每日科学

Linguigo · No. 58A2科学3 分钟

Lucy and the Surprising Asteroid

图片：Mikkehouse / Pixabay

本篇内容
  • – 读一篇关于“科学”的短文
  • – 学习 6 个单词
  • – 练习 一般过去时 (Past simple)

asteroid, piece, quarter, ridge, spacecraft, strong

点一下不认识的单词。

In November 2023, NASA's Lucy spacecraft flew past a small asteroid called Dinkinesh. Scientists have now studied its photos, and the asteroid is more surprising than they thought.

The photos show a long, deep line on the asteroid. There, a big piece, about a quarter of the asteroid, suddenly moved. They also show a ridge and a small moon called Selam. This moon is really two rocks that touch each other.

How did this happen? For millions of years, the Sun warmed Dinkinesh, and this slowly made it turn faster. In the end, part of it moved. Scientists think some rocks then went into space around the asteroid and made the ridge and the moon.

Scientists want to know how strong small rocks like this are, because it helps them understand how planets like Earth were made. Lucy's team plans to visit eleven asteroids in a twelve-year trip.

事实来源：NASA，2024年5月29日 · 原文出处

本文由 AI 辅助创作，发布前经过审核。 朗读为 AI 合成语音。

难句解析

  1. 1

    There, a big piece, about a quarter of the asteroid, suddenly moved.

    两个逗号之间的 "about a quarter of the asteroid" 是插进来的补充，说明这一块有多大；"a quarter of" 是“……的四分之一”。意思是：在那里，一大块（约占小行星的四分之一）突然移动了。

  2. 2

    This moon is really two rocks that touch each other.

    这里的 "really" 是“其实、实际上”，不是“非常”。"that touch each other" 修饰 rocks，"each other" 意为“互相”。意思是：这颗卫星其实是两块挨在一起的岩石。

  3. 3

    Scientists want to know how strong small rocks like this are, because it helps them understand how planets like Earth were made.

    "how strong ... are" 放在 know 后面，用陈述语序（不说 how strong are they）。两个 like 都是“像……这样的”：like this（像这样的），like Earth（像地球这样的）。

本篇语法

一般过去时 (Past simple)

一般过去时表示过去某个时间发生并已经结束的事：I visited Beijing last year. 规则动词加 -ed：walk → walked；很多常用动词是不规则的：go → went, see → saw, have → had。否定和疑问用 did + 动词原形：I didn't see him. Did you call her?

verb-ed / irregular form · did / didn't + base verb

故事中的例句

  • In November 2023, NASA's Lucy spacecraft flew past a small asteroid called Dinkinesh.
  • In the end, part of it moved.

常见错误

说过去的事时动词不变（中文用“了”“昨天”表示时间）。

Yesterday I go to the park.

Yesterday I went to the park.

本篇单词

来做个小测验吧？

5 道题，考考你对故事、单词和语法的理解。