【精英翻譯】的部落格

An Experience of a Lifetime 追尋幸福極光！

精英翻譯社轉自: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0061/335671/web/

The sun is a huge, fieryglobe of gas. Its power is not only limited to that gigantic globe, either. Occasionally, it sends out massive waves of chargedparticlesthat hit Earth at speeds upwards of a million kilometers an hour. These charged particles interact with our magnetic northern and southern poles, resulting in a breathtakinglight show that enthrallsall its viewers.

太陽是個由氣體組成的火熱巨型球體。它的能量也不僅限於那個巨型球體。它偶爾會發出以每小時一百萬公里以上的速度撞擊地球的大量帶電粒子流。這些帶電粒子與我們的地磁北極和南極相互作用，造成吸引所有觀眾目光的驚艷燈光秀。

These light shows are known as auroras. Since Earth’s magnetic field is strongest at its poles, auroras appear most brightly near the North and South Pole. They are not seasonal because they occur at any time of the year. Some solar storms merely graze Earth and are only visible from the poles. A very large burst from the sun may, on the other hand, allow viewers in subtropical areas to witness one of nature’s most unusual displays of atmospheric cinema. The best viewing of auroras is in Alaska, northern Canada, Scandinavia, northern Russia, and the southernmost regions of Australia, South America, Africa, and Antarctica!

這些燈光秀被稱為極光。由於地球的磁場在極點最強，因此極光在北極和南極附近最為明亮。因為它們發生在一年中的任何時候，所以不是季節性的。有些太陽風暴（編按：太陽風暴是太陽因能量增加向空間釋放出的大量帶電粒子流形成的高速粒子流。是一種太陽自身的週期性變化。）僅擦過地球，只能在極地看到。另一方面，來自太陽的大爆炸可以讓在亞熱帶地區的觀眾目睹大自然中最獨特的其中一個大氣電影展。觀賞極光的最佳地點是阿拉斯加、加拿大北部、斯堪地那維亞、俄羅斯北部，以及澳洲、南美洲、非洲和南極洲的最南端地區！

Auroras appear as slowly moving curtains, bands, spots of color, and a variety of other shapes that shift across the sky. They can also exhibit more than one color at a time. The colors, ranging from purple to green, depend on the altitude of oxygen and nitrogen penetrated by solar energy. The most common color on view is green, because it is at lower altitudes, and people can see green the easiest. Brownish-red auroras are created by higher-altitude, single-oxygen atoms. The rarest colors seen are pink, purple, and blue, which are the results of intense bursts of solar activity. Photographing all these colors of the breathtaking auroras is not difficult, but photos don’t do them justice. Viewing auroras is something that needs to be experienced in person.

極光以像是緩慢移動的帷幕、帶子、彩色斑點以及各種其他的形狀出現在天空中移動。它們也能一次展現出多種顏色。出現的顏色從紫色到綠色皆有，取決於太陽能所穿透氮及氧的高度。最常見的顏色是綠色，由於它在較低處，因此人們最容易看到綠色。棕紅色極光是由較高海拔的單氧原子產生。最罕見的顏色是粉紅色、紫色和藍色，這是活躍的太陽活動爆發的結果。拍攝所有這些令人屏息的極光並不難，但照片無法充分顯現出它們的美。觀看極光是必須親身體驗的一件事。