It does what it says on the tin
名副其实
- (it) does (exactly) what it says on the tin （尤用于比较广告宣传和实际产品）和所说的一样好，名副其实
The Extremely Large Telescope will transform astronomy
极大望远镜将让天文学改观
It will be the world’s biggest optical telescope by far—and a powerful time machine
它将是世界上遥遥领先的第一大光学望远镜，也是一台强大的时间机器
IT IS THE colours of a sunset that inspire Joseph Anderson, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in the high Atacama desert, in northern Chile. “They start off very blue and turquoise. And gradually, as it gets more purple, then we’re getting closer to observing the universe.” Once night falls the sky is dominated by the star-spangled curve of the Milky Way. If there were any extra left to give, more than two kilometres above sea level, your correspondent’s breath would have been taken away.
智利北部高海拔的阿塔卡马沙漠（Atacama）上日落降临，天空中变幻的色彩引领着欧洲南方天文台（European Southern Observatory，以下简称ESO）驻智利天文学家约瑟夫·安德森（Joseph Anderson）。“晚霞一开始是蓝绿交映，渐渐变得越来越紫，这时我们差不多可以开始观察宇宙了。”夜幕降临后，璀璨的银河横贯中天。海拔2000多米的此时此刻令笔者叹为观止。
- turquoise 绿松石；绿松石色；青绿色
- spangle 用闪光片布满（或装饰）
The Atacama is home to more than a dozen different astronomical observatories, and for good reason. It is far from the light pollution of civilisation. The air is thin and dry, which improves what astronomers call the “seeing”. And the desert averages 325 cloudless nights each year. Dr Anderson is standing on top of a mountain called Cerro Paranal, showing off the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The VLT is made up of four individual telescopes, each individually one of the largest in the world, alongside another four much smaller ones. It is Earth’s most productive astronomical facility, yielding more than one scientific paper each day. In 2004 it took the first picture of an extrasolar planet—one that orbits a star other than the Sun—and was the first instrument to track individual stars whipping around the enormous black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.
在阿塔卡马沙漠有十多个不同的天文观测站，这是有充分理由的。这里远离人类文明的光污染。空气稀薄而干燥，可以提高天文学家所说的“视宁度”。阿塔卡马沙漠平均每年有325个夜晚晴空万里。安德森站在帕拉纳尔山（Cerro Paranal）山顶，向记者展示着“甚大望远镜”（Very Large Telescope，以下简称VLT）。VLT由四个独立的望远镜组成，每一个都是世界上最大的望远镜之一，旁边还有另外四个小得多的望远镜。VLT是地球上产出成果最多的天文设施，每天产出一篇以上的科学论文。2004年，它拍下了第一张太阳系外行星的照片（即一颗围绕太阳以外的恒星运行的行星），并且首次观测到围绕银河系中心巨大黑洞旋转的恒星。
- whip 迅速地移动
