2003年高考英语北京卷 - 阅读理解B

If you dream of going someplace warm to escape the cold winter weather, a trip to a recently discovered planet would certainly warm you right up. The planet, named OGLE-TR-56b, has temperatures of more than 3000 F. “This is the hottest planet we know about,” says Dr Dimitar Sasselov, a scientist who led the discovery team. “It is hot enough to have an iron fog and to rain hot iron droplets.”
如果你梦想去一个温暖的地方躲避寒冷的冬天，那么去最近发现的一颗行星旅行肯定会让你立刻感到温暖。这颗命名为OGLE-TR-56b的行星的温度超过3000华氏度。“这是我们已知的最热行星”，领导探索团队的科学家迪米特尔·萨塞洛夫博士说，“它的温度足以产生铁雾，落下热铁沫”。

The new planet is 30 times farther away than any planet discovered by scientists before. It is in the Milky Way but it is not in our solar system. The new planet moves around a star much like our sun, however scientists discovered the planet by using a new planet-searching method called “transit technique”. They were able to catch sight of the planet when it moved in front of its star, causing the star's light to dim. Scientists compare the method to discovering the shadow of a bee flying in front of a searchlight 200 miles away. “We believe the door has been opened wide to go and discover planets like the Earth,” says Sasselov.
这颗新行星的距离是科学家之前发现的最远行星的30倍。它位于银河系，但不在太阳系中。这颗新行星围绕着一颗与我们的太阳非常相似的恒星运行，科学家们通过一种新的称为“凌日技术”的行星搜索方法发现了这颗行星。当这颗行星在其恒星前面移动时，会使恒星的光线变暗，他们就能够看到它。科学家们将这种方法与发现200英里外的探照灯前飞行的蜜蜂的影子进行了比较。“我们相信，探索类地行星的大门已经敞开了”，萨塞洛夫说。