第二步：精读重点段落

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

第一段：
One is rapid and strong, and the other is slow and weak, like the heartbeats of a youth and an old man passing through a distance of thousands of light years, and then heard by the most sensitive "ear" on Earth.

第二段：
The "ear" is the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the world's largest radio telescope, with a dish as large as 30 football fields. It is located in a valley deep in southwest China's mountainous Guizhou Province.

• mountainous    adj. 多山的；巨大的；山一般的

第九段：
"There are many strange phenomena and natures of pulsars that we don't understand," said Chen Xuelei, a researcher with NAO, adding that scientists have discovered some millisecond pulsars spinning very fast. "More study is needed to find out why they rotate so fast."

• phenomena     n. 现象（phenomenon 的复数 ）

第二十九段：
"For human beings, exploring the unknown and satisfying curiosity is an equally essential right as eating and sleeping. Exploration of the unknown will inspire human creativity, enabling us to make unprecedented achievements and find imaginative solutions, which is extremely valuable."

• unprecedented     adj. 空前的；无前例的

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

No Aliens Found yet, but “Heartbeats” in Universe Heard

第一段：
One is rapid and strong, and the other is slow and weak, like the heartbeats of a youth and an old man passing through a distance of thousands of light years, and then heard by the most sensitive "ear" on Earth.

第二段：
The "ear" is the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the world's largest radio telescope, with a dish as large as 30 football fields. It is located in a valley deep in southwest China's mountainous Guizhou Province.

• mountainous    adj. 多山的；巨大的；山一般的

第三段：
During the debugging and trial of the telescope since its completion in September 2016, FAST has detected dozens of pulsar candidates, six of them confirmed by telescopes in other countries. Chinese scientists produced a sound effect of the first two confirmed pulsars based on the observed signals, enabling ordinary people to hear the "heartbeats" deep in the universe.

• debug     vt. 调试；除错，改正有毛病部分；[军] 除去窃听器
• trial     n. 试验；审讯；努力；磨炼；adj. 试验的；审讯的
• pulsar     n. 脉冲星
• candidate     n. 候选人，候补者；应试者

第四段：
The objectives of FAST include searching for pulsars, neutral hydrogen, interstellar molecules and signals from the extraterrestrial life.

• neutral     adj. 中立的，中性的；中立国的；非彩色的；n. 中立国；中立者；非彩色；齿轮的空档
• extraterrestrial     adj. 地球外的；n. 天外来客

第五段：
"Looking for aliens is one of the goals of FAST. But we haven't started that kind of search during the debugging and trial period," said Li Di, chief scientist of the Radio Astronomy Division of the National Astronomical Observatories (NAO) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

第六段：
However, the pulsars discovered by FAST are an enigma enough. When the first pulsar was discovered in 1967, it was mistaken for a signal from aliens.

• enigma     n. 谜，不可思议的东西

第七段：
STRANGE PULSARS
A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star, which emits two beams of electromagnetic radiation. This radiation can be observed only when the beam of emission is pointing at Earth, in much the same way as a lighthouse can be seen only when the light is pointed at an observer.

• neutron    n. 中子
• emit    vt. 发出，放射；发行；发表

第八段：
A neutron star is the collapsed core of a large star. Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars known to exist. A neutron star is so dense that one teaspoon of its material would have the mass of a mountain over 3,000 meters high on Earth.

• collapse     vi. 倒塌；瓦解；暴跌；vt. 使倒塌，使崩溃；使萎陷；折叠；n. 倒塌；失败；衰竭
• dense     adj. 稠密的；浓厚的；愚钝的

第九段：
"There are many strange phenomena and natures of pulsars that we don't understand," said Chen Xuelei, a researcher with NAO, adding that scientists have discovered some millisecond pulsars spinning very fast. "More study is needed to find out why they rotate so fast."

• phenomena     n. 现象（phenomenon 的复数 ）

第十段：
 With their super strong gravitational and electromagnetic fields and high density, pulsars are regarded as natural laboratories of extreme physical conditions, Chen said.

• gravitational     adj. 重力的，引力的

第十一段：
"If we could find a binary star system composed of a pulsar and a black hole, we would be able to study the space-time around the black hole by using the pulsar," Chen said.

• binary     adj. 二进制的；二元的，二态的

第十二段：
Pulsars can help scientists study gravitational waves. FAST will help improve the chances of detecting low frequency gravitational waves, said Wu Xiangping, a CAS academician, predicting great breakthroughs in this area in the years ahead.

• academician     n. 院士；

第十三段：
Pulsars have very precise intervals between pulses that range from milliseconds to seconds. They are regarded as the most accurate astronomical clock in the universe. Scientists believe they can use pulsars as "lighthouses" to help navigation in future interplanetary or interstellar travel.

• precise     adj. 精确的；明确的；严格的
• interval     n. 间隔；间距；幕间休息
• astronomical     adj. 天文的，天文学的；极大的
• interplanetary     adj. 太阳系内的；行星间的
• interstellar     adj. 星际的

第十四段：
PULSAR-SEARCHING CLUB
The first two confirmed pulsars discovered by FAST were detected on the nights of Aug. 22 and 25 respectively. But Li couldn't recall the scene exactly as FAST has already found dozens of pulsar candidates thanks to its high sensitivity.

• respectively     adv. 分别地；各自地，独自地

第十五段：
"As a matter of fact, we can detect high-quality pulsar candidates almost every night," said Li.

第十六段：
When the first pulsar was discovered half a century ago, China was still struggling in poverty and turmoil. As a result, none of the previous more than 2,700 discoveries of pulsars was made by China.

• turmoil     n. 混乱，骚动

第十七段：
But now, as China builds a well-off society, it has the capability to explore the strange and mysterious celestial bodies, and endeavor to answer those ultimate questions: How was the universe created? Where did we come from? Are we lonely in the universe?

• well-off     adj. 富裕的；顺利的，走运的；繁荣昌盛的
• celestial     adj. 天上的，天空的；n. 神仙，天堂里的居民
• endeavor     n. /vi. /vt.努力；尽力（等于endeavour）

第十八段：
For Chinese astronomers to lead in global astronomy, they must have advanced astronomical instruments. The completion of FAST, the largest astronomical construction in Chinese history, cost about 1.2 billion yuan (182 million U.S. dollars), more than 20 years and tremendous efforts of the scientists and engineers.

• astronomer     n. 天文学家
• tremendous     adj. 极大的，巨大的；惊人的；极好的

第十九段：
Now, China is in the pulsar-searching club.

第二十段：
Li predicted that after it starts formal operation in 2019, FAST will be able to find over a hundred pulsars per year. The telescope is expected to discover twice the number of pulsars currently known.

第二十一段：
It is also expected to find 50 to 80 pulsars in M31, the nearest major galaxy to the Milky Way. It is the only radio telescope in the world with this capability.

• galaxy     n. 银河；星系；银河系
• Milky Way     n. 银河；银河系

第二十二段：
A NEW ERA
Li, who did research at the California Institute of Technology and NASA in the United States, returned to China in 2012 for the construction of FAST. In the remote valley in Guizhou, he lived in the barrack-like housing without even a bathroom for several years.

• remote     adj. 遥远的；偏僻的；疏远的；n. 远程
• barrack     n. 营房；兵舍；vt. 使…驻兵营内；向…提供营房；vi. 住入营房

第二十三段：
"Scientific research is the process of seeking truth. Like detective work, painting or building furniture, you might encounter many obstacles on the way, but you will also see gradual progress, and finally get something that is incredibly important or beautiful. The more bitter the hardship, the sweeter the happiness," said Li.

• obstacle     n. 障碍，干扰；妨害物
• hardship     n. 困苦；苦难；艰难险阻

第二十四段：
This year is momentous for China's astronomical community. On June 15, China's space telescope, the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), was launched to detect black holes and pulsars. The initiator of the satellite is Li Di's father Li Tipei, a renowned astrophysicist and academician of the CAS.

• momentous     adj. 重要的；重大的
• renowned     v. 使有声誉（renown的过去分词）；adj. 著名的；有声望的
• astrophysicist     n. 天体物理学家

第二十五段：
"In modern history, China has lagged behind in the world, and it is the hope of our generation to put China at the forefront of the global natural science community," said Li Tipei.

• lag     n. 落后；迟延；防护套；囚犯；桶板；vt. 落后于；押往监狱；加上外套；vi. 滞后；缓缓而行；蹒跚；adj. 最后的

第二十六段：
Li Di said FAST takes in the past and brings about the future. "The era of systematic pulsar research with Chinese telescope has just started. We hope to make the telescope an important scientific instrument of mankind."

• era     n. 时代；年代；纪元

第二十七段：
A multi-beam receiver will be installed on FAST to survey space with multiple scientific objectives. That means it can obtain data on pulsars, celestial spectrums and fast radio bursts in one scan. Through this original technique, scientists will be able to find more than 1,000 pulsars, over 100,000 galaxies and dozens of fast radio bursts.

• spectrum     n. 光谱；频谱；范围；余象

第二十八段：
"We will rely on self-innovative equipment and advanced observation methods to make systematic scientific discoveries." Li said. "It will be the dawn of a new era."

第二十九段：
"For human beings, exploring the unknown and satisfying curiosity is an equally essential right as eating and sleeping. Exploration of the unknown will inspire human creativity, enabling us to make unprecedented achievements and find imaginative solutions, which is extremely valuable."

• unprecedented     adj. 空前的；无前例的