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课件网) Saturn①： What Put the Rings on It Adapted from National Geographic 202303 Without its rings, Saturn looks really boring. Its plain face lacks the energy of Jupiter②'s watercolored bands③， the spicy blue of Neptune④， the suffocating (令人窒息的) murk (昏暗) of Venus⑤. Even rusty⑥ Mars looks more interesting. Thankfully, at some point in the past 4.5 billion years, the cosmos⑦ gave Earth's neighborhood an upgrade： It put a big, bright, icy ring system around Saturn. But scientists don't agree on when Saturn's rings formed or how the ring even came into being. It turns out that the genesis⑧ of one of the solar system's iconic features is still an unsolved mystery. “The planet was formed at a certain point during the formation of the solar system, and we don't know if the rings formed at the same time or if they were formed much later，” says Cornell University astrophysicist⑨ Maryame El Moutamid. “And the reason why it's so interesting is not only to know that but to understand the Saturn system—we have a planet, a ring system, and a moon system, and we think there is a connection between the rings and the moons.” That enigma⑩ is uniquely fascinating. For the most part, scientists have a good grip on the origin of our solar system's most spectacular sights: a chasm (裂缝) carved into Mars that would dwarf the Grand Canyon, Jupiter's churning (汹涌澎湃的) Great Red Spot ， the moon's enormous southern basin. But not Saturn's rings. “Saturn's rings are unique，” says Jeff Cuzzi of NASA's Ames Research Center. “They're the only big, massive rings, and they're very, very bright, which is unusual. So this has been a puzzle.” Scientists who think about this question tend to cluster into two camps. The first group suggests that Saturn's rings are primordial (原生的)—that they formed along with the planet more than four billion years ago—and that Saturn has never been a boring, blah (乏味的) world. The other group suspects the rings are much younger, formed within the past several hundred million years. Under that theory, the rings are so young that if the dinosaurs had had a space program, they'd have seen a ringless Saturn through their telescopes. “Both scenarios have great arguments, but they also have weaknesses，” El Moutamid says. “Honestly, and without trying to be too neutral ， I think the old age makes more sense to me than the young age，” El Moutamid says. “That's my belief up to now, but I am happy to be convinced otherwise.” ①Saturn n. 土星 ②Jupiter n. 木星 ③band n. 带 ④Neptune n. 海王星 ⑤Venus n. 金星 ⑥rusty adj. 铁锈色的 ⑦cosmos n. 宇宙 ⑧genesis n. 发生；起源 ⑨astrophysicist n. 天体物理学家 ⑩enigma n. 谜 dwarf v. 使相形见绌 Great Red Spot (木星)大红斑(风暴气旋旋涡) enormous adj. 巨大的 suspect v. 猜想，认为 scenario n. 设想 neutral adj. 中立的 make sense 合乎情理 convince v. 说服；使信服 At an why connection fascinating ... ...
