行星撞地球最遭殃國家盤點 中國上榜
生活在英國和美國的人們可能要開始着手準備應對天外飛來的橫禍了。
Scientists have drawn up a league table of the countries which will be worst affected in the event of an asteroid strike.
有科學家們已經制定出了一張表單，內容是當發生小行星撞擊地球時，將遭受到最嚴重後或影響的國家名單。
They have identified for the first time those which will suffer catastrophic loss of life or be so crippled it will be almost impossible for them to recover.
科學家們首次確定了在發生災難時，那些將出現巨大生命傷亡以及財產損失，嚴重到幾乎沒有可能復原的國家。
Developed countries make up the majority of those on the list, but China is there too because of the sheer number of people who would die.
這份名單中發達國家佔了絕大多數，不過因爲中國人口數量龐大，若真的發生撞擊地球的災難，傷亡程度更是不言而喻。
Even smaller countries like Sweden are in grave danger because of the damage to their infrastructure.
儘管國土面積不大，但瑞典這樣的國家也處於危險之中，因爲災難將對基礎設施造成極大的破壞。
The list has been compiled by researchers from the University of Southampton using software called called NEOimpactor, short for NASA's ‘NEO’ or Near Earth Object programme.
這份名單是由來自難開普敦的研究學者們利用一項名爲NEOimpactor的軟件所測算出來的，NEO是美國宇航局近地面項目的英文縮寫。Overall the top ten countries most at risk are: China, Indonesia, India, Japan, the U.S, the Philippines, Italy, the U.K, Brazil and Nigeria.
前十位國家最危險的是：中國，印度尼西亞，印度，日本，美國，菲律賓，意大利，英國，巴西和尼日利亞。
Looking at population loss, the U.S, China, Indonesia, India and Japan are most in danger.
論及人員傷亡，美國，中國，印度尼西亞，印度和日本首當其衝。
Those countries which face massive devastation to their infrastructure are Canada, the U.S, China, Japan and Sweden.
基礎設施將遭到嚴重破壞的國家包括了加拿大，美國，中國，日本和瑞典。
The threat of asteroids was illustrated on Monday when a rock as large as a small house soared within 7,500 miles of Earth.
週一，人們發現了在距離地球附近7500公里出出現了一塊大小相當於一座房子的隕石。
Red-faced astronomers only discovered it a few days before and until then they thought it was a piece of space junk.
這塊紅色的物體被發現以及有幾天的時間了，在最後被證實其實只是一塊太空垃圾。
‘The threat of Earth being hit by an asteroid is increasingly being accepted as the single greatest natural disaster hazard faced by humanity,’ said Nick Bailey, of the University of Southampton, who developed the NEOimpactor software.
難開普敦大學的Nick Bailey是NEOimpactor軟件的開發者，他說：“地球遭受小行星撞擊的危險與日俱增，它也被認爲是自然與人類將要面對的最大浩劫。”
‘The consequences for human populations and infrastructure as a result of an impact are enormous.
“由此引發的後果將對於地球人口和基礎設施造成難以估量的後果。”
‘Nearly one hundred years ago a remote region near the Tunguska River witnessed the largest asteroid impact event in living memory when a relatively small object (approximately 50 meters in diameter) exploded in mid-air.
“在將近一百年前，通古斯河附近的一個偏遠地區見證了人類記憶中最大規模的小行星撞擊地球事件，當時有一塊直徑約50米的物體在半空發生了爆炸。”
‘While it only flattened unpopulated forest, had it exploded over London it could have devastated everything within the M25.
“儘管它只是將無人居住的森林夷爲了平地，但當發生在人口密度高的大都市時，後果不堪設想。”
‘Our results highlight those countries that face the greatest risk from this most global of natural hazards and thus indicate which nations need to be involved in mitigating the threat.’
“我們的研究結果強盜了那些在面臨全球性的自然災害時風險最高的國家，這也爲那些國家敲響了警鐘，應該做好減災防災的準備了。”
According to it will take an asteroid bigger than 12miles in diameter to destroy all plant and animal life.
根據天王網站的報道，只需一顆直徑在12英里或者更大一點的小型便能使得地球上的所有植物和動物遭遇毀滅性的襲擊。
Such an asteroid is thought to have been responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs 65million years ago - a rock up to 10miles in diameter hit Earth at 25,000 an hour with a force of 100 megatons, the equivalent of one Hiroshima bomb for everyone on the planet.
“人們也認爲，這樣的小行星與6500萬年前恐龍的滅絕有關，有一塊直徑10英里的小行星以每秒每小時2500英里的速度撞擊地球，釋放了100兆的能量，這相當於投放與地球人口總數相同的廣島原子彈。”
Earth has avoided such an event since in part because of Jupiter’s gravitational field which limits our exposure to space rocks
地球之所以避開了這樣的危險，是因爲木星引力場的作用，使得地球並不是完全“暴露”在太空岩石的危險之中。
