全球變暖將使人類變矮

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　　全球變暖將使人類變矮 自然社會英語閱讀

　　global warming could make humans shorter, warn scientists who claim to have found evidence that it caused the

　　world's first horses to shrunk nearly 50 million years ago。

　　in fact, a team from the universities of florida and nebraska says it has found a link between the earth

　　heating up and the size of mammals -- horses, in this case, the last time the world heated up。

　　the scientists used fossils to follow the evolution of horses from their earliest appearance 56 million years

　　ago。

　　as temperatures went up their size went down, and vice versa; at one point they were as small as a house cat,

　　said dr jonathan bloch, curator of the florida museum of natural history, was quoted by the "daily mail" as saying

　　the scientists say that the current warming could have the same effect on mammals -- and could even make humans

　　smaller。

　　"horses started out small, about the size of a small dog like a miniature schnauzer. what's surprising is that

　　after they first appeared, they then became even smaller and then dramatically increased in size, and that exactly

　　corresponds to the global warming event, followed by cooling。

　　"it had been known that mammals were small during that time and that it was warm, but we hadn't understood that

　　temperature specifically was driving the evolution of body size," dr bloch said in the "science" journal。

　　科學(xué)家警告說，全球變暖可能會使人類變矮。科學(xué)家宣稱已經(jīng)找到證據(jù)：近5000萬年前全球變暖就曾讓世界上最早的馬個頭變

　　小。

　　事實上，來自佛羅里達州和內(nèi)布拉斯加州的大學(xué)的一支研究團隊稱，他們已經(jīng)找到地球變暖和哺乳動物個頭之間的聯(lián)系。這一

　　案例中馬變矮的現(xiàn)象是上一次全球變暖時發(fā)生的。

　　科學(xué)家用化石來追溯馬從5600萬年前誕生至今的進化歷程。

　　隨著氣溫的上升，馬的個頭變小，反之馬的個頭就變大。《每日郵報》援引佛羅里達自然歷史博物館館長喬納森?布洛赫博士的

　　話說，它們曾一度像家貓那么小。

　　科學(xué)家稱，當前的全球變暖可能也會對哺乳動物產(chǎn)生同樣的影響，甚至可能會讓人類的個子也變小。

　　布洛赫博士在《科學(xué)》雜志中寫道：“馬最初的個頭很小，和一只小狗的個頭差不多，大約也就像一只迷你型雪納瑞犬那么大

　　。令人驚訝的是，在馬誕生后過了一段時間，它們的個子變得更小，之后個頭又顯著變大，而這些變化與全球變暖和變冷正好是相

　　對應(yīng)的。

　　“我們已經(jīng)知道哺乳動物在那個時期個頭較小，而那個時期氣候也較暖，但我們還未意識到正是溫度驅(qū)動著身體大小的進化。

　　地球變暖已停止或?qū)⑦M入小冰河期 自然地理英語閱讀

　　the supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years。

　　the figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the thames in the 17th century。

　　based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the met office and the university of east anglia climatic research unit. it confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.

　　meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told the mail on sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food。

　　solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak。

　　we are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘cycle 24’ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. but sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th century。

　　analysis by experts at nasa and the university of arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still。

　　according to a paper issued last week by the met office, there is a 92 percent chance that both cycle 25 and those taking place in the following decades will be as weak as, or weaker than, the ‘dalton minimum’ of 1790 to 1830. in this period, named after the meteorologist john dalton, average temperatures in parts of europe fell by 2c。

　　however, it is also possible that the new solar energy slump could be as deep as the ‘maunder minimum’ (after astronomer edward maunder)， between 1645 and 1715 in the coldest part of the ‘little ice age’ when, as well as the thames frost fairs, the canals of holland froze solid。

　　新的溫度數(shù)據(jù)顯示，地球在過去的15年間并無變暖。這一數(shù)據(jù)發(fā)布后，人為引起全球變暖的“共識”受到了不利挑戰(zhàn)。

　　數(shù)據(jù)顯示，人類甚至有可能面臨小冰河期，堪與17世紀泰晤士河上舉行霜降會的70年降溫相提并論。

　　上周，英國氣象局和東安格利亞大學(xué)氣候研究中心悄無聲息地發(fā)布了這些基于3萬多個監(jiān)測站的數(shù)據(jù)，確認世界溫度上升趨勢止于1997年。

　　昨日主流氣候?qū)W家對《星期日郵報》稱，太陽在整個二十世紀都發(fā)出異乎尋常的高能量，現(xiàn)在正走向太陽輻射輸出的最低值，人們將面臨冷夏、嚴冬以及糧食種植季節(jié)縮短的威脅。

　　太陽輻射輸出完成了十一年的周期，高峰期出現(xiàn)大量的太陽黑子。

　　我們現(xiàn)在正處于科學(xué)家所謂的第24個太陽活動周期的高峰期，這就是為什么上周的太陽風暴導(dǎo)致比平常更偏南的地方出現(xiàn)北極光。但是太陽黑子的數(shù)量少于二十世紀的太陽活動周期峰值的一半。

　　美國宇航局和亞利桑那大學(xué)的專家分析，從太陽表面以下12萬英里的磁場測量推斷，第25個太陽活動周期的高峰期將在2022年，太陽輻射將大大削弱。

　　據(jù)英國氣象局上周發(fā)布的報告，第25個太陽活動周期以及隨后數(shù)十年間的太陽輻射，有92%的可能性達到1790年至1830年間的“道爾頓最低點”，甚至更弱。在這段以氣象學(xué)家約翰?道爾頓命名的時期里，歐洲部分地區(qū)的平均溫度下降了2攝氏度。

　　然而，這次新的太陽能量暴跌也可能達到“蒙德最低點”(以天文學(xué)家愛德華?蒙德命名)的幅度，即1645年到1715年間“小冰河期”最冷的時候，那時泰晤士河、荷蘭運河都冰封凍結(jié)。

　　哈勃望遠鏡發(fā)現(xiàn)“天使羽翼”：自然科學(xué)知識雙語閱讀

　　the nice thing about an infinite space such as, for instance, the one in which we live, is that you can find basically anything if you look hard enough.

　　在我們生活的這個無垠的宇宙中，的確有那么一件好事，那就是無論你想找什么，只要你努力去找，基本上都能找到。

　　to that end the hubble space telescope often proves handy for discovering celestial objects shaped like everything from a sea horse, the letter x, tadpoles and flying saucers.

　　正因為這樣，哈勃太空望遠鏡常常能輕而易舉地找到一些神跡，從海馬，到字母x，從蝌蚪到飛碟，各種形狀的神跡都能被它發(fā)現(xiàn)。

　　since it's christmas it seems appropriate that the ageing space camera turns its attention to finding seasonally-shaped nebulas.

　　圣誕節(jié)將至，一把年紀的哈勃望遠鏡也應(yīng)該把注意力轉(zhuǎn)向?qū)ふ遗c圣誕有關(guān)的星云了。

　　the bipolar star-forming region spotted by hubble is actually two giant, super-hot streams of gas blasting outwards from a central star. but what it looks like is a beautiful, ghostly angel ring.

　　哈勃這次發(fā)現(xiàn)的這片產(chǎn)星區(qū)有兩極，是由一顆中央星向外延展所形成的超高溫氣流。看起來就像是美麗而詭異的天使羽翼。

　　you know, if you look really hard. the image is credited to nasa, esa, and the hubble heritage team. but we won't be happy until we see a galaxy shaped like santa. hubble, it's over to you.

　　如果你仔細看的話，就能看出它的形狀。這一圖像已經(jīng)提交給了美國宇航局、歐洲航天局和哈勃望遠鏡遺產(chǎn)團隊。不過，如果我們看不到長得像圣誕老人的星系，我們是不會滿意的。所以，哈勃，靠你咯!