本集内容

Defending ourselves from meteorites 保护地球免受太空陨石的侵害

学习要点

有关 “space（太空）” 的词汇

边看边答

Why are meteorites easy to see on the Antarctic ice?

文字稿

Do you want to find a meteorite? Well, here is where to look – out on the Antarctic ice. The pristine white surface makes meteorites easier to see.

你想找一颗陨石吗？你可以在南极的冰面上试试！这里一尘不染的白色表面让陨石更容易被看到。

Alexander Gerst is part of a team hunting for rocks from space, which makes sense because he has spent a lot of his time up here.

亚历山大·格斯特是一个寻找太空陨石的团队的一员。这件事情说得通，因为他在太空中呆过很长的时间。

He is a former commander of the International Space Station and has spent more time in orbit than any other European. But he is back on Earth searching for clues about the origin of our Solar System.

他是国际空间站的前指令长，在轨道上停留的时间比任何一位欧洲宇航员都多。但他已返回地球，寻找有关太阳系起源的线索。

His boss on the ice gives me a lesson in how to find a meteorite.

他的上司在冰面上，给我上了一堂如何找到陨石的课。

So John has found more meteorites than anyone else. So we're going to simulate finding a meteorite – we’ve placed one on the snow over there, right? So we've been driving on the Ski-Doo. We've spotted it over there. What happens next?

约翰发现的陨石数量比任何人都多。我们要模拟找到一颗陨石的过程，我们已经在那边的雪地上放了一颗陨石，我们一路骑着雪地摩托车过来。我们已经发现那边有一块石头。接下来怎么办？

John Schutt, Antarctic Search for Meteorites
Well, the next thing we’ll do is walk over to confirm whether it is a meteorite or not.

约翰·舒特     南极陨石搜寻计划
“我们接下来要做的事情是走过去确认它是不是一颗陨石。”

So you’re not allowed to touch it, are you?

你们不能触摸它，对吗？

John Schutt, Antarctic Search for Meteorites
You don’t want to touch it – and we’re upwind of it too – I don’t want to drip my nose on it!

约翰·舒特     南极陨石搜寻计划
“你可不想直接触摸它，而且我们现在是顶着风，我不想把鼻涕滴在石头上！”

No, snot is the least of it. There are strict rules to ensure nothing contaminates the meteorites.

石头上不能有鼻涕是最基本的注意事项。有严格的规定，确保陨石不被污染。

Most meteorites date back billions of years, right to the birth of the Solar System, so the research here helps us understand how the Earth itself was formed and it could also protect our planet.

大多数陨石形成的时间都可追溯到数十亿年前，正是太阳系形成的时候，所以这项研究有助于我们理解地球本身是如何形成的，这项研究也可以保护我们的星球。

Alexander Gerst, European Space Agency
Everybody knows that the dinosaurs came to extinction because of the big, big asteroid crashing into Earth and that was long ago but nowadays, still we have asteroids hitting Earth. Sooner or later, a bigger one is going to hit us. They're made of, in principle, the same stuff as some of these rocks that we find out there on the Polar plateau. If ever one comes straight at us and we realise that – well, we can only do something about that if we know exactly what it’s made of.

亚历山大·格斯特     欧洲航天局
“众所周知，恐龙灭绝是因为有一颗巨大的小行星撞击地球，那是很久以前的事情了，但如今仍有小行星撞击地球。迟早会有一颗更大的小行星撞上我们。小行星的构成，原则上讲，和我们在极地高原上发现的这些岩石的构成相同。如果我们意识到有一颗小行星向我们直冲过来，那么只有知道它是由什么构成的，我们才能作出相应的处理。”

For astronaut Alex, the rocks hold a personal significance.

对于宇航员亚历山大来说，这些岩石具有个人意义。

Alexander Gerst, European Space Agency
You see things coming from outer space, zipping past you into the Earth's atmosphere and that's the weird thought when you, for the first time in your life, see a shooting star from above realising, hey, that thing just flew past me.

亚历山大·格斯特     欧洲航天局
“你看到来自外太空的东西从你身边呼啸而过，进入地球的大气层，这是当你有生以来第一次看到一颗流星飞过上空时，产生的一种奇怪的想法，嘿，那个东西刚从我身边飞过去。”

So his Antarctic trip kind of closes a circle. The astronaut has recovered the remains of shooting stars on Earth so we can understand our planet a bit better.

所以，他在南极寻找陨石的探索之旅暂时画上了句号。这名宇航员在地球上找到了流星的残骸，这样一来，我们就能更好地了解我们的星球。

词汇

meteorite 陨石

orbit （天体围绕行星或恒星运行的）轨道

Solar System 太阳系

asteroid 小行星

shooting star 流星

问题答案

The Antarctic’s pristine white surface makes meteorites easier to see.