Want to travel faster than light According to one of the most sacred principles of physics, that's impossible. In a vacuum, light travels at 186,282 miles per second, and in a medium like air or water, it goes only a bit slower, which is why when you turn on your bedside lamp, you don't have to wait half an hour before the light gets to your pillow. But now it turns out that with the right equipment, scientists can get light to go very, very slowly--as slow as 38 miles per hour. They think they can get it to move even slower, around two hundredths of a mile per hour.
Putting the brakes on light might have applications years down the road, but right now it's a fascinating new physical property. To get there, physicists led by Lene Vestergaard Hau of the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge, Mass., used a tiny blob of supercooled sodium, activated with a laser at a particular wavelength. A second laser can then be fired through the normally opaque sodium; it passes through, but not much faster than a racehorse can run.
The experiment, reported in last week's issue of the journal Nature, took advantage of a peculiar property called electromagnetically induced transparency. Every element has a certain color of light with which it interacts most strongly. Light at that exact wavelength would normally be totally absorbed. For sodium, the stuff these researchers used, it's the yellow of common street lights. But a laser at a slightly different wavelength, called a coupling beam, can alter the quantum properties of the atoms so they no longer absorb that wavelength. The quantum seas part, and a laser at the wavelength that should have been absorbed passes through unfettered.
But changing the way a medium absorbs light also transforms the way light moves through it. All transparent substances slow down the light that moves through them--that's why light seems to bend, or refract, when it passes from air to water. Electromagnetically induced transparency, says Stanford physicist Steve Harris, spectacularly alters sodium's refractive properties. Light takes seven microseconds to cross a sample only eight thousandths of an inch long; in the vacuum of space, light would go more than a mile in the same time.
The sodium slows light the most if it's in a special state, a quantum curiosity called a Bose-Einstein condensate. It's created when atoms are cooled until they stop moving almost entirely. The atoms merge; the quantum wave functions that define them combine into one. ``You need a very pure gas, very cold, and the atoms in it can't be colliding with each other,'' says Eric Cornell, a physicist at the University of Colorado at Boulder and one of the makers of the first Bose-Einstein condensate. Chilled to just billionths of a degree above absolute zero, individual sodium atoms become a single, dense glob, atoms vibrating in lockstep.
Superslow light will remain a laboratory curiosity for some time to come. If they can slow photons down enough--Hau is shooting for about a centimeter a second--scientists could make images of the light as it passes by. In theory, it might be brought virtually to a stop, although it's hard to know what you'd do then. Now, if only they could get it to go faster--that would be something.
1.What do scientists expect to achieve in the study of light
[A]They want to get rid of absorption of the light.
[B]They want to travel faster than light.
[C]They want to get the superslow light.
[D]They want to get the light to move even faster.
2.Which of the following is the advantage of electromagnetically induced transparency
[A]It causes no absorption of light.
[B]It makes the color of light much brighter.
[C]It stops the passing of light.
[D]It changes the nature of light.
3.The expression “putting the brakes on light”(Line 1, Paragraph 2) most probably means _______.
[A]activating light
[B]confining light
[C]reserving light
[D]slowing down light
4.Why does light seem to bend when crossing from air to water
[A]Light is absorbed when entering the water.
[B]Transparent substances slow down the light.
[C]Light changes its way when entering the water.
[D]The water reflects light when light travels across it.
5.Which of the following is true according to the text
[A]Superslow light has been applied widely.
[B]Light can even be brought to a stop.
[C]The research on superslow light still has a long way to go.
[D]It is impossible to travel faster than light.
答案：CADBC
篇章分析
本文采用先总括说明，后具体阐述的方式，介绍了科学的发展如何使比光速走的还快这一原本不可能出现的现象成为可能。第一段指出科学研究的新进展可以使光速变得非常非常缓慢；第二段指出这一研究的大体思路；第三段、四段和五段指出这一研究的具体研究方法；第六段指出目前这一研究领域的状况。
词汇注释
catch n. 捕获物；挂钩；锁环；诡计；难人的问题；蹊跷
put the [a] brake on [口]对...加以延缓; 缩减; 限制
blob n. 一滴，一团；小斑点；光泡，气泡；(不规则形状)液滴
Electromagnetically induced transparency电磁诱导增透性；电磁诱导透明
Bose-Einstein condensate玻色－爱因斯坦凝聚(态)
curiosity 奇特性；新奇的事物
lockstep n. 因循守旧，陈旧古板的做法, 前后紧接, 步伐一致
shoot for vi. 争取完成；企图达到；追求，力争
bring to a stop 使停止, 制止
if only adv. 只要，但愿；若是...那该多好啊; 真希望...; 只要, 只要...就好
be something 了不起, 很重要；有几分道理；有所安慰[满足]；(在某处)任职
难句突破
To get there, physicists led by Lene Vestergaard Hau of the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge, Mass., used a tiny blob of supercooled sodium, activated with a laser at a particular wavelength.
主体句式：physicists … used a tiny blob …
结构分析：本句是一个简单句。“to”表目的，“to get there”并不是说“要到达那里”，而是说“要达到这一步”；主语是“physicists”，“led by”之前其实省去了“who were”，这就变成了过去分词来修饰名词“physicists”;谓语是“used”；“a blob of”的意思是“一滴，一团”；“activated”的用法同“led”一样，之前省去了“which was”，用来修饰“sodium”。
句子译文：要达到这一步，由来自麻萨诸塞州剑桥市罗兰科学研究所的莱内维斯特嘉德豪教授领导的一个物理学家小组使用的是用特定波长激光激活的极其微小的一(滴)团超冷钠。
题目分析
1.答案为C，属事实细节题。文章开头用“WANT TO TRAVEL FASTER THAN light”这一本不可能的现象来引起读者的兴趣，其实这并不是此领域研究的目的。原文对应信息是：“But now it turns out that with the right equipment, scientists can get light to go very, very slowly--as slow as 38 miles per hour. They think they can get it to move even slower, around two hundredths of a mile per hour. ”，“Putting the brakes on light might have applications years down the road, but right now it's a fascinating new physical property.”以及“Superslow light will remain a laboratory curiosity for some time to come.”。从这些句子我们可看出科学家们是想研究出超慢光。
2.答案为A，属事实细节题。文章第三段开头讲述了这项实验是充分利用被称作电磁诱导增透性的特殊性质。然后具体介绍这是一种什么样的性质。本段最后一句“a laser at the wavelength that should have been absorbed passes through unfettered.”中“should have done”的意思是“原本应该怎么样，而实际却没怎么样”，这句话表达的意思是“这种波长的激光束是不被吸收的”。
3.答案为D，属猜词题。这里主要考查词组“put the [a] brake on”的用法，它的意思是“对...加以延缓; 缩减; 限制”。如果不清楚这个词组的含义，那么根据上下文应该能做出判断，分析如下：文章第一段引入的论题是科学家在研究如何能使光速慢下来，第二段就说到这一研究可能要到很多年以后才能加以应用，很显然这一研究指代的还是超慢光的问题，因此不难做出判断。
4.答案为B，属事实细节题。原文对应信息是“All transparent substances slow down the light that moves through them--that's why light seems to bend, or refract, when it passes from air to water.”
5.答案为C，属事实细节题。原文对应信息是：“Superslow light will remain a laboratory curiosity for some time to come.”从这句话我们可看出这一研究尚需相当一段时间。选项A的错误在于超慢光的具体应用还需若干年的研究开发，它在文中对应的信息是“Putting the brakes on light might have applications years down the road,”；选项B的错误在于缺少条件，原文对应信息是“In theory, it might be brought virtually to a stop.”其中“might be”表示一种可能性，“in theory”意思是“从理论上来说”；选项D的错误在于对原文的理解有误。文章开头提到想比光速还快是不可能的，但是科学的发展可以使光速慢下来，非常非常地慢，这样比光速还快就有可能了。
参考译文
你想飞得比光还快吗？根据物理学的一个最神圣的原理，这是不可能的。光在真空中的运行速度为每秒186,282英里, 而在一个像空气或水这样的介质中, 它行进的速度稍微有点慢，这就是为什么当你打开床头灯后，要让灯光达你的枕头，你用不着等半小时。但人们发现，使用合适的设备, 科学家就可以使光行进得非常、非常缓慢——慢到每小时只行走38英里。科学家认为，他们可以使光行进得甚至比这更慢，达到每小时约二百分之一英里。
对光速加以限制也许多少年后会得到广泛应用，但现在这仍然是一个令人神往的新的物理性质。要达到这一步，由来自麻萨诸塞州剑桥市罗兰科学研究所的莱内维斯特嘉德豪教授领导的一个物理学家小组使用的是用特定波长激光激活的极其微小的一(滴)团超冷钠。然后，通过通常不透明的钠发射第二束激光；光线虽能通过, 但它运动的速度不会比一匹赛马更快。
这项实验在上周的一期《自然》杂志上做了报道。这项实验利用的是一种被称作电磁诱导增透性的特殊性质。每个元素都有某种与它强烈互动的光色。这个波长上的光通常被完全吸收。而研究人员所使用的钠材料，是像普通的街灯一样的黄颜色。但一束波长稍稍不同的激光(被称为耦合光束)可把原子的量子性质改变得使原子不能再吸收该波长。大量的量子进行分离，在这个本应被吸收的波长上的激光束便毫无阻挡地通过。
但改变介质吸收光的方式也会改变光通过它的方式。一切透明物质都会减缓通过它的光的运动速度——这就是为什么当光由空中进入水中时，光看上去似乎被弯曲或折射的道理。斯坦福大学的物理学家史蒂夫哈里斯说，电磁诱导增透性可以令人惊奇的改变钠的折射性质。光穿过只有八千分之一英寸长的试样需要七微秒，而在空间真空中, 光在同样长的时间内可能会行驶一英里多。
如果使钠处在一个特别的状态, 即被称作玻色－爱因斯坦凝聚态的奇特的量子状态，钠对光的减速作用最大。这种结果是在原子被冷却到几乎完全停止运动时产生的。原子融合; 限制原子运动的量子波的功能融合为一个。科罗拉多大学博而德分校的物理学家埃里克康奈尔说：“你需要有非常纯净、温度极低的、其中的原子不能互相冷却的气体。”当单个的钠原子被冷却到绝对零度以上只有10亿分之一度的低温时，钠原子就变为一种单独、密集的原子团，此时，钠在“步伐一致地”振动。
超慢光将继续成为实验室未来相当一段时间内的一种神秘而新奇的东西。如果科学家能够使光子减慢到足够的程度——Hau教授力争使其达到大约每秒一厘米，那么，他们就可能在光经过它时画出光的图像。从理论上来说, 甚至可能会使它停下来，尽管你很难知道到那时你又该做些什么。但愿他们现在能够使这项工作进行得更快一些——这或许会成为震撼世界的大事。