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发表于 2012-7-9 10:20:27
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译文拜读了。有几处翻译似乎值得商榷,如:“他の素粒子に……絡み”、“まさか「作品」の一つが”等。下面的英文译文可参。
VOX POPULI: Scientists get foot in door to unlock mystery of universe
July 07, 2012
The Nazca Lines, a UNESCO World Heritage site in southern Peru, can only be appreciated from the air. Viewed at ground level, all that can be seen of the ancient geoglyphs are shallow trenches that form no discernible pattern. There are things in this world we cannot see because they are too big.
Not everyone sheds tears of joy at hearing about the long-awaited discovery of the Higgs boson, which gives mass to matter. Any "discovery of the century" tends to be beyond the comprehension of most people, and the magnitude of the discovery is usually not understood until decades later.
The existence of the Higgs boson, sometimes referred to as the "God particle," was predicted in the 1960s by Peter Higgs, 83, a British theoretical physicist.
Higgs theorized that at the time of the birth of the universe, this subatomic particle acted as the stabilizing agent by adhering, like sticky syrup, to other subatomic particles darting around. The resultant stability, or inertia, is what mass is about. The stabilized subatomic particles clustered together to form hydrogen and other atoms, and eventually gave birth to stars and life.
Physicists from around the world have searched for the Higgs boson, using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). They have been trying to explain the creation of the universe.
And now, they say they are "more than 99.9999 percent certain" that they have discovered what appears to be the Higgs boson. This means the existence of all 17 subatomic particles, believed to exist, has been confirmed.
But in the study of infinite time and space, this discovery apparently represents only the beginning. To use the Nazca Lines as an analogy, we are probably at the stage where a few trenches have been found, but nobody has flown over them yet to see the whole design.
The universe is said to be mostly filled with dark matter that we know nothing about. There is no end to our journey of exploration.
The Big Bang took place 13.7 billion years ago. The God particle must be surprised that the human race--one of its works of creation--has now come close to unlocking the mystery of creation.
July 7 is "Tanabata" (Star Festival) in Japan. It wouldn't be a bad idea at all to enjoy a few drinks under the night sky and think about the galaxy.
--The Asahi Shimbun, July 7 |
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