中英對照讀新聞》Webb telescope confirms the universe is expanding at an unexpected rate韋伯望遠鏡證實宇宙正以出乎意料的速率擴張

◎林家宇

Fresh corroboration of the perplexing observation that the universe is expanding more rapidly than expected has scientists pondering the cause - perhaps some unknown factor involving the mysterious cosmic components dark energy and dark matter.

宇宙正以超乎預期的速度擴張，對於這項費解觀測的最新實證，促使科學家們尋思其中的原因－或許，某些未知要素涉及神秘的宇宙成分暗能量和暗物質。

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Two years of data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have now validated the Hubble Space Telescope’s earlier finding that the rate of the universe’s expansion is faster - by about 8% - than would be expected based on what astrophysicists know of the initial conditions in the cosmos and its evolution over billions of years.

從NASA韋伯太空望遠鏡兩年多來蒐集的資料，如今證實了哈伯望遠鏡的早期發現：宇宙的擴張速率，比天體物理學家們從宇宙初始狀態及其超過數十億年的演化歷程中所得出的速率，快上約8％。

Dark energy, believed to comprise approximately 69% of the universe, is a hypothesized form of energy permeating vast swathes of space that counteracts gravity and drives the universe’s accelerating expansion.

被認為佔據宇宙組成約69％的暗物質，是一種遍布廣泛宇宙的假設性能量形態，具有抵銷重力並驅使宇宙加速擴張的特性。

新聞辭典

corroboration：名詞，證實、確證。例句：The corroboration of the

new scientific theory made researchers very excited.（新科學理論的證實使研究員們非常興奮）

perplexing：形容詞，令人迷惑的、難解的。例句：The employees found the company’s marketing strategy perplexing.（員工們覺得公司的行銷策略令人困惑）