They were, by far, the largest and most distant objects that scientists had ever detected: a strip of enormous cosmic clouds some 15 billion light-years from earth. But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago.迄今为止，科学家所发现的最大、最遥远的物体是：离地球大约150亿光年的一块狭长的巨大宇宙云系。更为重要的是，这是科学家们能够观测到的最遥远的过去的景象，因为他们看到的是150亿年前宇宙云的形状和结构。
＃长难句每日一句＃是一道配菜，建议你首先消化课程所讲内容之后，再每天来一个长难句来填满碎片时间。切不可不听，每天只练一个长难句，那就本末倒置了。
长难句的正确打开方式：先尝试自己分析，然后看下面的解析；如有任何问题（学习情感职场）可以直接分解提问
That was just about the moment that the universe was born. What the researchers found was at once both amazing and expected: the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Cosmic Background Explorer satellite—Cobe—had discovered landmark evidence that the universe did in fact begin with the primeval explosion that has become known as the Big Bang (the theory that the universe originated in an explosion from a single mass of energy).Aeronautics / ˌeərəˈnɔ:tiks / n. 航空学Administration / ədˌminiˈstreiʃn / n. 管理；管理局landmark / ˈlændmɑ:k / n. 地标；里程碑primeval / praiˈmi:vl / adj. 远古的，原始的originate / əˈridʒineit / vi. 起源于That was just about the moment that the universe was born. What the researchers found was at once both amazing and expected: the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Cosmic Background Explorer satellite—Cobe—had discovered landmark evidence that the universe did in fact begin with the primeval explosion that has become known as the Big Bang (the theory that the universe originated in an explosion from a single mass of energy).那大约就是宇宙形成的时候。研究人员的发现既令人惊讶，又在人们的意料之中：美国国家航空航天局的Cobe号宇宙背景探测器已经发现了划时代的证据，表明宇宙确实起源于最早的一次爆炸，人们称之为"大爆炸"（此理论认为宇宙起源于一大块能量的爆炸）。1. 首句主干为“主系表”结构，即：that / was /just about the moment; that 引导定语从句，可译为“的”结构，即：那大约就是宇宙形成的时候。2. 二句主干为“主从+系动词+表语”结构，即：what the researchers found/ was/ at once both amazing and expected: … 该句翻译时，顺序翻译即可：研究人员的发现既令人惊讶，又在人们的意料之中：……3. “：”之后为“what the researchers found”的同位语从句，从句主干为“主谓宾”，即：the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Cosmic Background Explorer satellite—Cobe—/had discovered /landmark evidence; 译为：美国国家航空航天局的Cobe号宇宙背景探测器已经发现了划时代的证据4. that the universe did in fact begin with the primeval explosion为同位语从句，解释evidence的内容，其中did +begin with 为强调谓语动词的强调结构。例如：如果你的男人跟你说“I did love you.”意思是“我过去确实爱过你。”5. that has become known as the Big Bang (the theory that the universe originated in an explosion from a single mass of energy) 为定语从句，修饰the primeval explosion.The existence of the giant clouds was virtually required for the Big Bang, first put forward in the 1920s, to maintain its reign as the dominant explanation of the cosmos.
