加拿大的一架望远镜捕捉到来自遥远星系的神秘信号，天文学家透露了这些信号的细节。此次快速射电暴确切的性质和起源尚不清楚。

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.

快速射电暴，又称 “FRBs”，只持续千分之一秒。但它们在持续时间上所缺乏的，在力量上完全可以弥补。天文学家已经在数万亿英里之外的遥远星系中发现了它们。

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.

研究人员对它们是如何形成的还没有明确的解释，但各种理论五花八门，有的说它们的脉冲驱动着外星飞船，有的说它们是两颗濒死恒星碰撞的结果，前者的理论令人难以置信，后者的相对平淡无奇。

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，这个谜团随着在同一地点检测到的一个反复出现的 FRB 进一步加深，也因而排除了认为这是一个破坏过程结果的观点。现在，蒙特利尔麦吉尔大学的施里哈什·坦杜卡博士和他的同事们发现了第二种重复快速射电暴。

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.

特别令人兴奋的是，快速射电暴与它们在星际旅行中遇到的每一个电子和每一个磁场都相互作用。这意味着在这些爆炸中嵌有它们穿越深空航行的记录。所以，事实上，快速射电暴可以作为探测工具来研究它们所来自的遥远星系。

1. 词汇

fast radio bursts 快速电波爆发
duration 持续时间
astronomers 天文学家
distant galaxies 遥远的星系
far-fetched 难以置信的
pulses 脉冲
starships 星舰，星际飞船
prosaic 平淡无奇的
collision 碰撞
ruled out 排除了
destructive 破坏性的
electron 电子
magnetic field 电场
intergalactic 星系际的
voyage 航行
deep space 深空
probes 探测工具，探测器

2. 阅读理解：请在读完上文后，回答下列问题 。

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.