英語聽力文摘 電視“雪花”
Better Than Barney
某天夜里，你一覺醒來發(fā)現(xiàn)電視機(jī)忘了關(guān)，節(jié)目卻已播完，電視屏幕上“嘶嘶”地閃著雪花，也許你不會(huì)想到，再普通不過的雪花噪音竟包含來自137億年前宇宙大爆炸的遺物——微波背景輻射。宇宙微波背景輻射是一種低噪音的電磁波輻射。目前科學(xué)界普遍接受的宇宙起源理論認(rèn)為，宇宙誕生于距今約137億年前的一次大爆炸。微波背景輻射作為大爆炸的“余燼”，均勻地分布于宇宙空間。隨著宇宙不斷膨脹，其背景輻射的溫度也逐漸降低，現(xiàn)在的溫度只有約2.725℃，它是宇宙中最完美的黑體輻射。“微波背景輻射其實(shí)就在我們身邊。當(dāng)然肉眼是看不到的。電視機(jī)通過天線接收的電磁波中，有1%來自微波背景輻射。這種電磁波對(duì)人體健康沒有影響，而且隨著宇宙的膨脹，力量越來越弱，溫度越來越低，但它不會(huì)消失。
What is better than (1)Barney? Really? Learn about the Big Bang on this Moment of Science.
We’ve heard it a hundred times before. There’s never anything to watch on television. Fifty channels and not one worth sitting down to. Well, (2)PBS is nice. But you get the idea.
If you feel bored by TV, why not try a little experiment? All you have to do is turn to a station where nothing is currently being broadcast. What do you see?… That blank screen isn’t really blank. Rather it’s full of random-seeming flashes of light, sometimes called “snow.” Now, what if we told you that you have just discovered evidence of the Big Bang?
It’s true. Around three percent of the little sparkles of light you see on an unused channel are caused by (3)photons (4)left over from the Big Bang, the explosion that (5)started off our entire universe. Here’s how it works.
For about 300,000 years after the Bang, the universe was so dense that photons couldn’t go anywhere without (6)bumping into electrons and being (7)annihilated. At that 300,000 year mark, however, things (8)cooled off enough to allow atoms to form. That gave electrons something to do instead of always (9)intercepting photons. The photons were set free, to cruise endlessly through space, right up to the present day — about 15 billion years later.
These photons fill all of space, trillions passing through your body every second. They are so weak by this point, though, that you can’t see them or sense them. Unless you open up an (10)antenna to a similar wavelength and listen. Your television set is just the machine to do this.
So take another look at that (11)fuzz. It’s brought to you by the origin of the cosmos.
譯文：
我們已經(jīng)聽過很多次了，沒有什么好看的電視節(jié)目。50個(gè)頻道卻沒有一個(gè)值得看。嗯，公共廣播是一個(gè)不錯(cuò)的選擇。但是你知道的...
如果你覺得電視節(jié)目很無聊，為什么不嘗試一個(gè)小實(shí)驗(yàn)?zāi)?你所要做的就是調(diào)到一個(gè)沒有任何節(jié)目的頻道。你看到了什么?...黑色的屏幕并不真正是黑的。相反屏幕上似乎是充滿了隨機(jī)排列的小光點(diǎn)，有時(shí)叫做“雪花”。現(xiàn)在如果我告訴你你發(fā)現(xiàn)了宇宙大爆炸的證據(jù)，你相信嗎?
這是真的。在你看到的這些未使用頻道上出現(xiàn)的小光點(diǎn)中，有三分之一是由宇宙大爆炸遺留下來的光子引起的。這些爆炸形成了我們整個(gè)宇宙?，F(xiàn)在，讓我們看看它們是怎樣工作的吧!
宇宙大爆炸30萬年后，密度很大，光子走到哪都會(huì)碰到電子相互結(jié)合而湮沒，但是這時(shí)候溫度下降，原子得以形成。這就讓電子有事可做，而不總是攔截光子。光子自由后，不斷地穿梭于太空中，直到今天-大概150億年以后。
這些光子占滿了所有的空間。每一秒就有幾萬億個(gè)光子穿過你們的身體。這一刻它們是如此微弱，你既不能看見也不能感受到。除非你打開一個(gè)有類似波長的天線的設(shè)備聽聽看，你的電視就是這樣的機(jī)器。
再看看絨毛，這是從宇宙起源時(shí)就帶來的。
Notes:
(1)barney ['bɑ:ni] n.[口]大吵大鬧;拉曳器
(2)PBS abbr. (美)公共廣播公司(Public Broadcasting Service)
(3)photons ['f?u,t?ns] n.光子;光量子(photon的復(fù)數(shù))
(4)left over 剩余,留下
Have left over right, man.
左擁右抱、男人的需要。
(5)start off 出發(fā)，開始
They started off to Normandie at midnight.
他們?cè)谖缫固ど狭碎_赴諾曼底的征程。
(6)bump into 無意中遇到、碰到
I bumped into my grilfriend on the way home.
我在回家的路上偶然遇見我的女朋友。
(7)annihilate [?'nai?,leit] vt.殲滅;戰(zhàn)勝;廢止 vi.[核]湮沒;湮滅
Our soldiers annihilated a force of five hundred enemy troops.
我們的戰(zhàn)士消滅了500名敵軍。
(8)cooled off 變涼;平靜下來
The government wants to cool off the economy.
政府想放慢經(jīng)濟(jì)發(fā)展速度。
(9)intercept [,int?'sept] vt.攔截;截?cái)?竊聽 n.攔截;[數(shù)]截距;截獲的情報(bào)
Our radio communications have been intercepted by the enemy.
我方的無線通信被敵方竊聽了。
(10)antenna [?n'ten?] n.天線;觸角，觸須
(11)fuzz [f?z] n.絨毛;模糊;細(xì)毛;[俚]警員
