正文部分

Frozen Smoke
固体烟

Male:What's as light as smoke but strong as a brick?
什么东西既可以跟烟一样轻，又可以跟砖块一样重？
Female:I'm gonna take a while guess and say... aerogel?
让我想会儿……气凝胶？
Male:Sorry,yaoyao,the answer is... Wait a second! Did you say aerogel? How did you know?
瑶瑶，不好意思，答案是……等等！你说的是气凝胶吗？你是怎么知道的？
F:Yeap! Did you know that aerogel is the lightest solid on earth?
是的！你知道气凝胶是地球上最轻的固体吗？
M:I was going to tell you that.
我刚刚正要告诉你呢！
F:Another cool thing is that it starts out as a kind of chemical Jello. Then the gel is dried in a powerful pressure cooker and emerges as a very lightweight, dry, sponge-like material that looks like frozen smoke.
了不起的是，气凝胶开始是作为一种化学凝胶物的。然后胶体在压力很强的锅里变干，成为了一种重量很轻、很干燥、类似海绵状，看起来像固体烟雾的物体。
M:OK! Did you know that aerogel is ninety-nine-point-eight percent air?
是的！那你知道气凝胶中99.8%都是空气吗？
F:Sure.That was in your notes.And it's incredibly light-one thousand times less dense than glass. But it's also really strong and an excellent insulator.
知道啊！你的笔记中有的！气凝胶相当的轻，轻到密度只有玻璃的千分之一。但它也很结实，是几号的绝缘体。
M:Is there anything you don't know about aerogel? For instance,scientists are using it to try to capture dust particles from the tail of a comet. When the particlesslam into an aerogelpanel aboard a space probe, they'll bury themselves inside and leave visible trails. Since aerogel is mostly air, it won't damage the particles.
关于气凝胶，你还有什么不知道的吗？比如说，科学家正在试图用它捕捉彗星经过的微尘。当（微尘）颗粒猛烈撞击到航空探测器上的气凝胶板时，它们将会自然，从而留下可见的痕迹。因为气凝胶差不多等同于空气，并不会破坏（微尘）颗粒。
F:Actually, I know that too.
其实这个我也知道！

重点讲解

【Words & Expressions】

aerogel：气凝胶，又称为干凝胶。是一种固体物质形态，世界上密度最小的固体。当凝胶脱去大部分溶剂，使凝胶中液体含量比固体含量少得多，或凝胶的空间网状结构中充满的介质是气体，外表呈固体状，这即为干凝胶，也称为气凝胶。

slam into：猛烈撞击

space probe：航空探测器