小兄弟威胁着地球(1)

Suns Hidden Twin Stalks Planet Earth
太阳隐藏着的小兄弟威胁着地球

[1] When the end of the world comes, we'll know what to blame. Scientists have found compelling evidence that the Sun has a baby brother, a dark star whose eccentric orbit is responsible for periodically showering the Earth with comets and meteorites¹.

[2] The dark star--named Nemesis² by astronomers³--is thought to be a brown dwarf⁴" that spins round the Sun in an orbit so large it is measured in light years, the distance light travels in a year, equivalent to about 6,000 billion miles.

[3] The research suggests that, every 26m years, the star's eccentric orbit brings it within one light year of the solar system. There it causes havoc⁵ in the Oort Cloud, a huge region surrounding the solar system that contains billions of bits of cosmic rubble⁶ left over from the formation of planets.

[4] Of the millions of rocks it throws out of orbit at each visit, some hurtle Earthwards--and have several times nearly wiped out life on Earth.

[5] Astronomers have long wondered if the Sun has a smaller partner. Recently, two independent groups of researchers have found evidence of one.

 

[1]当世界末日来临时我们将知道该去责备什么。科学家们已发现明显的迹象表明：太阳有一个小弟弟，它是一颗暗星，其偏心轨道导致彗星群和流星雨周期性降落地球。

[2]这颗被天文学家叫做复仇女神星的暗星被认为是一颗"褐矮星"，它围绕太阳旋转的轨道大得要用光年计量，光年是光在一年中走过的距离，大约等于 6万亿英里。

[3]研究表明，每经过2600万年，这颗星的偏心轨道就将它带到距太阳系1光年的范围内。在那里，它引起了奥尔特云的浩劫，奥尔特云是一个巨大的围绕太阳系的区域，里面包含了数十亿从行星形成中分离出来的宇宙碎块。

[4]它每一次访问太阳系时，都从轨道上甩出上百万个岩块，其中一些飞向地球的方向--有几次几乎摧毁地球上的生命。

[5]天文学家长期以来一直怀疑太阳是否有一个小伴星。最近，两个独立的研究小组已经发现了一些端倪。

1 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》

2 nemesis   

n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手

参考例句：

• Uncritical trust is my nemesis.盲目的相信一切害了我自己。
• Inward suffering is the worst of Nemesis.内心的痛苦是最厉害的惩罚。

3 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

5 havoc   

n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city.地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• This concentration of airborne firepower wrought havoc with the enemy forces.这次机载火力的集中攻击给敌军造成很大破坏。

6 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。