第86課 太陽(yáng)、月亮與星星
You know that everything which affects your senses is called "matter, " and that the earth is a great ball of matter. Is there any matter outside this earth? You need only look up into the sky to get an answer to this question.
你知道, 任何能夠?qū)δ愕母泄僭斐捎绊懙臇|西都叫做“物質(zhì)”, 而地球則是一個(gè)由各種物質(zhì)組成的大球。那么, 地球之外是否存在物質(zhì)呢? 抬頭望天, 你就能找到答案。
In the daytime you can see a great hot ball of matter called the sun, and at night you can sometimes see another large shining ball called the moon. On a clear night you can also see in the sky a great many bright pieces of matter which are called stars.
白天, 你能夠看到一個(gè)熾熱的物質(zhì)大球, 這就是太陽(yáng);到了晚上, 有時(shí)候能看到天空中懸掛的另一個(gè)閃亮的球體——月亮。如果遇到一個(gè)晴朗的夜晚, 那么你還能夠在天空中看到許多名叫星星的發(fā)光物質(zhì)。
Did you ever try to count the stars? On a clear, fine night, when the moon is not shining, you can see with your naked eyes about three thousand stars. But you can see only one half of the sky at one time, and there are about as many stars in the other half of the sky. So we may say that in the whole of the sky there are about six thousand stars which can be seen by the naked eye. If we use a telescope, we shall see a great many more.
你有沒(méi)有試過(guò)去數(shù)一下星星的數(shù)量? 在晴朗的夜晚, 當(dāng)月亮不再閃爍的時(shí)候, 我們憑借肉眼就能夠看到大約三千顆星星。然而, 我們無(wú)法看到天空的全貌, 因?yàn)榈厍虻牧硪粋?cè)還有一片天空, 而那里也懸掛著同樣多數(shù)量的星星。那么, 我們可以這樣說(shuō), 僅憑肉眼觀察, 整個(gè)天空中應(yīng)該有大約六千顆星星。如果使用望遠(yuǎn)鏡的話, 我們就能夠看到更多星星。
Some stars move very slowly about the sky, changing their places among the other stars little by little every night. These stars, five of which we can see with the naked eye, are called planets, and they are much nearer to us than the other stars. The earth on which we live is also a planet. Our earth and the other planets move round the sun.
有些星星能夠在天空中慢慢移動(dòng), 每天晚上, 它們都會(huì)緩慢穿梭在其他星星之間, 改變自己的位置。我們通過(guò)肉眼就能夠觀察到五顆這樣的星星, 它們就是行星。相對(duì)其他星星來(lái)說(shuō), 它們距離地球更近。我們所居住的地球同樣也是行星。地球與其他行星一樣, 圍繞太陽(yáng)運(yùn)動(dòng)。
All the other stars are called fixed stars, because they do not move round the sun. The fixed stars form sets or groups, to which names have been given. I daresay that you know the group of seven stars called by some the "Great Bear, " but known to many children as "The Wagon and Horses.
其他星星則都被稱作恒星, 因?yàn)樗鼈儧](méi)有圍繞太陽(yáng)進(jìn)行運(yùn)動(dòng)。這些恒星可以構(gòu)成星群或星團(tuán), 而它們也都有自己的名稱。我敢肯定, 你絕對(duì)知道由七顆星星組成的“大熊座”星群, 不多對(duì)于很多孩子來(lái)說(shuō), 他們更熟悉的名字還是“馬車與大馬”。
英語(yǔ)美文