理工類輔導(dǎo)資料：閱讀理解Small But Wise

　　On December 14，NASA1 blasted a small but mighty telescope into space. The telescope is called WISE and is about as wide around as a trashcan. Dont let its small size fool you：WISE has a powerful digital camera， and it will be taking pictures of some the wildest objects2 in the known universe，including asteroids，faint stars，blazing galaxies3 and giant clouds of dust where planets and stars are born.

　　"Im very excited because were going to be seeing parts of the universe that we havent seen before，"said Ned Wright， a scientist who directs the WISE project.

　　Since arriving in space，the WISE telescope has been circling the Earth，held by gravity in a polar orbit4(this means it crosses close to the north and south poles with each lap5).Its camera is pointed outward，away from the Earth，and WISE will snap a picture of a different part of the sky every 11 minutes. After six months it will have taken pictures across the entire sky.

　　The pictures taken by WISE wont be like everyday digital photographs，however. WISE stands for"Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer."As its name suggests，the WISE camera takes pictures of features that give off infrared radiation6.

　　Radiation is energy that travels as a wave. Visible light， including the familiar spectrum of light7 that becomes visible in a rainbow，is an example of radiation. When an ordinary digital camera takes a picture of a tree，for example，it receives the waves of visible light that are reflected off the tree. When these waves enter the camera through the lens，theyre processed by the camera，which then puts the image together.

　　Waves of infrared radiation are longer than waves of visible light， so ordinary digital cameras dont see them，and neither do the eyes of human beings. Although invisible to the eye，longer infrared radiation can be detected as warmth by the skin.

　　Thats a key idea to why WISE will be able to see things other telescopes cant. Not everything in the universe shows up in visible light. Asteroids，for example，are giant rocks that float through space 一but they absorb most of the light that reaches them. They dont reflect light，so theyre difficult to see. But they do give off infrared radiation， so an infrared telescope like WISE will be able to produce images of them. During its mission WISE will take pictures of hundreds of thousands of asteroids.

　　Brown dwarfs8 are another kind of deep-space object that will show up in WISEs pictures. These objects are"failed" stars 一which means they are not massive enough to jump start9 the same kind of reactions that power stars such as the sun. Instead，brown dwarfs simply shrink and cool down. Theyre so dim that theyre almost impossible to see with visible light， but in the infrared spectrum they glow.

　　詞匯：

　　trashcan n.垃圾箱

　　infrared adj.紅外線

　　asteroid n.小行星

　　dwarf n. 矮星

　　注釋：

　　1.NASA (美國國家航空航天局)是縮寫詞，全稱是National Aeronautics and Space

　　Administration

　　2. the wildest objects ：任何你能想象得到的天體。wild 有"未被人馴養(yǎng)的""荒唐的""離奇的"意思。

　　3. faint stars， blazing galaxies：指的是那些只能看到微弱的光和因燃燒而無法觀察到的天體。

　　4. polar orbit：極地軌道。指軌道平面與赤道面夾角為90.的人造地球衛(wèi)星軌道。人造衛(wèi)星運(yùn)行時能到達(dá)南北極區(qū)上空，即衛(wèi)星能飛經(jīng)全球范圍的上空。需要在全球范圍內(nèi)進(jìn)行觀測和應(yīng)用的氣象衛(wèi)星、導(dǎo)航衛(wèi)星、地球資源衛(wèi)星等都采用這種軌道。

　　5. lap：一圈。原指競賽場的一圈或游泳池的一個來回，如： She overtook the other runners on the last lap. 她最后一圈超過了其他參賽者。

　　6. infrared radiation：紅外線輻射

　　7. spectrum of light：光譜，即，光輻射的波長分布區(qū)域。

　　8. Brown dwarfs：褐矮星。褐矮星非常暗淡，很難發(fā)現(xiàn)它們，要確定它們的大小就更加困難。

　　9.jump start： 啟動