the sun’s energy.
氢气是整个太阳的能量所在。
Heat and light energy is created all the time in the sun’s core as a result of gas explosions or nuclear reactions.
在太阳核心，因为气体爆炸或核反应，光和热被源源不断地创造。
And this bit is hard to believe – it takes a hundred thousand years for this light energy to travel from the sun’s core to the sun’s surface.
难以置信的是光能从太阳核心到达太阳表面需要十万年的时间。
But once it reaches the sun’s surface – the photosphere – it can escape.
光能一旦到达太阳表面，即太阳的光球层，就会逃走。
In fact, it takes only eight minutes for light energy from the sun to reach the Earth.
实际上，光能从太阳到达地球仅需8分钟时间。
Scientists these days are able to see the photosphere in fantastic detail using powerful telescopes.
科学家日前用高倍望远镜来观测光球层的奇异细节。
Though Galileo observed dark spots on the sun through his telescope several hundred years ago, didn’t he?
伽利略在几百年前就通过自制的望远镜观察到太阳上的黑点了，不是吗？
Which brings us on to another question: How old is the sun?
这还引申出另一个问题：太阳的年龄有多大？
Well, I happen to know that it came into being around four and a half billion years ago.
我碰巧知道这个，太阳是在45亿年前形成的。
Did you study solar physics at university, Neil?
你在大学学过太阳物理学吗？
No, just… you know, just general knowledge.
没有，只知道一些基本知识。
Well, the sun came into being – or was created – a very long time ago!
太阳居然在那么早之前就形成了！
We’re going to hear now from Professor of Physics, Yvonne Elseworth.
我们来听听物理学教授伊冯? 爱斯沃斯的讲话。
What does she say about how long the sun is going to stay the same?
了解一下太阳的寿命还有多长时间。
In terms of its current lifestyle it’s here for as long again, so we’re about half way through.
依照太阳目前的状况，太阳的变化也只进行了一半，我们对太阳的了解也只是刚刚入门而已。
And then it becomes a different sort of star
太阳会变得与现在不同。
– it becomes a giant star and that’s probably curtains for us, actually.
它会成为庞大的恒星，有可能给地球带来灾难。
It’ll get a bit warm, a bit toasty, and we’ll get enveloped in the sun, and it won’t be nice...
太阳的温度会更高，我们会被灼热的太阳所包裹，这可不是什么好事。
So the sun is going to stay the same for another four and a half billion years.
所以太阳的寿命还有45亿年。
But the professor also says that the sun will change.
但是教授也说，那时太阳会发生变化。
When it becomes a giant star, it will be curtains for our planet
当它成为庞大的恒星时，就有可能给我们的星球带来灾难。
– and ‘curtains’ means the end, I’m afraid!
也就意味着结束，对此我感到很恐慌。
Yes, it does.
没错。
And as a giant star, the sun will get hotter – it will make the Earth toasty.
太阳越来越大，也会越来越灼热，会将地球照耀的更暖和。
Now, toasty usually means hot in a nice way.
如今我们说的暖和意味着适度的热量。
That’s right – for example, my toes are warm and toasty in my new slippers.
是的。例如，我的脚趾被新鞋包裹得暖洋洋的。
But in reality the giant sun will make the Earth unbearably hot.
但是事实上，巨型太阳产生的热量，会使地球不堪忍受。
It will surround – or envelop – our planet and burn it up.
太阳会包裹住我们的星球，将其烧毁。
Well, I’m glad we’re not going to be around when that happens.
我很庆幸，我们等不到那时候的到来。
Now, remember at the beginning of the show I asked you how hot the sun’s surface is?
现在，回到节目开始时的问题。我问你太阳表面的热度能达到多少摄氏度。
Is it a) 1.5 billion b) 1.5 million or c) 5500 degrees Celsius?
a) 15亿摄氏度b) 150万摄氏度c) 5500摄氏度？
And I said 1.5 million…
我选的是150万摄氏度。
It’s way too hot, I’m afraid you were wrong.
那也太热了。很抱歉你答错了。
The answer is actually 5500 degrees Celsius.
正确答案是5500摄氏度。
But still, if you’re planning on visiting the sun, remember to take your sunglasses and plenty of sunscreen!
如果你计划参观太阳，记得带上太阳镜和防晒油！
Now, before we go, it’s time to remind ourselves of some of the vocabulary that we’ve heard today.
好了，节目结束前，我们回忆一下今天提到的单词吧。
orbit
绕轨道运行
massive
庞大的
core
核心
energy
能量
matter
物质
photosphere
光球层
come into being
形成
curtains for something
给某物带来灾难
toasty
暖和的
envelop
包裹
Thanks.
谢谢。
Well, that brings us to the end of today's 6 Minute English.
我们的节目就到这里。
We hope you enjoyed today’s programme.
希望大家喜欢。
Please join us again soon.
下次节目我们再会！
Bye bye.
再见！
Bye.
再见。