VOA常速英语2013--科学家们着手应对真实撞击地球小行星

 

Scientists Debate, Prepare for Killer¹ Asteroid² 科学家们着手应对真实撞击地球小行星

NEW YORK — Earthquakes,  Tsunamis,  Volcanoes.  Now, add asteroids³ to the list of natural disasters that can threaten humanity and all life on our planet. 

For decades, Hollywood films like Deep Impact and Armageddon have let moviegoers enjoy the terror of fictional⁴ earthbound asteroids from the safety of their seats.

几十年来,像是《天地大冲撞》和《绝世天劫》这样的经典好莱坞电影让影迷们在安全的座椅中就享受到小说中世界末日小行星撞击地球的恐怖感。

But on February 15th of this year, residents of Chelyabinsk in central Russia discovered that the threat is as real as it gets.

然而今年的2月15日,罗斯中部雅宾斯克的居民发现这种威胁变成了现实。

That meteorite⁵ wounded more than 1,000 people-a pinprick compared to the one that probably wiped out the dinosaurs⁶ 65 million years ago,

造成超过1000人受伤的这一陨石和6500万年前可能造成恐龙灭绝的那颗相比真是小巫见大巫,

and far more benign⁷ than the meteor that exploded over Siberia in 1908, leveling more than 2,000 square kilometers of forest.

而且比1908年在西伯利亚上空爆炸，面积超过2000平方公里森林的更为温和,

Or the meteorite that hit present day Arizona, 50,000 years ago, and made a crater⁸ large enough to swallow up the entire city of San Francisco.

要是撞击现今亚利桑那州的是50000年前的陨石,火山口足以吞下整个旧金山。

But those strikes were no flukes.

但这些撞击侥幸没有成功。

There are an estimated 10,000 known asteroids orbiting our region of the inner solar system.

据估计我们的太阳系内部区域有10000颗已知的小行星。

That's just one percent of the million or more asteroids scientists believe to be our near neighbors in the inner Solar System.

这只是科学家认为在我们的太阳系内部近邻小行星的百万分之一。

Recently, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson warned about....

最近,在美国自然历史博物馆在纽约,天体物理学家尼尔·格拉西·泰森就发出了这样的警告。

" ...asteroids crashing to earth as meteorites⁹ or exploding in the atmosphere. That would be bad," he said.

“…小行星作为陨石撞击地球或在大气中爆炸。这对人类而言将是灭顶之灾,”他说道。

He invited a group of concerned astronaut-scientists from the Association of Space Explorers, which included Thomas Jones.

他邀请了一些关心的宇航员及来自太空探险者协会的科学家们,其中包括托马斯·琼斯在内。

“So one of these big explosions is capable of causing a global shutdown in agriculture and starving billions of people to death, as well as those who are killed by the actual explosion itself.

“所以其中的一次大爆炸能引起全球农业瘫痪并且数十亿人因此饿死,而且实际的爆炸本身也能造成人员伤亡。

Now small asteroids might level a city, but we could still lose hundreds of thousands of people," said Jones.

现在的小行星虽然可能只有一个城市般大小,但我们仍然会有成千上万人丧命,”琼斯说道。

Asteroids are chunks¹⁰ of dark mineral rich rock that reflect almost no sunlight, so they are hard to spot from Earth.

小行星是几乎不反射光的大块黑色富含矿物质的岩石块,所以很难从地球观测。

But infrared¹¹ sensors¹² on a space-based telescope could detect the heat they have absorbed from the sun.

但太空望远镜的红外传感器能够探测它们从太阳吸收的热能。

That will be the job of the Sentinel Deep Space Telescope, bristling¹³ with infrared sensors, along with mapping and communications gear.

这将是密布着红外传感器,以及映射和通讯设备的哨兵深外太空望远镜的首要任务。

The Sentinel mission is the brainchild of former astronaut Edward Lu and his B612 Foundation, which is committed to reducing the asteroid threat.

哨兵任务是由前宇航员爱德华·卢和致力于减少小行星威胁的他的B612基金会发起。

Sentinel is scheduled to launch in 2018.

哨兵预期将在2018年发射。

“Our telescope is sensitive enough that you actually can see a charcoal¹⁴ briquette against a black sky from ten times the distance from New York to Los Angeles," said Lu.

“我们的望远镜足够敏锐,你真的可以从黑夜里纽约到洛杉矶十倍的距离外观测到这些木炭煤球,” 卢说道。

Once the asteroids are spotted¹⁵ and their orbits determined¹⁶, an earthbound asteroid can be nudged slightly off course with a satellite deflector or a high velocity¹⁷ projectile¹⁸, or blown up with nuclear weapons, causing it to miss its deadly rendezvous¹⁹.

一旦小行星被观测到并且确定其轨道, 卫星偏转器或高速射弹,或动用核武器可以使目标地球的小行星稍微偏离原有路线,让这次致命的约会永远泡汤。

Much like Hollywood imagined it would in the 1957 science fiction film The Day the Sky Exploded.

很像1957年好莱坞科幻电影《天空大爆炸》的桥段吧。

But this time it's the real world that would be saved.

但这一次拯救的可是真正的世界。

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

3 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

4 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

5 meteorite   

n.陨石；流星

参考例句：

• The meteorite in Jilin Exhibition Hall is believed to be the largest in the world.吉林展览馆的陨石被认为是世界上最大的。
• The famous Murchison meteorite smashed into the Australian ground in 1969.1969年著名的默奇森陨石轰然坠落在澳大利亚。

6 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

8 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

9 meteorites   

n.陨星( meteorite的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• One theory about the existence of extraterrestrial life rests on the presence of carbon compounds in meteorites. 地球外存在生命的理论是基于陨星上存在碳化合物质这一事实的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

11 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

12 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

13 bristling   

a.竖立的

参考例句：

• "Don't you question Miz Wilkes' word,'said Archie, his beard bristling. "威尔克斯太太的话，你就不必怀疑了。 "阿尔奇说。他的胡子也翘了起来。
• You were bristling just now. 你刚才在发毛。

14 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

15 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

16 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

17 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

18 projectile   

n.投射物，发射体；adj.向前开进的；推进的；抛掷的

参考例句：

• The vertical and horizontal motions of a projectile can be treated independently.抛射体的竖直方向和水平方向的运动能够分开来处理。
• Have you altered the plans of the projectile as the telegram suggests?你已经按照电报的要求修改炮弹图样了吗?

19 rendezvous   

n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇

参考例句：

• She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
• I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。