VOA慢速英語:Scientists May Have Found 'God Particle'

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

這里是美國之音慢速英語新聞報道。

This week, scientists in Switzerland reported a big discovery about a very small particle. They think they have finally found a Higgs boson, or what some people call the "God particle." It could answer some basic questions about the universe and the creation of planets and life. Rolf Heuer is the director-general of CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research.

本周，身處瑞士的科學(xué)家報告了有關(guān)一種非常微小的粒子的大發(fā)現(xiàn)。他們認(rèn)為自己終于找到了希格斯玻色子，也就是一些人所說的“上帝粒子”。這種粒子可以回答有關(guān)宇宙，以及行星和生命形成的一些基本問題。羅爾夫·豪雅是歐洲核子研究中心總干事。

ROLF HEUER: "I think we have a success today. We have a discovery. We have discovered a new particle, a boson -- most probably a Higgs boson, but we have to find out which kind of Higgs boson this is. Does it have the properties which we expect from the Standard Model? If not, what are its properties and where do they point to?"

豪雅：“我認(rèn)為我們今天成功了。我們有了發(fā)現(xiàn)。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種新粒子，一種玻色子，它最可能是希格斯玻色子，但我們必須找出它屬于希格斯玻色子的哪種類型。它是否具備我們根據(jù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)模型預(yù)測的那些屬性?如果不具備這些屬性，它的屬性是什么?又指向何方?”

In particle physics, the Standard Model is sometimes called "a theory of almost everything" that affects how subatomic particles interact and affect each other. Subatomic means smaller than an atom.

在粒子物理學(xué)中，標(biāo)準(zhǔn)模型有時被稱為影響到亞原子粒子如何互相作用和影響的“萬有理論” 。亞原子是指比原子還小。

Scientists believe the Higgs boson could explain how matter gets its mass. Mass is the amount of material in an object that gives it weight in the presence of gravity.

科學(xué)家認(rèn)為，希格斯玻色子可以解釋物質(zhì)如何獲得其質(zhì)量。質(zhì)量是物體中在重力下賦予其重量的的物質(zhì)總量。

The subatomic particle that scientists have found fits the description of the Higgs boson predicted by physicist Peter Higgs. Scientists have been searching for it for forty-five years. Peter Higgs attended the event at CERN on Wednesday but did not want to say much about the findings.

科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)的這種亞原子粒子符合物理學(xué)家彼得·希格斯(Peter Higgs)預(yù)言的希格斯玻色子的描述。45年來科學(xué)家們一直在尋找這種粒子。希格斯出席了歐洲核子研究中心的活動，但對這一發(fā)現(xiàn)不想說太多。

PETER HIGGS: "I think it is not appropriate for me to answer any detailed questions at this stage. This is an occasion celebrating an experimental achievement, and I should congratulate the people involved."

希格斯：“我認(rèn)為這一階段我不適合回答任何細(xì)節(jié)問題。這是慶祝這一實驗成果的時刻，我應(yīng)該祝賀所有參與者。”

Theorists believe the Higgs boson existed only during the first millionth of a millionth of a second after the Big Bang. That was the huge explosion when the universe was created more than thirteen billions years ago. Physicists at CERN are trying to recreate the high energies that existed at the time of the Big Bang.

理論學(xué)家認(rèn)為，希格斯玻色子只存在于宇宙大爆炸后的十萬億分之一秒，這是130億年前宇宙形成時的大爆炸。歐洲核子研究中心的物理學(xué)家們正在試圖重建宇宙大爆炸時期存在的高能量。

CERN has the world's biggest atom-smasher, the Large Hadron Collider. This ten-billion-dollar collider produces high-energy crashes to investigate mysteries like dark matter and the creation of the universe. The results presented Wednesday are based on findings collected last year and this year from two experiments, called Atlas and CMS.

歐洲核子研究中心擁有全球最大的原子加速器，即大型強子對撞機。這一價值100億美元的對撞機能產(chǎn)生高能撞擊來研究暗物質(zhì)和宇宙形成之類的懸念。周三提出的這一結(jié)果是基于去年和今年兩項實驗的發(fā)現(xiàn)，這兩項實驗被稱為ATLSA和CMS。

The scientists involved say more research must be done to be sure of their results. However, a spokesman for one of the experiment teams, Joe Incandela, says the boson is unlike any particle found so far.

參與的科學(xué)家表示必須進(jìn)行更多實驗來確定這一結(jié)果。然而，實驗小組之一的發(fā)言人喬·因坎代拉(Joe Incandela)表示，玻色子不同于迄今發(fā)現(xiàn)的任何粒子。

JOE INCANDELA: "We are reaching into the fabric of the universe at a level we have never done before. This is telling us something. It is key to the structure of the universe. We are on the frontier now. We are at the edge of a new exploration and this could open up -- maybe we see nothing extraordinary, and we understand that maybe this is the only part of the story that is left. Or maybe we open up a whole new realm of discovery."

因坎代拉：“我們以一種從未達(dá)到的高度深入到了宇宙的結(jié)構(gòu)。這告訴了我們一些東西，而它是宇宙結(jié)構(gòu)的關(guān)鍵。我們現(xiàn)在處于前沿，處于一種全新探索的邊緣。這可能會開辟---也許我們看上去沒什么不尋常，但我們明白可能這是粒子物理學(xué)最后的懸念，又或者也許我們會開啟一個全新的發(fā)現(xiàn)領(lǐng)域。”

CERN had been planning to shut down its atom-smasher for two years for maintenance work. But because of these results, it will keep the Large Hadron Collider in service for another two to three months.

歐洲核子研究中心曾計劃關(guān)閉其原子加速器兩年以便維護(hù)。但由于這些研究結(jié)果，該中心將保持大型強子對撞機繼續(xù)工作2到3個月。

About two hundred people gathered at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the United States at two o'clock in the morning to watch the announcement from Geneva. Fermilab's Robert Roser points out the scientists at CERN were careful to say they found a "Higgs-like" object.

200來人凌晨2點鐘聚集在美國費米國立加速器實驗室觀看來自日內(nèi)瓦的這次通告。費米實驗室的羅伯特·羅瑟(Robert Roser)指出，歐洲核子研究中心的科學(xué)家們非常謹(jǐn)慎地表示他們發(fā)現(xiàn)類似希格斯玻色子的物體。

ROBERT ROSER: "It's a subtle difference and so what they will do over the course of the many years, they will start to investigate all of its properties to see if it acts, if it smells, tastes, and behaves the way they expect it to."

羅瑟：“這有細(xì)微區(qū)別，所以在多年研究后他們將怎么做?他們將開始調(diào)查其所有屬性，以確定其是否像他們預(yù)料的那樣。”