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Three Stars That Grew Up Together

CET-4

China's FAST telescope helped scientists confirm the first pulsar triple system in which one of the three stars is still alive.

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Three Stars That Grew Up Together

The Three-Body Problem is a famous Chinese science fiction novel. In the story, three suns pull on one another and make life on a planet almost impossible. On October 9, scientists announced that they had found something very close to that picture in the real sky, and this time the story has a happy ending.

The object is a pulsar named J0435+3233. A pulsar is what is left after a huge star explodes. It spins very fast and sends out radio waves like a lighthouse, so it works as one of the most exact clocks in nature. This one turns about 312 times every second. Astronomers first saw it in June 2020 with FAST, the huge radio telescope in Guizhou also known as China Sky Eye.

At first, researchers thought the pulsar had only one companion, a white dwarf, and the two circled each other every eight days. But the pulsar’s spin was slowing down faster than it should. Its period grew by one nanosecond every year, about a hundred times more than similar objects. The leader of the team said this was like a very good watch starting to lose time for no clear reason. So his team put FAST’s radio data together with optical, infrared and gamma-ray data from other telescopes, and they found a third star.

The third star is a sun-like star that is still living its normal life. It moves around the inner pair once every 73.5 years. Scientists believe all three stars were born from the same cloud, so they are true siblings. The heaviest one died first and became the pulsar, the middle one became the white dwarf, and the smallest one is still shining today. The finding was published in a leading journal, and a European team reached the same result on its own.

What makes this system special is that it is caught in the middle of its own story. Before this, the only known pulsar triple had three dead stars. Here, one member is still alive, so astronomers can watch a family of stars grow old together.

Words to know:

长难句拆解 · 比喻性定语从句与并列分句

第一句：It spins very fast and sends out radio waves like a lighthouse, so it works as one of the most exact clocks in nature. 主干由三个并列分句组成，用 and 和 so 串联：It spins very fast（它转得很快）、it sends out radio waves like a lighthouse（它像灯塔一样发出无线电波）、it works as one of the most exact clocks in nature（它充当自然界最精准的时钟之一）。like a lighthouse 是介词短语作方式状语；work as 意为「充当、起……作用」。读长句时先找并列连词，句子就会立刻变短。 直译：它转得非常快，像灯塔一样发出无线电波，因此它充当着自然界最精准的时钟之一。

第二句：So his team put FAST’s radio data together with optical, infrared and gamma-ray data from other telescopes, and they found a third star. 这是一个由 and 连接的并列句。前一分句的主干是 his team put A together with B，即「他的团队把 A 与 B 放在一起」，put…together with… 是固定搭配，意为「把……与……结合起来」；中间一长串 optical, infrared and gamma-ray data from other telescopes 都是 put 的宾语。后一分句 they found a third star 才是结论。雅思阅读里这类「先罗列材料、后给结论」的长句很常见，答案通常在 and 之后。 直译：于是他的团队把中国天眼的射电数据与其他望远镜的光学、红外和伽马射线数据结合起来，从而发现了第三颗星。

同义替换 · 雅思阅读利器

雅思阅读的题干很少照抄原文，它更喜欢把同一个意思换一种说法。下面这些替换在本题材里很常见，先自己盖住右边，试着回忆。

  • be left after a huge star explodes → be the remains of an exploded star（残骸、遗留物的表达）
  • spin very fast → turn / rotate at high speed（自转速度的改写）
  • first saw it → first observed / detected it（首次发现的动词替换）
  • the two circled each other → the two moved around a shared centre（互相绕转的释义）
  • slowing down faster than it should → losing speed more quickly than expected（「比应该的更快」的同义改写）
  • be published in a leading journal → appear in a top academic magazine（发表、刊出的替换）
  • reach the same result → draw / come to the same conclusion（得出结论的固定说法）
阅读自测 · 3 题
  1. 判断正误：The third star in this system has already stopped shining.
  2. 简答：How often does the third star go around the inner pair of stars?
  3. 选词填空：The pulsar’s period grew by one ____ every year. (A. nanosecond B. kilometre C. kilogram)
参考答案与解析
  1. False（错误）。原文说 The third star is a sun-like star that is still living its normal life，末尾又说 the smallest one is still shining today，也就是它仍在正常演化、仍在发光。干扰项套路是「偷换结论」——把「还活着」改写成「已经熄灭」，这恰好与原文相反。
  2. Once every 73.5 years（每 73.5 年一圈）。原文是 It moves around the inner pair once every 73.5 years，属直接定位题。注意题干把 the inner pair 用作 the pulsar and the white dwarf 的同义替换，找到对应表达即可。
  3. A. nanosecond。原文为 Its period grew by one nanosecond every year，属逐字对应。B、C 是利用文中出现过的长度、质量类词汇制造的形近干扰，与文意无关。
中文译文

《三体》是一部著名的中国科幻小说。在故事里，三颗太阳彼此拉扯，让一颗行星上的生活几乎无法维持。10 月 9 日，科学家宣布他们在真实的天空中找到了与那幅图景非常接近的东西，而这一次，故事有一个圆满的结局。

这个天体是一颗编号为 J0435+3233 的脉冲星。脉冲星是一颗巨大恒星爆炸后留下的残骸。它转得极快，并像灯塔一样发出无线电波，因此充当着自然界最精准的时钟之一。这一颗每秒钟大约转 312 圈。天文学家最早是在 2020 年 6 月用位于贵州的巨型射电望远镜——也被称作中国天眼的 FAST——看到它的。

起初，研究人员以为这颗脉冲星只有一个伴星，即一颗白矮星，两者每八天相互绕行一圈。但这颗脉冲星的自转比应有的速度慢得更快，其周期每年增加一纳秒，比同类天体高出约一百倍。团队负责人说，这就像一块非常准的表毫无缘由地开始走慢。于是他的团队把中国天眼的射电数据与其他望远镜的光学、红外和伽马射线数据结合起来，从而发现了第三颗星。

第三颗星是一颗仍在正常演化的类太阳恒星，它每 73.5 年绕内侧两颗星运行一圈。科学家认为这三颗星诞生于同一片云团，因此是真正的同胞。最重的那颗最先死去，变成了这颗脉冲星；中间那颗变成了白矮星；最小的那颗至今仍在发光。这一发现发表在一份顶级学术期刊上，而一个欧洲团队也独立得出了同样的结论。

这个系统之所以特别，是因为它正处在自己故事的中段。在此之前，已知的唯一一个脉冲星三体系统的三颗星都已死去。而在这里，其中一位成员仍然活着，天文学家因此可以看着一个恒星家庭一起慢慢变老。