(课件网) 主题语境：人与自然———探索宇宙奥秘 【原文呈现】 EYES UPON THE NIGHT The night sky has been an endless①source of fascination [1]since the start of human history.For example，the mysterious large-eyed②，bronze statues of the ancient Shu Kingdom，[2]discovered at the Chinese archeological site at Sanxingdui，were believed to have been able to look across great distances into the stars.In reality③，humans can see very little of the night sky with the naked eye④.And，for a long while，people were unable to understand [3]what they could see.[4]Not knowing what the stars were，people in ancient times used their imaginations to create a world in the sky. [1]since引导时间状语从句，意为“自……以来”。 [2]过去分词短语作后置定语，修饰名词短语the mysterious large-eyed，bronze statues。 [3]what引导名词性从句。 [4]动词-ing形式短语作状语。 【词汇积累】 ①endless adj.无止境的，无穷尽的 ②large-eyed adj.大眼的，睁大眼睛的 ③in reality实际上；事实上 同义词有：in fact，as a matter of fact，in effect，actually等 ④the naked eye肉眼 Our power to investigate⑤ and thus understand space changed dramatically⑥when the first telescope⑦was angled⑧ at the night sky，[5]increasing as it did the power of the human eye and enabling us to understand that the universe is far larger than was previously imaginable⑨.The planets were seen to be worlds similar to our own，[6]many of them even having their own moons.Soon，it was understood that the Sun was just one star among billions in the galaxy⑩we call the Milky Way .Some 300 years later，we learnt that the Milky Way itself was just one galaxy among billions of others，spread across the blackness of space like great islands of light and matter [7]floating in a vast cosmic ocean. [5]动词-ing形式短语increasing...and enabling...作状语，其中含有as引导的方式状语从句和that引导的宾语从句。 [6]此处为独立主格结构。 [7]动词-ing形式短语作后置定语，修饰名词islands。 ⑤investigate v.侦察(某事)；调查(某人)；研究 ⑥dramatically adv.剧烈地，明显地；戏剧性地，夸张地 ⑦telescope/'telIsk p/n.望远镜 ⑧angle/' ɡ( )l/v.斜置 ⑨imaginable adj.可能的；可想象的 ⑩galaxy/'ɡ l ksi/n.星系 the Milky Way 银河 blackness n.黑色；阴险 cosmic/'k zmIk/adj.宇宙的 Almost 400 years after the first Earth-based telescope was invented，the Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit，[8]giving astronomers—indeed all of us—the first breathtakingly beautiful images of our universe [9]taken from beyond Earth.Nothing in history has allowed us to see so much over such great distances，from enormous clouds of gas [10]where stars are being born，to huge black holes，and even to new planets where we might conceivably find life.Not only that—it has also helped us to work out the age and nature of the universe，and discover the incredible fact [11]that the universe is e ... ...
