Stars 1 n Their Eyes

The ScientificAmerican Book of the Cosmos edited by David Levy,Macmillan，￡20,ISBN 0333782933

Previous generationsof scientists would have killed to know what we know.For the first time inhistory，we have a prettygood idea of the material content of the

Universe,ourposition within it and how the whole thing came into being.

In these times ofexploding knowledge there 15 a definite need to take stock and assemble what weknow in a palatahle（受欢迎的）form._____(46)

The essays in TheScientific American Book of the Cosmos have been selected by David Levy,co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9,which in 1 994 struck Jupiter with

the violence ofsev-eral full-scale nuclear wars.______(47)This is certainly a great collectionof essays,but it is not,as the book promises,a seamless（完美的，无缝隙的）

synthesis of ourcurrent knowledge.

Nobody can fault therange of articles Levy has included.There are essays on the planets, moons andassorted debris（碎片）in theSolar System,and on our Galaxy,the

MIIky Way._____(48)

Thecontributors,too,are stars in their own fields.Not many books can boastchapterswritten by such giants as Erwin Schrodinger and Francis Crick .Mypersonal favorites are

a piercingly clearessay by Albert Einstein on general relativity and an article by Alan Guth andPaul Stein-hardt on the inflationary（膨胀的）Universe.

So much for thebook's content.But Levy has not succeeded in providing an accurate synthe-sisof our current knowledge of the cosmos,which the book jacket

promises.Gatheringtogether previously published articles inevitably leaves subject gaps,missingexplanations and so on. ______(49)But there isn't one.In fact,surprisingly for

a book so denselypacked with infor-mation,there is no index.

Collecting essays inthis way is clearly a good publishing wheeze（巧妙的主意）.But this approach shortchanges the public,whowould be better served by an account

moulded into aseamless whole.______(50)However,for the next edition,please,please can we havean index?_____(50)

A..Tegmark fears hemay hold the record for the longest time taken to read one book.

B. In a morepositive vein,this is a wonderful collection of essays to dip in and out of ifyou already have a good overview（概述）of current cosmic understanding.

C. Levy is an activeastronomer and an accomplished writer,so you'd expect him to provide a broadand accurate picture of our current understanding of the cosmos.

D.ScientificAmerican has attempted to cater to this need by bringing together essays thathave appeared in the magazine.

E.To someextent,these could have been plugged with a glossary（词表）of terms.