英语听力文摘 English Digest 578、什么是太阳能龙卷风？

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　　Large, Earth bound tornadoes are pretty impressive weather events. Those dark, giant funnel² clouds inspire much awe³ and fear. But they’re nothing compared to so called solar tornadoes solar gases swirling⁴ in monstrous⁵ formations deep within the sun’s atmosphere, measuring the width of several Earths and spinning at up to 190,000 miles per hour.

 

　　Scientists have known about solar tornadoes for some time. But just recently they’ve captured a massive one on camera for the first time. Unlike earthly tornadoes, which consist of powerful swirling winds, solar tornadoes are magnetic events involving super heated gasses being sucked up from the sun towards its atmosphere.

 

　　The gasses drag magnetic fields and electrical currents in their wake, carrying them into the star’s high atmosphere.

 

　　Now, earthly tornadoes are noteworthy for the material damage they can cause. While solar tornadoes are no threat to trailer parks, they may be implicated⁶ in other sorts of mayhem.

 

　　Scientists believe that solar tornadoes often occur in conjunction with a coronal mass ejection when a part of the sun’s atmosphere breaks off and jets through space. These ejections cause solar storms that can make satellites go on the fritz and even affect the earth’s electrical grid⁷.

 

　　So the more scientists understand about what causes solar tornadoes and how they work, the better able they may be to predict solar storms that can damage man made technology.

 

　　什么是太阳能龙卷风

 

　　巨大的地球龙卷风是非常惊人的天气现象。那些黑色的巨型漏斗云让人感到敬畏和恐惧。但跟太阳能龙卷风相比它们根本就不算什么。太阳能龙卷风是在太阳大气层深处形成的巨大的太阳气体漩涡，其宽度堪比几个地球，其旋转速度高达每小时19万英里。

 

　　科学家对太阳能龙卷风的了解已经有段时间了。但就在最近，他们首次用照相机捕捉到一次大型的太阳能龙卷风。这种龙卷风和地球上的龙卷风不同，它不是由强大的旋风组成，而是太阳能大气层吸收超热气体所产生的一种磁力现象。

 

　　这些气体牵引其后的磁场和电流，将其带入太阳的高层大气中。

 

　　如今，地球上的龙卷风因其能够造成物质破坏而被人们所关注。虽然太阳能龙卷风不会对活动房屋构成威胁，但它们可能会造成其它危害。

 

　　科学家们认为，当部分太阳大气层分流并向太空喷射时，太阳能龙卷风经常会随着日冕物质喷射而发生。这些喷射会引发太阳能风暴，太阳能风暴可以导致卫星故障甚至还会影响到地球上的电网。

 

　　因此，如果科学家们能更多地了解太阳能龙卷风形成的原因及如何起作用的话，他们就能对这种可以破坏人造科技的太阳能风暴作出更准确的预测。

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