Interstellar comet starts coming into focus
8月30日拂曉之前，天文愛好者根納季·鮑里索夫觀測到了一個外星天體：一顆來自太陽系之外的彗星。
Before dawn on August 30, an amateur astronomer named Gennady Borisov spotted an alien visitor: a comet from beyond the confines of our solar system.
confines:(尤指學科或活動領(lǐng)域的）范圍，界限；the narrow confines of political life.政治生活的狹小領(lǐng)域。
該天體現(xiàn)被命名為2I/鮑里索夫，是在我們臨近宇宙位置內(nèi)發(fā)現(xiàn)確認的第二個星際天體。
That object, now named 2I/Borisov, is just the second confirmed interstellar object ever detected inside our cosmic neighborhood.
Interstellar: (僅在名詞前修飾）；interstellar travel 星際旅行
stellar：1.星星的；2.非常出色的， the company’s stellar growth 這家公司輝煌的發(fā)展；3. go stellar, 〔流行樂隊、演員等〕變得極受歡迎，出名 There’s a stand-up comedian, and my sources tell me he is about to go stellar. 有個單口喜劇演員，據(jù)我所知他很快就要走紅了。
現(xiàn)在，世界各地的大型望遠鏡都將目標鎖定了鮑里索夫，天文學開始著急地從各個渠道獲取關(guān)于該彗星構(gòu)成的線索，以及它在天空中的軌跡。
Now, as large telescopes around the world turn their gaze toward Borisov, astronomers are beginning to glean tantalizing clues about the comet’s composition and its track through the heavens.
glean：從各種渠道提?。ㄐ畔ⅲ?；the information is gleaned from press cuttings.信息是通過簡報獲取的。
tantalize:（以可望而不可即之物）逗引，招惹，使干著急；The branch was tantalizingly out of reach. 夠不到那樹枝，讓人干著急。
每一個新發(fā)現(xiàn)的數(shù)據(jù)點都向我們揭示了鮑里索夫主星系的復雜性，反過來，也反映出了太陽系在宇宙中是多么的獨特。
Each new data point? reveals a bit more about the chemistry of Borisov’s home star system and, in turn, how unique our own solar system is within the cosmos.
chemistry: 用作比喻，復雜或神秘的過程，現(xiàn)象；the chemistry of politics 復雜的政治。
人類所知的第一個星際外來物是一顆名為奧陌陌的彗星，該彗星于2017年被首次觀測到，然而當時它已駛出太陽系。
The first known interstellar interloper, a comet called ‘Oumuamua discovered in 2017, wasn’t found until it was already headed out of the solar system.
研究奧陌陌對天文學家們而言是一次考驗，大家爭相破譯那些難以捉摸的彗星特性，包括奧陌陌異乎尋常的長方形外觀。
Studying it put astronomers through their paces as they raced to decipher some of the comet’s more enigmatic traits, including its bizarrely oblong shape.
put sb/sth through their paces: 測試某人/某物的本領(lǐng)[性能]；使某人/某物展示本領(lǐng)[性能] The test driver puts all the cars through their paces. 試車手測試了所有的車輛。
但最終，奧陌陌留下的疑問遠遠多于答案。
But ultimately, ‘Oumuamua left more questions than answers in its wake.
In sb's/sth's wake:緊跟某人/某物后面 The car left clouds of dust in its wake. 汽車駛過，揚起團團塵土。
相反的是，鮑里索夫現(xiàn)在正向我們靠近，預計到今年年底會有一個更好的觀察視像?！霸阱缧菢?gòu)成研究方面，我們還需要做非常多的努力。”貝爾法斯特皇后大學天文學家米歇爾·班尼斯特如是說。
By contrast, Borisov is currently incoming, and views should only get better toward the end of the year: “We’ll be able to do a hell of a lot more, in terms of compositional studies,” says Queen’s University Belfast astronomer Michele Bannister.
時間仍然很緊迫，天文學家正爭先競后申請使用世界上最大的望遠鏡，以確保他們能收集到最有潛在價值的細節(jié)。
Still, the timing is tight, and astronomers are now scrambling to file proposals with some of the world’s biggest telescopes to ensure that they can gather the most possible detail.
“伙計，這讓人感到惱火，我們還沒有準備好，我們還有很多準備工作沒做好?！毕耐拇髮W天文研究所的天文學家卡倫·米奇說道：“我猜這就是大自然在用它的方式告訴我們，宜未雨而綢繆，毋臨渴而掘井！”
“Man, this was frustrating—we were not ready, we had not done our homework yet,” says Karen Meech, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy. “I guess that’s nature’s way of saying, You better not be unprepared!”
這也是為什么天文學家們詳查早期的資料，忍不住盡情觀測這個來自另一個星系的碎片。
That’s why astronomers can’t resist sifting through the early data and getting their first good look at a fragment from another star system.
sift through: 細查；詳審 We will sift through every scrap of evidence. 我們將細查每一點證據(jù)。
"可以說，我的整個職業(yè)生涯都在等待這一刻，沒想到這真的發(fā)生了，我太激動了?！?美國西南研究院天體動力學家，彗星研究專家盧克·多恩說道。
“Basically my whole career we’ve been waiting for this, and it’s exciting to see it finally happen,” says Luke Dones, an astrodynamicist at the Southwest Research Institute who studies comets.
