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科学美国人60秒 SSS 新模型旨在解决月球形成之谜

时间:2019-09-30 01:59:49

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(单词翻译)

New Model Aims to Solve Mystery of the Moon's Formation

On July 20th, 1969, humankind finally set foot on the surface of the moon. Fifty years later a big mystery remains1: how the heck the moon got there in the first place.

1969年7月20日,人类终于踏上了月球表面。五十年后,一个巨大的谜团依然存在:月球究竟是如何到达那里的?

For decades, the thinking has been that four and a half billion years ago a Mars-sized protoplanet smashed into the Earth. When the dust settled, our moon remained, forged from the debris2 of Earth and the other object.

几十年来,人们一直认为45亿年前一颗火星大小的原行星撞上了地球。尘埃落定后,我们的月球依然存在,它是由地球和其他物体的碎片锻造而成的。

Problem is, as scientists have taken more and more precise isotopic3 measurements of the Moon they've found that it's nearly identical in composition to the Earth—not some other object.

问题是,随着科学家们对月球进行越来越精确的同位素测量,他们发现月球与地球的成分几乎相同——而不是其他物体。

"A problem I've been advertising4 as an isotopic crisis." Jay Melosh studies planetary impacts at Purdue University. Now, he says, a new theory in the journal Nature Geoscience may at least point to a way out of that isotopic crisis of the moon’s chemical isotopes5 so closely resembling Earth’s.

“我一直把这个问题宣传为同位素危机。”杰伊·梅洛什在普渡大学研究行星撞击。现在,他说,发表在《自然地球科学》杂志上的一项新理论可能至少为解决月球化学同位素危机指明了一条出路。

Here's the idea. The authors, a team of Japanese scientists, write that maybe in those early days of the solar system the Earth was sloshing with oceans of magma. Then, when the Mars-sized object slammed into those molten seas, their models predict a lot more Earth-derived material got ejected into orbit in the form of scorching6 vapors7.

想法是这样的。研究报告的作者是一组日本科学家,他们写道,也许在太阳系的早期,地球上到处都是岩浆。然后,当这个火星大小的物体撞击到那些熔融的海洋中时,他们的模型预测会有更多来自地球的物质以灼热的蒸汽的形式喷射到轨道上。

"Temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees. And so that expands at speeds that exceed the escape velocity8 of the earth, and in that way it injects material into orbit around the Earth."

“温度高达数万度。所以它的膨胀速度超过了地球的逃逸速度,这样它就把物质注入地球的轨道。”

That material rapidly coalesces9, and bingo, you've got a moon. Melosh says there are still a few kinks to work out in the scenario10. Still, he says, it's a step forward.

这些物质会迅速结合,然后,得到了一个月球。梅洛什说,在这种情况下,仍然有一些问题需要解决。不过,他说,这向前迈出的一步。

"Think of it as a major clue in a murder mystery or something like that. It could be a true clue toward the answer or it could be a deception—we don't know yet." So it could be that when astronauts started walking on the moon a half-century ago, they were really leaving footprints on the remains of the primordial11 Earth.

“你可以把它当做谋杀案或类似案件的主要线索。这可能是一个关于答案的真实线索,也可能是一个骗局——我们还不知道。”所以,当宇航员在半个世纪前开始在月球上行走时,他们可能真的在原始地球的遗迹上留下了脚印。


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1 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
2 debris debris     
n.瓦砾堆,废墟,碎片
参考例句:
  • After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
  • Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上,导致蛀牙。
3 isotopic 7ad2ece915960e8c295e01a4d04cc192     
adj.同位素的,合痕的
参考例句:
  • The isotopic signatures of most ancient limestones indicated the same process. 大多数古代石灰岩的同位素特征说明了同样的过程。 来自辞典例句
  • Isotopic discrimination is not likely. 同位素甄别是不可能的。 来自辞典例句
4 advertising 1zjzi3     
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
参考例句:
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
5 isotopes 92848c3160703e48dc3b552ac6f54115     
n.同位素;同位素( isotope的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • the many isotopes of carbon 碳的诸多同位素
  • Tritium is one of the mildest radioactive isotopes. 氚是最和缓的放射性同位素之一。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 scorching xjqzPr     
adj. 灼热的
参考例句:
  • a scorching, pitiless sun 灼热的骄阳
  • a scorching critique of the government's economic policy 对政府经济政策的严厉批评
7 vapors 94a2c1cb72b6aa4cb43b8fb8f61653d4     
n.水汽,水蒸气,无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 );自夸者;幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁(症)v.自夸,(使)蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • His emotions became vague and shifted about like vapors. 他的心情则如同一团雾气,变幻无常,捉摸不定。 来自辞典例句
  • They have hysterics, they weep, they have the vapors. 他们歇斯底里,他们哭泣,他们精神忧郁。 来自辞典例句
8 velocity rLYzx     
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。
9 coalesces c1623f594c597b0ea059c1fa39aaacaa     
v.联合,合并( coalesce的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • One air cell coalesces with another. 气房彼此融合。 来自辞典例句
10 scenario lZoxm     
n.剧本,脚本;概要
参考例句:
  • But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
  • This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。
11 primordial 11PzK     
adj.原始的;最初的
参考例句:
  • It is the primordial force that propels us forward.它是推动我们前进的原始动力。
  • The Neanderthal Man is one of our primordial ancestors.的尼安德特人是我们的原始祖先之一.

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