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進入《中英對照讀新聞》Comet defies death, brushes up to sun and lives 彗星和死亡對抗，掠過太陽後倖存
◎陳維真
A small comet survived what astronomers figured would be a sure death when it danced uncomfortably close to the broiling sun.
一顆小彗星以超近距離掠過炙熱的太陽，經歷天文學家認為必死無疑的危機後倖存。
Comet Lovejoy, which was only discovered a couple of weeks ago, was supposed to melt Thursday night when it came close to where temperatures hit several million degrees. Astronomers had tracked 2,000 other sun-grazing comets make the same suicidal trip. None had ever survived.
洛夫喬伊彗星在幾週前才被發現，原本應該在週四晚間接近數百萬度的太陽時熔化。天文學家追蹤過2000個經歷類似自殺之旅的掠日彗星，沒有任何彗星生還。
But astronomers watching live with NASA telescopes first saw the sun’s corona wiggle as Lovejoy went close to the sun. They were then shocked when a bright spot emerged on the sun’s other side. Lovejoy lived.
但天文學家以NASA的望眼鏡觀看實況，在洛夫喬伊接近太陽時，他們第一次看到太陽的日冕扭動。一個光點從太陽的另一端竄出時，又讓他們驚訝萬分。洛夫喬伊活下來了。
Lovejoy didn’t exactly come out of its hellish adventure unscathed. Only 10 percent of the comet — which was probably millions of tons — survived the encounter. And the comet lost something pretty important : its tail.
洛夫喬伊經歷這般險惡的歷險後，並非毫髮無傷。經過這場遭遇後，彗星體積只剩下原來的10％，約幾百萬公噸重。而且彗星失去了很重要的東西：尾巴。
Comets circle the sun and sometimes get too close. Lovejoy came within 75,000 miles of the sun’s surface. For a small object often described as a dirty snowball comprised of ice and dust, that brush with the sun should have been fatal.
彗星環繞太陽，有時會靠得太近。洛夫喬伊靠近太陽時，只離太陽7萬5千英里。對由冰塊和塵埃組成、往往被形容為「骯髒雪球」的小物體來說，和太陽那一次的擦身而過，可能會致命。
Astronomers say it probably didn’t melt completely because the comet was larger than they thought.
天文學家說，彗星沒有完全熔化，可能是因為彗星比天文學家認為的還要大。
新聞辭典
hellish：形容詞，險惡、如地獄般的。例句：It has been a hellish week.（這禮拜如地獄般難熬。）
unscathed：形容詞，未受傷的。例句：I came through all those perils unscathed.（我經歷這些危險，仍毫髮無傷。）
be comprised of ：片語，由…組成。例句：The committee was comprised of representatives from all area。（委員會由各領域的代表組成。）
