VOA慢速英语:Study Confirms Earth-like Planet in What Scientists Call “The Habitable Zone”

短语讲解：

1. The Kepler spacecraft was named in honor of Johannes Kepler, the seventeenth century German astronomer.

in honor of为了向…表示敬意
例句：A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.
宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

2. It was designed to examine a small part of the Milky Way galaxy and search for places like Earth.

search for搜索, 搜寻
例句：We searched in vain for the missing child.
我们到处寻找那孩子, 但没有找到。

3. Scientific instruments have yet to show what the new planet is made of.

make of用…做成
例句：The table is made of wood.
桌子是木制的。

4. If a planet passes between Kepler and the star, it blocks out part of the light.

block out遮住, 挡住
例句：The clouds have blocked the sun out.
云彩遮住了太阳。

5. People and buildings were washed away.

wash away冲走, 清洗
例句：A ship got stranded along the shore, but last night sea waves washed it away again.
有条船在岸边搁浅了, 可昨天晚上海浪又把它冲走了。

6. About eighty percent of all the sunlight that strikes the earth is reflected back into space.

reflect back反射
例句：The sea reflected back the bright sunlight.
大海反射出明亮的阳光。

7. That can cause the whole planet to heat up.

heat up变热
例句：The big room will not heat up easily.
这间大房间不容易变暖。

8. Others are so small that they fit in our hand.

fit in有地方容纳; 相处融洽, 合得来; 有时间从事(某事); 有时间接待(某人)
例句：All of us couldn't fit in there.
那里挤不下我们所有的人。

9. But to find the first person who thought he could make a computing device, we have to go back one hundred eighty years to a man named Charles Babbadge.

go back回转, 回顾, 追溯
例句：The friendly contacts between our two peoples can go back to the Tang Dynasty.
我们两国人民间的友好往来可以追溯到唐朝。

10. Lovelace thought that this early computer should be able to do more than just add and take away numbers very fast.

take away减去
例句：Take away ２ from ４ and you get ２.
四减二等于二。