神秘的月球 第12期

 　　And the answer that occurred to me first,

　　我首先想到的是

　　was it looked like another moon peeking¹ out behind lo.

　　它看起来像是从木卫一后方露出来的另一个卫星

　　But when she looked closer she realised it

　　但仔仔观察后她才发现

　　was something completely different.

　　完全不是这么回事

　　When I explored it I was able to find

　　我仔仔研究后才发现

　　that this large strange object,

　　这个巨大的奇怪物体

　　huge plume² of a volcanic³ eruption⁴ arising 270 km

　　原来是木卫一表面火山喷发

　　over the surface of lo and raining back down onto it.

　　造成的270公里高的烟流

　　So I had discovered the first ever

　　所以我是第一个在地球以外的地方

　　volcanic eruption ever seen on another world besides the earth.

　　看到火山喷发的人

　　Io's vibrant⁵ volcanic activity is caused

　　来自木星的巨大引力

　　by the massive gravitational pull exerted by Jupiter,

　　挤压木卫一，并将它从内部加热

　　which squeezes and heats the moon internally.

　　导致木卫一上的火山活动，特别活络

　　You could actually see by the edge of lo plumes⁶ of

　　观察木卫一的边缘会发现

　　what turned out to be sulphur dioxide gas shooting up

　　大量由二氧化硫组成的烟流

　　into space about 100 miles and dropping all this sulphur dioxide

　　喷至一百里的高空

　　snow back on the surface and the whole place is stained red

　　并像雪花般地落回木卫一的表面

　　and yellow with sulphur.

　　整个木卫一被硫磺染得红黄相间

　　It's an incredible place.

　　很不可思议

　　Here was a moon to swoon over.

　　这是个令人着迷的卫星

　　It was far more exciting and exotic than our own boring,

　　它比我们单调、死寂的月球

　　lifeless moon.

　　刺激多了

　　And lo was just the beginning.

　　而且木卫一只是开始

　　Soon another of Jupiter's moons Europa was also wowing scientists.

　　不久之后，木星的另一颗卫星：木卫二也让科学家大为惊艳

　　Europa's surface had no craters⁷.

　　木卫二的表面没有陨石坑

　　Close up it was covered in cracks and canyons⁸.

　　仔看之下会发现其上布满了裂隙与峡谷

　　Europaclearly had a very young surface.

　　木卫二的表面显然非常年轻

　　We could tell that there weren't many large impact craters

　　看得出来它并没有很多大型撞击圆坑

　　and the surface was relatively⁹ smooth and, and cracked.

　　表面相对而言十分平滑，上面有裂隙

　　Not chasms¹⁰ going deep down into it

　　不是深入地底的地表裂痕

　　but cracks filled in with something darker.

　　而是充满某种黑色物质的裂隙

　　A recently active surface.

　　其表面近期内曾有过地质活动

　　Looking at it scientists realised it was similar

　　科学家发现木卫二的表面看来十分眼熟

　　to scenes they knew from earth from the poles.

　　因为它跟地球的两极很像

　　Europa was covered in ice.

　　木卫二曾被冰层复盖

　　And because there were no craters they knew

　　因为表面没有坑洞

　　that the ice must have melted and refrozen many times.

　　所以科学家知道冰层一定曾多次融解、结冻

　　And that could mean only one thing:

　　这只有一个意义

　　There had to be liquid water

　　木卫二上曾经存在

　　the crucial ingredient for life on Europa.

　　生命的关键元素，也就是水

　　It got even more exciting when scientists began to speculate

　　科学家开始推测

　　where the heat to melt the ice was coming from.

　　融化冰层的热力来自何处时

　　Again the answer lay within our own planet.

　　情况就更令人兴奋了

　　On the floors of the oceans of the earth,

　　这个问题的答案也存在地球上

　　scientists had discovered "black smokers";

　　科学家在海底发现了所谓的“黑烟囱”

　　volcanic heat sources coming from below the earth's crust,

　　也就是来自地壳下方的火山热源

　　warming the water from below.

　　由下方加热海水

　　Perhaps hot vents¹¹ like these could exist under Europa's icy crust.

　　也许木卫二的冰层下方也有像这样的热源

　　Scientists could barely contain their excitement

　　科学家兴奋得无法自持

　　liquid water and a volcanic heat source sounded like

　　对许多人来说，液态水和火山热源

　　the kind of conditions that many believe gave birth to life on earth.

　　听起来很像地球上出现生命时的状况

1 peeking   

v.很快地看( peek的现在分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• I couldn't resist peeking in the drawer. 我不由得偷看了一下抽屉里面。
• They caught him peeking in through the keyhole. 他们发现他从钥匙孔里向里窥视。 来自辞典例句

2 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

3 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

4 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

5 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

6 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。

7 craters   

n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等

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》
• The battlefield was full of craters made by exploding shells. 战场上布满弹坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网

9 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

10 chasms   

裂缝( chasm的名词复数 )； 裂口； 分歧； 差别

参考例句：

• She found great chasms in her mathematics and physics. 她觉得她的数学课和物理课的知识还很欠缺。
• The sectarian chasms remain deep, the wounds of strife raw. 各派别的分歧巨大，旧恨新仇交织。

11 vents   

（气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩

参考例句：

• He always vents his anger on the dog. 他总是拿狗出气。
• The Dandelion Patch is the least developed of the four active vents. “蒲公英区”在这四个活裂口中是发育最差的一个。