The.cir who Watched the Stars 仰望星空的女孩

18世紀時，在江蘇南京，有一位名叫王貞儀的“奇女子”。她癡迷于天文學，通過科學實驗正確論述了日食、月食等天文現象。為了紀念她在天文學領域作出的貢獻，1994年，國際天文學聯合會用她的名字命名了金星上的一個隕石坑。在“中國航天日”到來之際，讓我們走進古代中國女科學家王貞儀的故事，去聽一聽她如何抒寫那“仰望星空”的傳奇！

In ancient China， people believed that an eclipse（日食；月食） was a sign of gods’ anger（憤怒）. As we know， there’s a well-known old Chinese story called Tiangou Ate the Moon（《天狗吃月亮》）. But Wang Zhenyi didn’t think so. She believed in facts（事實） and always wanted to find out the truth behind the story.

Wang Zhenyi did experiments（實驗） at home， using a round table， a lamp and a mirror. The table was Earth， the lamp was the sun， and the mirror was the moon. She moved them around to understand their motions（運動）. Guess what she found out！

When the moon moves in front of the sun， it can cover the sun and make a solar eclipse（日食）. When Earth comes between the sun and the moon， it blocks（阻礙） the sunlight from reaching the moon and make a lunar eclipse（月食）.

Wang Zhenyi also did her best to explain some maths ideas in simple ways and made guides for the beginners（初學者）.

Wang Zhenyi died at the age of 29， like a shooting star（流星）. But the whole world remembers what she did for us. In 1994， the International Astronomical Union（國際天文學聯合會） named a crater on Venus（金星上的隕石坑） after her. The girl who watched the stars has now become a shinning star in history.