今天前程百利小编为大家分享的是托福听力的背景材料-太空舱与宇航员的安全。大家都知道托福听力段子都来源于美国学生的大学校园生活，所以无处不透漏着美式思维。那么小编就为大家整理原汁原味的美式的背景材料为大家的托福听力备考助力。
原文：
A new lightweight material that heals itself when punctured could help spacecraft survive run-ins with debris. Christopher Intagliata reports.
It's a scenario straight out of Hollywood: You're up in a spacecraft, "you've got this capsule around you," and a loose bolt, a piece of space junk, is zooming your way. "And it's going really fast. It's going to very likely pass through your spacecraft and leave both entry and exit holes. So all of a sudden now your atmosphere is rushing out those holes, and you want them sealed right away."
That's Timothy Scott, a polymer scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He and his team have devised a potential solution to this space disaster: a material that patches itself up, less than a second after impact.
Think of an ice-cream sandwich. "The central part, the ice cream of our sandwich, is a liquid resin." The cookie parts are sheets of thermoplastic. When a projectile—or piece of space junk—punctures the sandwich, it exposes the liquid part to the ship’s oxygen, which causes it to solidify, patching the hole.
The researchers tested sheets of the self-healing material at a firing range, filming the results with high-speed video. And indeed, the material worked fine here on Earth—but they say the findings will have to be replicated under pressure conditions like those you'd find in space. The results are in the journal ACS Macro Letters.
The space station is already well protected by bumpers that vaporize particles on impact. But protection doesn't come cheap. "It turns out that robust things are also very heavy. The intent of this is really to provide a backup that's very low weight." It costs some $10,000 a pound to launch equipment into space today. So a lighter weight material could save money—and lives.
专业词汇
Lightweight n. 轻量级选手;无足轻重的人adj. 重量轻的;平均重量以下的
Debris n. 碎片，残骸
Scenario n. 方案;情节;剧本
Spacecraft宇宙飞船，航天器
Zoom n. 急速上升;嗡嗡声;[摄] 变焦摄影vt. 使摄象机移动vi. 急速上升;摄象机移动
Seal n. 密封;印章;海豹;封条;标志n. (Seal)人名;(英)西尔vt. 密封;盖章
Polymer n. [高分子] 聚合物
Sandwich n. 三明治;夹心面包vt. 夹入;挤进;把...做成三明治
Solidify vt. 团结;凝固vi. 团结;凝固
Vaporize vt. 使…蒸发vi. 蒸发
长难句解析：
1. When a projectile—or piece of space junk—punctures the sandwich, it exposes the liquid part to the ship’s oxygen, which causes it to solidify, patching the hole.
难句类型：
when引导的时间状语从句
句子主干：
it exposes the liquid
难句拆分：
When a projectile—or piece of space junk—punctures the sandwich，when引导的时间状语从句。
2. And indeed, the material worked fine here on Earth—but they say the findings will have to be replicated under pressure conditions like those you'd find in space.
难句类型：
But引导的句子+省略that的定语从句
句子主干：
the material worked fine
难句拆分：
句子中but引导的并列句，but表示转折;you'd find in space，省略that的定语从句修饰those.
文本结构特点：
本篇文章主要讲的是自我修复的飞船能够让宇航员更加安全。空间站由缓冲器很好的保护起来。这样有利于宇航员的安全。
好了，以上就是前程百利小编为大家整理的备考托福听力背景材料以及专业词汇的学习。希望能在备考托福的路上助大家一臂之力。最后，小编祝大家在托福考试中取得好成绩!
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