| A collision 160 million years ago of two asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter sent many big rock chunks hurtling towards us, including the one that zapped the dinosaurs, scientists say. |
科學(xué)家們稱(chēng)：1.6億年前，在火星和木星之間運(yùn)行的兩顆小行星發(fā)生碰撞，使得很多大塊的巖石飛速?zèng)_向地球，其中包括毀滅了恐龍的那塊巖石。 |
| Their research offers an explanation for the cause of one of the most momentous events in the history of life on earth, a 10 kilometre-wide meteorite striking Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago.Many scientists believe that catastrophe eliminated the dinosaurs, which had flourished for about 165 million years, and many other life forms. |
恐龍的毀滅是地球生命史上最重要的事件之一?？茖W(xué)家們的研究為該事件的發(fā)生原因提供了一個(gè)解釋?zhuān)?/SPAN>6500萬(wàn)年前，一塊厚度為10英里的隕石撞擊了墨西哥尤卡坦半島。很多科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為：那次巨大的災(zāi)難消滅了恐龍和很多其他形式的生命；在此之前，恐龍已經(jīng)在地球上活躍了1.65億年。 |
| They say this event then paved the way for mammals to dominate the earth and the eventual rise of humankind. |
科學(xué)家們說(shuō)，當(dāng)時(shí)這一事件為哺乳動(dòng)物掌控地球打下了基礎(chǔ)，最終導(dǎo)致了人類(lèi)的興起。 |
| The impact is thought to have triggered a worldwide environmental cataclysm, expelling vast quantities of rock and dust into the sky, unleashing giant tsunamis, sparking global wildfires and leaving earth shrouded in darkness for years. |
科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為，那次撞擊導(dǎo)致了全世界范圍的環(huán)境災(zāi)難，向空中噴發(fā)出大量的巖石塊兒和塵埃，引發(fā)了大規(guī)模的海嘯，引起全球范圍的野火燃燒，使地球多年被包圍在黑暗之中。 |
| US and Czech researchers used computer simulations to calculate that there was a 90% probability that the collision of two asteroids - one about 170 kilometres wide and one about 60 kilometres wide - was the event that precipitated this disaster. |
美國(guó)和捷克的研究人員利用計(jì)算機(jī)模擬進(jìn)行了計(jì)算，結(jié)果為：兩顆小行星，一顆厚度約170英里，另一顆厚度約60英里，發(fā)生了碰撞，促成了地球上那次突如其來(lái)的災(zāi)難；這種可能性為90%。 |
|
The collision occurred in the asteroid belt, a collection of big and small rocks orbiting the sun about 180 million kilometres from earth, the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Nature. |
研究人員在本周的《自然》雜志上報(bào)道：那次碰撞發(fā)生在小行星帶，那里有許多大大小小的巖石圍繞著太陽(yáng)旋轉(zhuǎn)，距地球約1.8億公里。 |
| The asteroid Baptistina and rubble associated with it are thought to be leftovers, the scientists says. |
科學(xué)家們說(shuō)，他們認(rèn)為小行星“班普提斯蒂納”及隨其飛行的碎石是碰撞后的殘余物。 |
| Some of the debris from the collision escaped the asteroid belt, tumbled toward the inner solar system and whacked earth and our moon, along with probably Mars and Venus, says one of the researchers Dr William Bottke of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. |
研究人員之一、科羅拉多州波德西南研究院的威廉·波特克博士指出，一些源自碰撞的殘余石塊逃出小行星帶，朝著太陽(yáng)系內(nèi)部跌落，重?fù)袅说厍蚝驮虑?，很可能也撞擊了火星和金星?/SPAN> |
| Deadly collision |
致命的碰撞 |
| The collision is believed to have doubled for a while the number of impacts occurring in this part of the solar system. And while the bombardment of this region of the solar system due to this shower of debris peaked about 100 million years ago, the scientists say the tail end of the shower continues to this day. |
科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為，這次碰撞曾經(jīng)使太陽(yáng)系內(nèi)部區(qū)域的撞擊事件加倍。他們指出，碎石如陣雨般轟擊太陽(yáng)系的這個(gè)區(qū)域，盡管在約1億年前已經(jīng)達(dá)到轟擊高峰時(shí)期，但陣雨的尾聲一直持續(xù)到今天。 |
| Bottke says many existing near-earth asteroids can be traced back to this collision. |
波特克說(shuō)，很多現(xiàn)存的近地小行星都可以追溯到那次碰撞事件。 |
| The dinosaur-destroying meteorite plunged into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and blasted out the Chicxulub (pronounced CHIK-shu-loob) crater measuring about 180 kilometres wide. |
毀滅恐龍的那塊隕石重重地砸入墨西哥尤卡坦半島，砸出了?？颂K魯伯隕石坑，經(jīng)測(cè)量其口徑約為180公里。 |
| The researchers looked at evidence on the composition of this meteorite and found it consistent with the stony Baptistina. |
研究人員在這塊隕石的組成成分上調(diào)查證據(jù)，發(fā)現(xiàn)其成分跟小行星“班普提斯蒂納”一致。 |
| Moon crater |
月球的隕石坑 |
| The researchers estimate that there also was about a 70% probability that the prominent Tycho crater on the moon, formed 108 million years ago and measuring about 85 kilometres across, was also carved out by a remnant of the earlier asteroid collision. |
研究人員估計(jì)，月球上著名的第谷隕石坑形成于1.08億年前，直徑約85公里，也是那次較早小行星碰撞造成的。這種可能性為約70%。 |
| Dr Philippe Claeys of Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium, who was not involved in the research, says the findings are "clear evidence that the solar system is a violent environment and that collisions taking place in the asteroid belt can have major repercussions for the evolution of life on earth". |
比利時(shí)布魯塞爾自由大學(xué)的菲利普·克雷斯博士沒(méi)有參與這項(xiàng)研究。他指出：“這些發(fā)現(xiàn)提供了確鑿的證據(jù)，說(shuō)明了太陽(yáng)系的環(huán)境是異常殘酷的，發(fā)生在小行星帶的碰撞可以對(duì)地球生命的進(jìn)化產(chǎn)生重大影響。” |
| Bottke emphasises that point. "Dinosaurs were around for a very long time. So the likelihood is they would still be around if that event had never taken place," he says. "Was humanity inevitable? Or is humanity just something that happened to arise because of this sequence of events that took place at just the right time. It's hard to say." |
波特克也強(qiáng)調(diào)了這一點(diǎn)。他說(shuō)：“恐龍?jiān)?jīng)生存了很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。所以說(shuō)，如果不發(fā)生那次碰撞的話(huà)，恐龍可能仍然存在。人類(lèi)的存在是不可避免的嗎？還是僅僅由于在合適的時(shí)機(jī)發(fā)生了這一系列的事件，人類(lèi)才碰巧興起來(lái)的？這很難說(shuō)定?！?/SPAN> |
