O型人看到月亮,可能会想起嫦娥和那只玉兔;A型人看到月亮可能会想到它只不过是一个通过反射太阳光而发亮的地球的小邻居。我们早知嫦娥和玉兔并不存在,但月亮也并不是一块冷冰冰的反光石,数十亿年来,它一直是我们的难兄难弟。
美式发音 适合精读
Since long before the birth of humankind, the moon has been the Earth’s constant companion.
But until relatively recently we’ve known little about its true nature.
早在人类诞生之前,月亮早就已经是地球的忠实伙伴了。
可一直到最近,我们才开始了解它的真实状况。
Strong Backer 坚强后盾
During this early period of its life, the moon had its most profound effects on Earth. The 1)massive collision that created the moon was so powerful that it knocked the Earth off balance, onto an axis of 23.5 degrees. It’s this tilt that gives us our spring, summer, autumn and winter. If we spun on a vertical axis—like the planet 2)Mercury, seasons wouldn’t exist.
在月亮史的早期,它对地球的影响最为深远。当初导致月亮形成的太空大碰撞威力强大,以致地球也失去了原有的平衡,使其轴心倾斜至23.5度。正是这种倾斜让我们有了春夏秋冬四季。如果地球也像水星那样围绕着一个垂直的轴心旋转的话,那我们就不会有季节了。
But the moon did more than merely produce this tilt—it also maintains it. The strong 3)gravitational pull of our moon acts as a global 4)gyroscope stabilizing the Earth’s axis. Without our “Global Stabilizer,” our axis could vary between 0 and 90 degrees. This would alter the distribution of sunlight across the surface of the planet, devastating our finely balanced weather systems. Climate patterns would go 5)berserk. The tropics could find themselves frozen under ice, and Antarctica would be transformed into a vast desert. But luckily, the moon saves us from such disasters and allows life to exist.
不过,月亮不仅制造了地球的这种倾斜状态,更重要的是它还让地球保持这种状态。月亮强大的引力就像是地球的一个陀螺仪,保证了地球轴心的稳定性。没有了这个“地球稳定器”,地球的轴心角度可能会在0到90度之间。那地球表面日照的分布则会与现今不同,破坏了现有已运行良好的平衡气候系统。气候模式会变得难以预测。热带地区是一片冰天雪地,而南极则会变成无际的沙漠。但幸运的是,月亮让我们免受灾难,让生命得以在地球上生存。
Disaster Reliever 挺身而出
When we look at our moon today, the first things we tend to notice are the 6)craters. Most of these craters came from 7)meteorites hitting the moon. The largest crater we can see from our planet is the 8)Imbrium Basin, which is 1,100 kilometers across. Moon craters come in various sizes but almost all were created at about the same time.
如今,我们举头望月,往往会留意到上面的环形山,这些环形山大多是因为陨石撞击月亮而形成。我们从地球上能看到的最大的环形山是雨盆地,直径大约是一千一百公里。这些环形山大小不一,但几乎全部都形成于同一时间。
Around four billion years ago, a chance 9) alignment of the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn changed the shapes of their orbits. This created a 10)slingshot effect—hurling 11)asteroids towards the inner solar system, straight at Earth and its young moon.
在四十亿年前,巨大的气体行星木星和土星发生的一次偶然的调整改变了它们的运行轨道,这导致了一次弹弓效应—— 一批小行星被甩向太阳系内圈,直飞向地球及其年轻的月亮。
And the Earth’s gravity made it worse—pulling meteorites and asteroids directly towards it. On its own, the tiny moon might have escaped with less damage, but it was too close to the Earth. So, asteroids heading for impact with Earth, hit the moon instead.
而地球本身的引力让情况雪上加霜——将陨石和小行星引向自己。个头并不大的月亮自己引来的损害可能不会太大,但因为它离地球太近了,于是,原本飞向地球的小行星砸向了月亮。
The moon became the first victim of 12)collateral damage.
月亮成了连带损失的第一个受害者。
The Ultimate Force 终极力量
Three billion years ago, the moon was too far away to have a dramatic effect on the rocks of the Earth, but the moon did affect the oceans. As the moon passed overhead, its gravity created tides in the water. But these weren’t like the tides of today. They were hundreds of meters high.
三十亿年前,月亮离地球太远了,不能对地球上的石头产生什么影响,但它却对海洋产生了作用。每当月亮从我们头顶经过,它的引力就会引起海潮,但那个时候的海潮可与今天的不同,它们高达数百米。
Neil Comins (Astronomer): They probably would have covered hundreds of miles and then they would come back 13)scouring the land, taking debris from the surface of the Earth into the oceans.
尼尔·康明斯(天文学家):那些海潮很可能冲入离岸数百英里的陆地,然后在退潮的时候,潮水冲刷着大地,把陆地表面的各种碎片卷到海里。
The material sucked into the seas contained minerals and nutrients. And the tides created by the moon churned these into the most crucial cocktail in the history of the Earth—the 14)Primordial Soup. Different combinations of minerals were bound together, and torn apart. And it was in this violent melting pot that the right combination of minerals was forged into life.
被卷到大海的物质含有矿物质和营养物。由月亮引起的潮汐把这些都调成了地球历史上起决定性作用的鸡尾酒——地球原生汤。不同矿物质的混合物被搅拌在一起,又被拆开。正是在这个动荡的大熔炉里,各种矿物质比例都恰到好处的混合物打造了生命。
The power of the nearby moon has dramatically reshaped our planet. Over the last three billion years, the moon has continued its journey out into space. Its influence has waned, but it hasn’t disappeared.
地球附近的这个月亮的力量曾惊人地改变了我们这个星球。在过去的三十亿年里,月亮一直继续着它自己在太空的旅程,它对地球的影响已有所减弱,但并没有消失。
翻译:T Boy