Unit 11 黑洞 文章大意
本文為說明文，作者以深入淺出的方式簡單介紹宇宙中的奇特現象──黑洞
。文章第一段說明了黑洞的誕生其實來自於恆星的死亡。接著作者介紹了黑洞 強大無比的引力，它會將週遭的一切都吸進去──包括光線，這也正是黑洞被稱 為「黑」洞的原因，因為光線都被吞噬，使得黑洞黑到肉眼完全看不見。本文 最後提到若人類被吸入黑洞中可能的下場──被壓扁；但若可僥倖生存，將會出 現在一個完全不同的四次元世界中。本文雖介紹了黑洞，但文中同時也指出人 類目前對黑洞瞭解仍相當有限，浩瀚的宇宙中仍有許多奧祕等待我們探索。
1.It was a star that was substantially larger than our own sun.
It is . . . that . . .為強調句，用來強調句子中的一部分。因為句子被 分裂成兩個部分，故又稱之為分裂句(cleft sentence)。
2.Then, at the end of its lifespan, the dying star began to collapse in on itself.
at the end of . . . 在…結束的時候 ( at the beginning of . . .)
dying adj. 垂死的 (恆置於名詞前)
恆星本身若無法提供足夠的壓力，以平衡自身的引力時，恆星會在自身物質 的引力影響之下向內塌縮。
3.The matter that composed the star was squeezed together into a small space until it measured no more than a mile across.
此處that引導後方的形容詞子句，修飾先行詞the matter。
squeeze vt. 擠壓
measure後可接長度、寬度、重量等
數字 + 度量單位 + across/wide 寬度為
4. At this point, the star is said to have become a black hole.
at this/that point 在此刻/那時 報導句用來轉述眾人的說法或想法
5. Scientists explain the existence of black holes, based on scientific theories of gravity.
based on以…為依據
6. In other words, any light that passes close enough to this region just vanishes.
in other words換言之，換句話說 (= that is (to say), to put it another way)
此處that引導後方的形容詞子句，修飾先行詞any light。
close to N很接近…
7.When a ball is thrown into the air, it bounces back to the ground because of the pull of gravity.
into the air朝向空中
8. In much stronger gravity, a ball thrown into the air would not go very high,
and it would plunge quickly back to the surface of the planet.
much用來修飾比較級stronger，其它可以用來修飾比較級的字有：a
lot、still、even、far等，例：
此為限定用法的形容詞子句簡化而來的分詞片語，可還原為that is thrown into the air。
