Astronomers announced on Monday that they had discovered what many consider theholy grail of their field: ripples in the fabric of space-time that are echoes of the massiveexpansion of the universe that took place just after the Big Bang.

　　词汇突破：

1. holy grail 圣杯;很常见的一个英语表达;圣杯的传说来自于基督教，传说那是耶酥基督在最后的晚餐中使用的绿柱玉琢制的酒杯，而圣约瑟(joseph of arima thea)则用它来接耶酥基督伤口流出的宝血。

　　在罗马帝国灭亡后欧洲黑暗时代的亚瑟王的传说中，寻找圣杯则成为骑士们的最高目标。Holy grail在延续千年的传说之后，常常被用来代表众人追求的目标，甚至是最高目标;比喻为伟大成就;

　　2. ripples in the fabric of space-time 时空涟漪= gravitational waves 引力波

　　引力波是由密度非常大的恒星等大品质天体运动发生的“时空涟漪”( Ripples in Space-time)。然而，即使是伟大的恒星运动发生的“时空涟漪”也非常微弱，大局部敏锐的探测器基本无奈觉察它。

　　(这一次人们发现了!!!!伟大!!!!)

　　句子分析：

Astronomers announced that 主干

　　宾语从句：they had discovered what many consider the holy grail of their field : ripples in thefabric of space-time that are echoes of the massive expansion of the universe that tookplace just after the Big Bang.

　　详细讲解其中what引导的宾语从句

　　What是一个关系代词：

　　1. 起到引导句子的作用;

　　2. 充当代词;

　　Consider 的搭配：consider sth sth,认为某事是什么;consider sb sth,认为某人是什么;

　　Many Consider A B ;

　　A= what

　　B= the holy grail of their field

　　What= ripples in the fabric of space-time

　　定语从句：that are echoes of the massive expansion of the universe that took place justafter the Big Bang. 修饰ripples

　　参考译文：天文学家们在周一宣布他们发现了他们专业领域的“圣杯”——时空的涟漪，也就是在宇宙大爆炸发生后，由于宇宙的巨大扩张而产生的回声。

　　Predicted by Albert Einstein nearly a century ago, the discovery of the ripples, calledgravitational waves, would be a crowning achievement in one of the greatest triumphs of thehuman intellect: an understanding of how the universe began and evolved into thecornucopia of galaxies and stars, nebulae and vast stretches of nearly empty space thatconstitute the known universe.

　　词汇突破：

crowning achievement 至高无上的成就

　　Triumph 胜利

　　cornucopia丰饶角(盛满鲜花、水果、谷物的羊角，象征丰饶)

　　nebulae 星云

　　句子分析：the discovery of the ripples would be a crowning achievement in one of thegreatest triumphs of the human intellect主干

　　called gravitational waves 解释什么叫ripple;

　　Predicted by Albert Einstein nearly a century ago，状语，

　　冒号后的内容是对前面句子的解释，就是一个名词短语;

　　在100年前，爱因斯坦的(广义相对论)中就做出过预言，时空涟漪，也就是重力波的发现将会是人类智慧的伟大胜利中至高无上的成就：理解宇宙如何诞生并演化出星系，恒星，星云以及构成我们已知宇宙的几乎空无一物的广袤空间。