[1] When the end of the world comes, we'll know what to blame. Scientists have found compelling evidence that the Sun has a baby brother, a dark star whose eccentric orbit is responsible for periodically showering the Earth with comets and meteorites.
[2] The dark star--named Nemesis by astronomers--is thought to be a brown dwarf" that spins round the Sun in an orbit so large it is measured in light years, the distance light travels in a year, equivalent to about 6,000 billion miles.
[3] The research suggests that, every 26m years, the star's eccentric orbit brings it within one light year of the solar system. There it causes havoc in the Oort Cloud, a huge region surrounding the solar system that contains billions of bits of cosmic rubble left over from the formation of planets.
[4] Of the millions of rocks it throws out of orbit at each visit, some hurtle Earthwards--and have several times nearly wiped out life on Earth.
[5] Astronomers have long wondered if the Sun has a smaller partner. Recently, two independent groups of researchers have found evidence of one.
[6] One group, led by John Matese, professor of physics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, confirms the notion that it is most likely to be a brown dwarf, a star that never accumulated enough mass to ignite and which has simply sat in space smouldering for billions of years.
[7] Matese studied 82 comets from the Oort Cloud and found common elements in the shape of their orbits that could only be explained if they had been influenced by the gravitational pull of an object several times the size of Jupiter and existing about 25,000 times farther from the Sun than the Earth.
[8] Matese said: "A companion to the Sun orbiting at these distances would have little effect on the planets. But it would play a big role in the way comets ' made their way' from their birth places in the planetary disc out to the Oort Cloud and on now they can return to the inner solar system."
[9] Further research was published by Richard Muller, professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, following analyses of moon rock samples brought back to Earth by Apollo 14.
[10] The absence of a protective atmosphere means the moon has been subjected to intense bombardment in its 4.5 billion-year existence.
[11] Muller's breakthrough was to find a way to date" how long ago any particle was melted--meaning he could build up a picture of whether the moon gets a constant barrage or suffers spells of intense bombardment.
[12] He said; "The evidence clearly shows that the moon has gone through spells of relatively frequent impacts and others of reduced intensity. I believe it is likely that this is because the Oort Cloud is being disturbed by a massive body that is throwing comets out of stable orbits, a small fraction of which could reach the Earth."
[13] Muller and others believe that the dark star probably takes about 26m years to complete an orbit around the sun.
[14] Other scientists have already noted that mass extinctions of life on Earth seem to occur in a pattern with gaps equivalent to multiples of 26m, suggesting some regular event is causing the comets to come Earth's way.
[15] The best-known such event was the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65m years ago, but that was not the worst; the planet has suffered several such large mass extinctions
[16] Astronomers have found the first Earth-sized planet orbiting another star. The discovery raises the chances of finding planets that could support life as we know it.
[1]当世界末日来临时我们将知道该去责备什么。科学家们已发现明显的迹象表明：太阳有一个小弟弟，它是一颗暗星，其偏心轨道导致彗星群和流星雨周期性降落地球。
[2]这颗被天文学家叫做复仇女神星的暗星被认为是一颗“褐矮星”，它围绕太阳旋转的轨道大得要用光年计量，光年是光在一年中走过的距离，大约等于 6万亿英里。
[3]研究表明，每经过2600万年，这颗星的偏心轨道就将它带到距太阳系1光年的范围内。在那里，它引起了奥尔特云的浩劫，奥尔特云是一个巨大的围绕太阳系的区域，里面包含了数十亿从行星形成中分离出来的宇宙碎块。
[4]它每一次访问太阳系时，都从轨道上甩出上百万个岩块，其中一些飞向地球的方向——有几次几乎摧毁地球上的生命。
[5]天文学家长期以来一直怀疑太阳是否有一个小伴星。最近，两个独立的研究[6]一个由拉斐特的路易斯安娜大学物理学教授约翰·马泰塞领导的小组证实了一个想法，那就是它最有可能是一颗褐矮星，这是一种永远也不能积聚足够的质量着火燃烧的星，它只是在太空中数十亿年地无焰闷烧。
[7]马泰塞研究了来自奥尔特云的82颗彗星，发现在它们轨道的形状上有共同的因素，那只有在它们是被一个数倍大于木星的天体的引力作用所影响，且这个天体距太阳的距离比地球要远25，0000倍的情况下才能解释。
[8]马泰塞说：“一个离太阳如此遥远的伴星对行星的影响是微乎其微的。但是，在彗星从它们在行星盘的诞生地'前进'到奥尔特云的方式上，以及它们能返回太阳系内部的途径上，这颗星扮演着重要的角色。”
[9]加州大学伯克利分校的
物理学教授理查德·马勒在分析了“阿波罗14号”带回的月球岩石标本之后，公布了进一步的研究成果。
[10]由于缺乏大气的保护，月球在它存在的45亿年间遭受了强烈的撞击。
小组已经发现了一些端倪。
[11]马勒的突破是他找到了一种确定粒子被融化的年代的方法，这意味着他可以确立这样一幅画面，即月球是受到接二连三的轰击还是经历了间歇性的强烈的粒子辐射。
[12]他说：“有迹象清楚表明，月球经历了比较频繁的撞击，以及其它强度减少的撞击。我认为这可能是由于奥尔特云受到一个正在把彗星抛出稳定轨道的大天体的扰动，其中一小部分彗星可能会到达地球。”
[13]马勒和其他一些人认为，这颗暗星绕太阳运行一周大约要用2600万年的时间。
[14]另一些科学家已经注意到，地球生物的物种灭绝现象出现的间隔是2600万的倍数，这说明了某个规律性事件造成彗星降临在地球上。
[15]这类事件中最著名的一个就是6500万年前恐龙的灭绝，但这还不是最坏的；这个星球已经经历了几次如此大规模的灭绝。
[16]天文学家已经发现了第一个像地球一样大小的围绕另一颗星运行的行星。这个发现增加了找到我们熟知的能维持生命的行星的机会。
还有一篇
My Greatest Olympic Prize
我最珍贵的奥林匹克奖
[1]It was the summer of 1936. The Olympic Games were being held in Berlin. Because Adolf Hitler childishly insisted that his performers were members of a "master race," nationalistic feelings were at an all-time high.
[2] I wasn't too worried about all this. I'd trained, sweated and disciplined myself for six years, with the Games in mind. While I was going over on the boat, all I could think about was taking home one or two of those gold medals. I had my eyes especially on the running broad jump. A year before, as a sophomore at the Ohio State, I'd set the world's record of 26 feet 8 1/4 inches. Nearly everyone expected me to win this event.
[3] I was in for a surprise. When the time came for the broad-jump trials, I was startled to see a tall boy hitting the pit at almost 26 feet on his practice leaps! He turned out to be a German named Luz Long. I was told that Hitler hoped to win the jump with him.
[4] I guessed that if Long won, it would add some new support to the Nazis' "master race" (Aryansuperiority) theory. After all, I am a Negro. Angry about Hitler's ways, I determined to go out there and really show Der Fuhrer and his master race who was superior and who wasn't.
[5] An angry athlete is an athlete who will make mistakes, as any coach will tell you. I was no exception. On the first of my three qualifying jumps, I leaped from several inches beyond the takeoff board for a foul. On the second jump, I fouled even worse. "Did I come 3,000 miles for this?" I thought bitterly. "To foul out of the trials and make a fool of myself?"
[6] Walking a few yards from the pit, I kicked disgustedly at the dirt. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look into the friendly blue eyes of the tall German broad jumper. He had easily qualified for the finals on his first attempt. He offered me a firm handshake.
[7] "Jesse Owens, I'm Luz Long. I don't think we've met." He spoke English well, though with a German twist to it.
"Glad to meet you," I said. Then, trying to hide my nervousness, I added, "How are you?"
"I'm fine. The question is: How are you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Something must be eating you," he said--proud the way foreigners are when they've mastered a bit of American slang. "You should be able to qualify with your eyes closed."
"Believe me, I know it," I told him--and it felt good to say that to someone.
[8] For the next few minutes we talked together. I didn't tell Long what was "eating" me, but he seemed to understand my anger, and he took pains to reassure me. Although he'd been schooled in the Nazi youth movement, he didn't believe in the Aryan-supremacy business any more than I did. We laughed over the fact that he really looked the part, though. An inch taller than I, he had a lean, muscular frame, clear blue eyes, blond hair and a strikingly handsome face. Finally, seeing that I had calmed down somewhat, he pointed to the take-off board.
[9] "Look," he said. "Why don't you draw a line a few inches behind the board and aim at making your take-off from there? You'll be sure not to foul, and you certainly ought to jump far enough to qualify. What does it matter if you're not first in the trials? Tomorrow is what counts."
[101 Suddenly all the tension seemed to leave my body as the truth of what he said hit me. Confidently, I drew a line a full foot behind the hoard and proceeded to jump from there. I qualified with almost a foot to spare.
[11] That night I walked over to Luz Long's room in the Olympic village to thank him. I knew that if it hadn't been for him I probably wouldn't be jumping in the finals the following day. We sat and talked for two hours--about track and field, ourselves, the world situation, a dozen other things.
[12] When I finally got up to leave, we both knew that a real friendship had been formed. Luz would go out to the field the next day trying to beat me if he could. But I knew that he wanted me to do my best--even if that meant my winning.
[13] As it turned out, Luz broke his own past record. In doing so, he pushed me on to a peak performance. I remember that at the instant I landed from my final jump--the one which set the Olympic record of 26 feet 5 1/16 inches--he was at my side, congratulating me. Despite the fact that Hitler glared at us from the stands not a hundred yards away, Luz shook my hand had--and it wasn't a fake "smile with a broken heart" sort of grip, either.
[14]All the gold medals and cups I have wouldn't make a plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long at the moment. I realized then that Luz was just what Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Games, must have had in his mind when he said, "The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well
1936年夏天。奥林匹克运动会在柏林举行。由于阿道夫·希特勒幼稚地坚持他的选手是“优等民族”的成员，民族主义情绪空前高涨。
我对这一切并不太担心。六年来，我心里想着这次奥运会，一直在坚持刻苦训练，从严要求自己。我乘船来时，就一心想带一两块金牌回家。我特别想在急行跳远项目上夺取金牌。一年前，我在俄亥俄州上大学二年级时，就创下了26英尺81/4英寸的世界纪录。几乎所有的人都认为我会赢得这项赛事。
然而，事情出乎我的意料。到了急行跳远预选赛时，我吃惊地看见一个高个儿小伙子试跳时就落在了沙坑将近26英尺的地方！原来他是个德国人，名叫卢茨·隆格。有人告诉我，希特勒就希望靠他来获得跳远冠军。
我心想，如果隆格获胜，那势必给纳粹的“优等民族”（雅利安人优异）论调增加新的佐证。毕竟，我是个黑人。我很气个过希特勒的那一套，决心显一显身手，着实让“元首大人”和他的优等民族看看谁优谁劣。
任何一个教练员都会对你说．运动员一生气就会犯错误。我也不例外。预赛三跳中的第一跳，我踏过起跳板几英寸犯了现。第二跳时，则犯规更严重。“难道我从3000英里外跑到这儿就为了这个结局？”我痛苦地想道，“为了在预赛里就犯规出局丢自己的丑吗？” 我从沙坑里走出几码远，气愤地踢着沙土。忽然，我感到有一只手搭在我的肩膀上。我转过脸去，瞧见了那个高个子德国跳远运动员一双友好的蓝眼睛。他头一跳就轻松地取得了决赛资格。他主动用力地握了握我的手。 “杰西·欧文斯，我叫卢茨·隆格。我想我们以前没见过面。”他英语说得不错，尽管带一点德国味儿。
“认识你很高兴，”我说。随后，我竭力想掩饰自已的不安，便又说道：“你怎么样？”
“我很好。问题是：你怎么样？”
“你的意思是？”我问道。
“一定有什么困扰着你，”他说——显得很得意，外国人掌握了一点美国俚语都会这样。“你就是闭着眼睛也能进入决赛。” “相信我，这我知道，”我对他说－－能跟别人说这话，心里觉得好受些。
然后我们交谈了一会。我没有告诉隆格是什么在“困扰”找，但他却好像知道我心里有气，便竭力安慰我。他尽管接受了纳粹青年运动的教育，却一点也不比我更相信雅利安人优异那一套。不过，他看起来倒确实像个优等民族的人，我俩不由得笑起来了。他比我高一英寸，身材修长，肌肉结实，蓝蓝的眼睛，金黄的头发，还长着一张异常英俊的面孔。后来，他见我有些平静了，便用手指向踏板。“看，”他说。“你为什么不在踏板后面几英寸的地方划一道线，然后就从那儿起跳呢？你肯定不会犯规，而且足可以跳进决赛。预赛得不到第一又有什么关系呢？明天的才算数。”
找领悟了他话中的道理，浑身的紧张顿时消失了。我满怀自信，在踏板后方整整一英尺的地方划了一道线，然后就从那儿起跳。我通过了预赛，超出资格标准近一英尺。
那天晚上，我到奥运村卢茨·隆格的房间去道谢。我知道，要不是多亏了他，我很可能参加不成第二天的决赛。我们坐着谈了两个钟头－－谈田径运动，谈我们自己，谈国际局势，以及许多其他事情。 最后我起身告辞时，我们都发觉彼此己经建立了真正的友谊。卢茨第二天上场要尽力战胜我。。可我也知道，他想让我竭尽全力－－哪怕那会意味着我取胜。
结果，卢茨打破了他自己以前的纪录。这样一来，他也促使我发挥到了最佳竞技状态。我记得我最后一跳着地那一瞬间——一那刻我创造了26英尺51/16英寸的奥运会纪录--－他来到我旁边，向我祝贺。尽管希特勒就在不足一百码以外的看台上瞪着我们，卢茨紧紧握着我的手－－而且还不是“内心沮丧、强额为笑”的那种虚情假意的握手。
我当时对卢茨·隆格感受到的是24K纯金般的友谊，我所获得的所有金牌、所有金杯都不足以构成这纯金友情的一个镀层。我这时才意识到，现代奥运会创始人皮埃尔·德·顾拜旦当年心里正是想着卢茨这样的运动员，才这样说道：“奥运会重在参与而不在取胜。生命的关键在于干得出色而不在于征服。”

More than any other poet Lord Byron has been identified with his own heroes —— with Childe Harold， the romantic traveller； with Manfred， the outcast from society； with Don Juan， the cynical， heartless lover. Although Byron did use his own life as the material for much of his poetry， it is by no means purely autobiographical. It is， however， in his long poems that Byron's genius most truly resides rather than in the lyrics which usually represent him in selections.
Byron was born into an aristocratic family of doubtful reputation. His father died of drink and debauchery when Byron was 3， and when he was 10 his great-uncle —— the 'wicked’ Lord Byron —— also died. Byron inherited the title， a vast house called Newstead Abbey， and estates already mortgaged or in decay.
Byron's father， by his first marriage， had a daughter， Augusta， Byron's half-sister. His father's second wife， Byron's own mother， was a proud， irascible， Calvinistic Scotswoman named Catherine Gordon of Gight. He was born with a malformed foot —— a disability which tortured him with self-consciousness in his youth. He went to Harrow and to Trinity College， Cambridge， where， amongst other eccentricities， he kept a bear. While an undergraduate he published his first book of poems. Hours of Idleness. The adverse criticism it deservedly got stung Byron not to despair but to revenge， and he replied with a satire in the manner of Pope called English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. After Cambridge， Byron went on the grand tour of Europe， traditional for men of his education； but owing to the Napoleonic Wars， his route took him， not overland， as was usual by way of Paris to Rome， but by sea to Lisbon， Spain， and the Mediterranean. For nearly 2 years he wandered about Greece and the Aegean Islands. This was the shaping time of his imagination.
When he was 23 his mother died， and he came home， an extremely handsome young man， to install himself boisterously at Newstead Abbey. He entered London society and spoke in the House of Lords. It was now that he showed his friend， R.C. Dallas， a new satire， Hints from Horace. Dallas， secretly not much impressed， asked if he had anything else； Byron quite casually said that he had 'a lot of Spenserian stanzas’。 Dallas read them with astonishment and delight， showed them to Murray the publisher， and on 20 February 1812， the first two cantos of Childe Harold were published. They took the town by storm. Byron became famous overnight. He could not now write fast enough， and in the next 4 years appeared a series of romantic poems， the best among them being he Corsair and he Bride of Abydos. It is said that 14，000 copies of The Corsair were sold in a day.
Byron had always been susceptible to women and attractive to them； now that he was successful they threw themselves at his head. For 3 years he lived ；in the limelight， and then， quite unaccountably， married Ann Milbanke， a frigid， correct， intellectual woman， entirely unsuited to him， but with a lot of money. She bore him a daughter and left him within a year， hinting that he had an immoral relationship with his halfsister Augusta. Society turned against him， as lavish now with calumny and spite as it had been with praise and flattery. Byron would not stay to be insulted； he left England for good.
The next few years were spent mostly in Venice， where Byron established himself with a menagerie of strange animals and conducted various love-affairs. It was in Italy that his masterpiece Don Juan was written. This brilliant， caustic， rambling satire is written in a colloquial style which is the result of a mastery of technique. Byron， always a fluent writer， was not over-critical of his own work； but Beppo， A Vision of Judgement， and Don Juan more than justify his reputation as a great poet. His influence on European literature —— both by what he wrote and by the general idea of the romantic figure of Childe Harold —— the typical Byronic hero —— was very great.
Like many poets， Byron was at heart a man of action. He loved the idea of freedom， and threw himself with intense energy into the Greek struggle for independence from Turkey. In 1823 he left Italy for Greece， but the next year， worn out with the ardours of the campaign， he caught rheumatic fever and died at Missolonghi， mourned as a national hero by the Greeks.
From Oxford Junior Encyclopedia
人们认为拜伦勋爵比任何其他诗人更象自己创造的英雄人物——即富于浪漫色彩的旅游者恰尔德·哈罗德；被社会摈弃的曼弗雷德；愤世嫉俗，铁石心肠的情人唐·璜。虽然拜伦确曾利用自己的生活经历作为素材写了很多诗篇，但这些诗篇决不纯粹是自传性质的。然而最能真正体现拜伦的天才的还是他的那些长诗，而不是通常在选集里作为他的代表作的那些抒情诗。
拜伦出生于一个名声有些问题的贵族家庭。他三岁时，父亲死于饮酒过度和生活腐化。他十岁时，他的叔祖——即“邪恶的”拜伦勋爵——也去世了。拜伦继承了爵位，继承了称为“纽斯台德寺院”的大宅邸和已经抵押出去的或已趋于衰败的产业。
拜伦的父亲第一次结婚以后生了一个女儿，名叫奥古斯塔，即拜伦的同父异母姐姐。他父亲的第二个妻子，即拜伦的亲生母亲，是一个高傲的、性情暴躁的、卡尔文教派的苏格兰盖特这个地方的妇女，名叫凯瑟琳·戈登。拜伦生下时，一只脚就带有残疾——这使他在年轻时候极为敏感，由此给他带来莫大的痛苦。他到哈罗学校和剑桥大学的三一学院学习，在学校里，他养了一只熊，而且还有其他一些古怪行为。他在大学读书时，就出版了第一本诗集《闲散的时光》。这本诗集受到的应有的非难刺痛了拜伦的心，他没有绝望，而是想报复，他以蒲柏的风格写了一篇名为《英格兰诗人和苏格兰评论家》的讽刺诗作为回答。离开剑桥大学以后，拜伦启程往欧洲作长途旅行，这是受过象他这种教育的人的传统习俗。但是由于拿破仑战争，他走的路线不是通常那样由陆路从巴黎到罗马，而是通过海路到里斯本、西班牙和地中海一带。将近两年当中，他漫游了希腊和爱琴海群岛。这是他的想象力形成的时期。
当他二十三岁时，他的母亲去世了。他成为一个非常漂亮的青年，回到了家里，兴高采烈地在纽斯台德寺院安顿了下来。他进入了伦敦社交界，在上议院发表演讲。就在这个时候，他把一首新的讽刺诗《霍勒斯的启示》给他的朋友R.C.达拉斯看。达拉斯对这首诗印象并不好，但没有表露出来，而是问他是否还写了别的什么东西；拜伦漫不经心地说，写了“许多斯宾塞诗节”。达拉斯以惊喜的心情读完了这些诗篇，并把这些诗篇推荐给了出版商默里。1812年2月20日《恰尔德·哈罗德》第一、二章出版了，全城为之轰动。拜伦在一夜之间成了名。从此以后，他写得再快也应接不暇。在这以后的四年期间，他写了一系列浪漫诗篇，其中最好的有《海盗》和《阿比多斯的新娘》。据说，《海盗》一天就销售了一万四千册。
拜伦对于女性总是容易动感情，而且对妇女具有吸引力。现在他既然已经飞黄腾达，她们更愿意委身于他。三年里他出够了风头，然后，莫名其妙地和安·米尔班克结了婚，她是一个冷漠的、严肃的、有理智的妇女，对于他根本不合适，只是有很多钱。她给他生了一个女儿，不到一年就离开了他，暗示他和他的同父异母姐姐奥古斯塔关系暖昧。整个社会转而对他采取敌对态度，对他进行恶意的诽谤和诬蔑，其过分的程度就如当初对他进行赞美和吹捧那样。拜伦不愿继续忍受这种侮辱，他离开了英国，一去不复返。
以后几年他主要是在威尼斯度过的，在那儿他驯养了一群珍奇动物，也搞了不少风流韵事。他有杰作《唐·璜》是在意大利写的。这篇光辉的，刻薄的，但很松散的讽刺叙事诗是以一种通俗的口语体写的，这种体裁是他掌握技巧的成果。拜伦总是写得很流畅，对于自己的作品不作过多的推敲和修饰；但是《别波》、《审判的幻景》和《唐·璜》这三部作品证明他的伟大诗人的名望是当之无愧的。他对欧洲文学的影响——通过他所写的作品以及恰尔德·哈罗德这个浪漫派人物，即典型的拜伦式英雄的一般概念所散布的影响——是极为巨大的。
象许多诗人一样，拜伦在本质上是一个活动家。他热爱自由这个理想，他以旺盛的精力投身于希腊为摆脱土耳其统治而进行的独立斗争中。1823年，他离开意大利前往希腊，但是第二年，他由于热心独立运动而劳累过度，染上了风湿病，终于在梅索朗吉昂去世，成为希腊人所悼念的一位民族英雄。
译自《牛津少年百科全书》