加拿大的一架望遠鏡捕捉到來自遙遠星系的神秘信號，天文學傢透露瞭這些信號的細節。此次快速射電暴確切的性質和起源尚不清楚。
文字稿
Fast radio bursts, or FRBs as they’re known, last for just a thousandth of a second. But what they lack in duration, they more than make up for in power. Astronomers have detected them from distant galaxies that are billions of trillions of miles away.
快速射電暴，又稱 “FRBs”，隻持續千分之一秒。但它們在持續時間上所缺乏的，在力量上完全可以彌補。天文學傢已經在數萬億英裡之外的遙遠星系中發現瞭它們。
Researchers have no clear explanation for how they are formed, but theories ranged from the far-fetched, that they’re pulses powering alien starships, to the relatively prosaic, that they are a result of the collision of two dying stars.
研究人員對它們是如何形成的還沒有明確的解釋，但各種理論五花八門，有的說它們的脈沖驅動著外星飛船，有的說它們是兩顆瀕死恒星碰撞的結果，前者的理論令人難以置信，後者的相對平淡無奇。
The mystery deepened last year with the detection of a repeated FRB from the same location, which ruled out the idea that this was the result of a destructive process. Now, Dr Shriharsh Tendulkar and colleagues at McGill University in Montreal have discovered a second repeating FRB.
去年，這個謎團隨著在同一地點檢測到的一個反復出現的 FRB 進一步加深，也因而排除瞭認為這是一個破壞過程結果的觀點。現在，蒙特利爾麥吉爾大學的施裡哈什·坦杜卡博士和他的同事們發現瞭第二種重復快速射電暴。
What’s especially exciting about fast radio bursts is that they interact with every electron and every magnetic field they encounter on their intergalactic journey. This means that embedded within these bursts is a record of their voyage across deep space. And so FRBs can in effect, be used as probes to study the distant galaxies from which they come.
特別令人興奮的是，快速射電暴與它們在星際旅行中遇到的每一個電子和每一個磁場都相互作用。這意味著在這些爆炸中嵌有它們穿越深空航行的記錄。所以，事實上，快速射電暴可以作為探測工具來研究它們所來自的遙遠星系。
1. 詞匯
fast radio bursts 快速電波爆發
duration 持續時間
astronomers 天文學傢
distant galaxies 遙遠的星系
far-fetched 難以置信的
pulses 脈沖
starships 星艦，星際飛船
prosaic 平淡無奇的
collision 碰撞
ruled out 排除瞭
destructive 破壞性的
electron 電子
magnetic field 電場
intergalactic 星系際的
voyage 航行
deep space 深空
probes 探測工具，探測器
2. 閱讀理解：請在讀完上文後，回答下列問題 。
1. True or false? Scientists are not exactly sure how fast radio bursts are formed.
2. How long do fast radio bursts last?
3. What can fast radio bursts be used as?
4. Which word in the text means ‘the act of discovering something’?
3. 答案
1. True or false? Scientists are not exactly sure how fast radio bursts are formed.
True. Researchers have no clear explanation for how they are formed. There are a number of theories.
2. How long do fast radio bursts last?
Fast radio bursts last for just a thousandth of a second.
3. What can fast radio bursts be used as?
Fast radio bursts can in effect be used as probes to study the distant galaxies from which they come.
4. Which word in the text means ‘the act of discovering something’?
Detection.
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