TEDxBoulder 2011
Phil Plait: How to defend Earth from asteroids
菲爾普萊：點樣防止小行星撞地球
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咩嘢寬六英里而且可以瞬間毀滅文明？係小行星-而且太空有大把嘅小行星。Phil Plait用幽默同埋遠見話俾TEDx博爾德嘅觀眾知小行星造成毀滅嘅所有方式同埋我們應該點樣做先可以避免佢地。
Phil Plait - Astronomer
Phil Plait blogs at Bad Astronomy, where he deconstructs misconceptions and explores the wonder of the universe. Full bio
Phil Plait blogs at Bad Astronomy, where he deconstructs misconceptions and explores the wonder of the universe. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
I want to talk to you about something
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有啲嘢我想講俾你地聽
00:18
kind of big.
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係好大件事
00:21
We'll start here.
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我地由呢度開始
00:24
65 million years ago
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六千五百萬年前
00:27
the dinosaurs had a bad day.
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啲恐龍好慘
00:30
(Laughter)
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（笑）
00:33
A chunk of rock six miles across,
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有一塊寬六英里嘅石頭飛落來
00:36
moving something like 50 times
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速度大概係
00:38
the speed of a rifle bullet,
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步槍子彈嘅五十倍
00:40
slammed into the Earth.
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撞係地球上
00:42
It released its energy all at once,
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佢即刻一次過釋放晒所有能量
00:44
and it was an explosion that was
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而且引起咗爆炸
00:46
mind-numbing.
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大聲到震耳欲聾
00:48
If you took every nuclear weapon ever built
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如果你將所有係冷戰高峰時期
00:50
at the height of the Cold War,
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製造出來嘅原子彈
00:52
lumped them together and blew them up
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係同一時間
00:54
at the same time,
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綁埋一齊之後引爆
00:56
that would be one one-millionth
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噉就會釋放出
00:58
of the energy released at that moment.
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小行星能量嘅百萬分之一
01:02
The dinosaurs had a really bad day.
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啲恐龍真係好慘
01:05
Okay?
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是咪咁呢
01:07
Now, a six-mile-wide rock is very large.
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依家，六英里寬嘅石頭是非常之大嘅
01:09
We all live here in Boulder.
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我們都住係博爾德
01:11
If you look out your window and you can see
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如果你望出窗外你可以睇到朗斯山峰
01:13
Long's Peak, you're probably familiar with it.
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你好可能覺得佢好熟悉
01:15
Now, scoop up Long's Peak, and put it out
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依家，將朗斯山峰掘出來
01:17
in space.
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將佢放係太空裡邊
01:19
Take Meeker, Mt. Meeker. Lump that in there,
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將米克山拎出來
01:21
and put that in space as well,
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同樣擺係太空裡邊
01:23
and Mt. Everest, and K2,
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仲有珠穆朗瑪峰同埋K2
01:25
and the Indian peaks.
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同埋印第安山峰
01:27
Then you're starting to get an idea of
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然之後你就知
01:29
how much rock we're talking about, okay?
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我地係度講緊幾多石頭，是咪
01:31
We know it was that big because of
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我地知佢有咁大係因為
01:33
the impact it had and the crater it left.
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佢嘅衝擊力同埋佢留低嘅隕石坑
01:35
It hit in what we now know as Yucatan,
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佢撞到今日墨西哥灣
01:37
the Gulf of Mexico.
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嘅猶加敦
01:39
You can see here, there's the
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你可以睇到呢度就係猶加敦半島
01:41
Yucatan Peninsula, if you recognize Cozumel
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如果你可以認出
01:43
off the east coast there.
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東海岸嘅科蘇梅爾
01:45
Here is how big of a crater was left.
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呢度可以睇到個坑有幾大
01:48
It was huge. To give you a sense of the scale,
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個坑非常之大，俾你feel下佢嘅規模
01:50
okay, there you go. The scale here is
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你地睇
01:52
50 miles on top, a hundred kilometers
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佢上邊有五十英里寬
01:54
on the bottom. This thing was
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下邊有一百公里寬
01:56
300 kilometers across -- 200 miles --
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呢嚿嘢成三百公里寬或者兩百英里寬
01:58
an enormous crater that excavated out
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由一個好大嘅坑里便掘出咗
02:00
vast amounts of earth that splashed around
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好多四濺係地球上嘅泥土
02:03
the globe and set fires all over the planet,
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仲引起咗地球上嘅大火
02:06
threw up enough dust to block out the sun.
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升起嘅塵埃足以遮住太陽
02:09
It wiped out 75 percent of all species
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佢毀滅咗地球上
02:11
on Earth.
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全部生物嘅百分之七十五
02:13
Now, not all asteroids are that big.
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不過唔係所有嘅小行星都咁大
02:16
Some of them are smaller.
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有啲比較細粒
02:18
Here is one that came in
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呢度有一個小行星
02:21
over the United States
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落到美國
02:23
in October of 1992.
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時間係1992年10月
02:25
It came in on a Friday night.
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佢係星期五晚上飛落來
02:27
Why is that important?
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點解呢個咁重要呢
02:29
Because back then, video cameras were
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因為當時
02:31
just starting to become popular, and people
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攝像機剛開始流行
02:33
would bring them, parents would bring them,
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啲人呢就會將佢地帶係身邊
02:35
to their kids' football games to film their kids
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爹地媽咪帶住攝像機去拍仔女嘅足球比賽
02:37
play football. And since this came in on a Friday,
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星期五呢個小行星落咗落來
02:40
they were able to get this great footage
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啲人就可以連續記錄低小行星
02:42
of this thing breaking up as it came in
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一路穿過......
02:44
over West Virgina, Maryland, Pennsylvania
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而且越來越細
02:46
and New Jersey until it did that
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直到佢擊中咗
02:48
to a car in New York.
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一部係紐約嘅車
02:50
(Laughter)
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（笑）
02:52
Now, this is not a 200-mile-wide crater,
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依家，呢個唔係一個200英尺寬嘅坑
02:55
but then again you can see the rock
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但跟住落來你地可以睇到
02:57
which is sitting right here,
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位於呢度嘅岩石
02:59
about the size of a football, that hit
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同一個足球差唔多大
03:01
that car and did that damage.
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衝爛咗嗰部車
03:03
Now this thing was probably about the size
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不過當呢個小航行進入地球時
03:05
of a school bus when it first came in.
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可能係一部校車嘅晒士
03:07
It broke up through atmospheric pressure,
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由於大氣壓，佢開始分裂
03:09
it crumbled, and then the pieces fell apart
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變得破碎，小塊岩石又碎開
03:11
and did some damage.
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造成咗一點損害
03:13
Now, you wouldn't want that falling on your foot
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依家，你一定唔會希望佢
03:15
or your head, because it would do that to it.
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落係你腳上或者頭上，因為會佢會令你好痛
03:17
That would be bad.
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呢係一件好慘嘅事
03:19
But it won't wipe out, you know, all life
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但係你知佢唔會毀滅所有地球上嘅生命
03:21
on Earth, so that's fine. But it turns out,
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所以還好，不過好明顯
03:23
you don't need something six miles across
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你唔想一個6英里長嘅嘢
03:26
to do a lot of damage.
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飛來造成破壞
03:28
There is a median point between tiny rock
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小岩石同大岩石之間有個中點
03:30
and gigantic rock, and in fact, if any of you
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事實上你地去過
03:32
have ever been to near Winslow, Arizona,
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亞利桑那州嘅溫斯洛附近
03:35
there is a crater in the desert there that is
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嗰度有個坑係沙漠裡面
03:38
so iconic that it is actually called Meteor Crater.
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而且因為佢太典型，佢嘅名就變成流星坑
03:42
To give you a sense of scale, this is about a mile wide.
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爲了讓你地對晒士有個概念，呢個就有1英里寬
03:45
If you look up at the top, that's a parking lot,
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如果你向上睇，嗰個就係一個停車場
03:48
and those are recreational vehicles right there.
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嗰邊就係嗰啲旅遊車
03:51
So it's about a mile across, 600 feet deep.
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所以佢有1英里寬，600英尺深
03:54
The object that formed this was probably about
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形成呢個小行星既物體大概係
03:57
30 to 50 yards across, so roughly the size
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30到50碼寬,所以差不多係
04:00
of Mackey Auditorium here.
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麥基禮堂嘅晒士
04:03
It came in at speeds that were tremendous,
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佢以巨大速度衝落來
04:06
slammed into the ground, blew up,
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衝到地下，跟住炸開
04:08
and exploded with the energy of roughly
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以近於一顆20原子彈嘅能量
04:10
a 20-megaton nuclear bomb --
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爆炸
04:12
a very hefty bomb.
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一個重磅炸彈
04:14
This was 50,000 years ago, so it may have
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呢件事發生係5萬年前
04:16
wiped out a few buffalo or antelope,
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所以令一些水牛或者羚羊消失
04:18
or something like that out in the desert,
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或者係生活係沙漠嘅動物
04:21
but it probably would not have caused
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但佢不太可能
04:23
global devastation.
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會造成全球嘅毀滅
04:25
It turns out that these things don't have to
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看來呢地嘢要造成大損傷
04:27
hit the ground to do a lot of damage.
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並不一定要落到地面
04:30
Now, in 1908, over Siberia, near the
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依家，係1908年，西伯利亞上空
04:32
Tunguska region -- for those of you who are
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靠近通古斯卡區域
04:34
Dan Aykroyd fans and saw "Ghostbusters,"
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對於係丹·艾克罗伊德FAN士同埋睇過"捉鬼特工隊"嘅人來講
04:36
when he talked about the greatest cross-dimensional rift
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當丹·艾克罗伊德講到1909年西伯利亞爆炸以來
04:39
since the Siberia blast of 1909, where he got
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最大嘅交叉維度裂縫
04:42
the date wrong, but that's okay. (Laughter)
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佢講錯咗日期，不過沒咩嘢影響。（笑）
04:44
It was 1908. That's fine. I can live with that.
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其實事情發生係1908年,不過我可以接受佢嘅錯誤
04:47
(Laughter)
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(笑)
04:50
Another rock came into the Earth's atmosphere
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另一個岩石進入地球嘅大氣層
04:53
and this one blew up above the ground, several
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而且係空中爆炸
04:55
miles up above the surface of the Earth.
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位於地面上方幾英里
04:58
The heat from the explosion set fire to the
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爆炸釋放出來嘅熱量
05:01
forest below it, and then the shock wave
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引起下方嘅森林大火
05:04
came down and knocked down trees for
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而且衝擊波將幾百平方英里嘅
05:06
hundreds of square miles, okay?
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樹推倒
05:09
This did a huge amount of damage.
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佢造成巨大嘅破壞
05:11
And again, this was a rock probably roughly
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又一次,呢個岩石係
05:13
the size of this auditorium that we're sitting in.
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差唔係我們依家坐嘅演講廳
05:15
In Meteor Crater it was made of metal,
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隕石由金屬構成
05:17
and metal is much tougher, so it made it
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而且係好硬金屬
05:19
to the ground.
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所以佢先可以落到地上
05:21
The one over Tunguska was probably made
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通古斯卡上空嘅石頭好可能係由岩石構成
05:23
of rock, and that's much more crumbly, so it
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更加易碎
05:25
blew up in the air. Either way, these are
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所以佢會係空中爆炸
05:27
tremendous explosions, 20 megatons.
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無論係邊一種方式,都引起2千萬噸嘅巨大爆炸
05:30
Now, when these things blow up, they're not
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當呢地嘢爆炸時
05:32
going to do global ecological damage.
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佢地唔會破壞全球生態
05:35
They're not going to do something like
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佢地唔係
05:37
the dinosaur-killer did.
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毀滅恐龍嘅那類嘢
05:39
They're just not big enough.
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佢地不夠大
05:41
But they will do global economic damage,
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但係佢地係未來會破壞全球生態
05:43
because they don't have to hit, necessarily,
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因為佢地唔一定要撞擊
05:45
to do this kind of damage.
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先可以造成呢類破壞
05:47
They don't have to do global devastation.
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佢地唔會令全球毀滅
05:49
If one of these things were to hit
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如果任何一顆小行星求其撞向一個地方
05:51
pretty much anywhere, it would cause a panic.
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就會引起恐慌
05:53
But if it came over a city, an important city --
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但係如果佢撞到一個重要城市
05:55
not that any city is more important than others,
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並不是那種最重要嘅城市
05:57
but some of them we depend on them more
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而是更加依賴全球經濟嘅城市
05:59
on the global economic basis -- that could do
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對我地文明而言
06:02
a huge amount of damage to us
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就係一個
06:05
as a civilization.
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巨大破壞
06:07
So, now that I've scared the crap out of you ...
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我依家已經嚇到你連屎都出咗來
06:10
(Laughter)
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(笑)
06:12
what can we do about this? All right?
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我地可以做啲咩嘢
06:14
This is a potential threat.
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呢個係一個潛在威脅
06:16
Let me note that we have not had
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讓我提醒一下
06:18
a giant impact like the dinosaur-killer
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我地已經有65萬年
06:20
for 65 million years. They're very rare.
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沒有經歷過毀滅恐龍嘅巨大能量.佢地係好罕見
06:23
The smaller ones happen more often, but
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石頭越細，衝擊發生得就越多
06:26
probably on the order of a millennium,
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但係好可能係以一千年為單位
06:28
every few centuries or every few thousand
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每幾百年或者幾千年發生一次
06:30
years, but it's still something to be aware of.
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但係我地都要小心啲佢先得
06:33
Well, what do we do about them?
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咁，我地要對佢地做啲乜嘢呢
06:35
The first thing we have to do is find them.
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第一件事係要搵到佢地
06:37
This is an image of an asteroid that passed
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呢係一個於2009年
06:39
us in 2009.
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經過我地嘅一顆小行星嘅圖片
06:41
It's right here.
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佢就係呢度
06:43
But you can see that it's extremely faint.
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但你地會發現佢係非常微小
06:45
I don't even know if you can see that
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我都唔知坐係後邊那一排嘅你地是咪可以睇到佢
06:47
in the back row. These are just stars.
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呢啲只是星星
06:49
This is a rock that was about 30 yards across,
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呢係一個30碼寬嘅岩石
06:51
so roughly the size of the ones that blew up
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差唔多同5萬年前
06:53
over Tunguska and hit Arizona 50,000 years ago.
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通古斯卡上空爆炸而且撞擊亞利桑那啲岩石一樣大
06:56
These things are faint.
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呢啲嘢好微小
06:58
They're hard to see, and the sky is really big.
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好難發現，而且天空實在太大
07:00
We have to find these things first.
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我地必須搵到佢地先
07:02
Well the good news is, we're looking for them.
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好消息係，我地已經搵緊佢地了
07:04
NASA has devoted money to this.
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NASA出資做呢件事
07:06
The National Science Foundation, other
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國家科學基金同埋其他國家
07:08
countries are very interested in doing this.
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都對呢件事還有興趣
07:10
We're building telescopes that are looking
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我地係製造緊可以發現威脅嘅太空望遠鏡
07:12
for the threat. That's a great first step,
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呢個係好大嘅一步
07:14
but what's the second step? The second step
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不過下一步又是咩嘢呢
07:16
is that we see one heading toward us,
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第二步就係我地發現一顆小行星衝向地球時
07:18
we have to stop it. What do we do?
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我地要阻止佢。咁點做呢
07:20
You've probably heard about the asteroid
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你地好可能聽過小行星阿波菲斯
07:22
Apophis. If you haven't yet, you will.
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如果你冇，你地好快會聽到
07:25
If you've heard about the Mayan 2012
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如果你聽過瑪雅2012預言
07:27
apocalypse, you're going to hear about Apophis,
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你就將會聽到小行星阿波菲斯
07:29
because you're keyed in to all the doomsday
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因為你地無論如何
07:31
networks anyway.
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都走唔脫世界末日
07:34
Apophis is an asteroid that was discovered in 2004.
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阿波菲斯小行星係2004年被發現
07:37
It's roughly 250 yards across, so it's
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佢差唔多有250碼寬
07:40
pretty big -- big size, you know,
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所以佢好大。你地知喇，係大晒士
07:42
bigger than a football stadium -- and it's going to
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仲大過足球場
07:44
pass by the Earth in April of 2029.
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而且佢將係2029年4月經過地球
07:47
And it's going to pass us so close that it's
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佢靠得咁近
07:49
actually going to come underneath
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以至於佢幾乎會來到
07:51
our weather satellites.
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氣象衛星下面
07:53
The Earth's gravity is going to bend the orbit
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如果佢正常運動
07:55
of this thing so much that if it's just right,
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地球嘅重力將會扭曲佢嘅軌道
07:58
if it passes through this region of space,
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如果佢穿過一個區域空間
08:01
this kidney bean-shaped region called
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一個叫做鎖匙眼嘅豆角形狀區域
08:03
the keyhole, the Earth's gravity will bend it
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地球重力就會使其扭曲
08:05
just enough that seven years later
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恰恰七年以後
08:07
on April 13, which is a Friday, I'll note,
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係4月13號，係一個星期五，提提你
08:09
in the year 2036 ... (Laughter)
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係2036年...（笑）
08:12
-- you can't plan that kind of stuff --
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你一定計唔到咁嘅事
08:15
Apophis is going to hit us. And it's
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阿波菲斯將會撞擊我地
08:17
250 meters across, so it would do
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而且佢有250米寬
08:19
unbelievable damage.
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所以將會造成巨大破壞
08:21
Now the good news is that the odds of it
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依家好消息係
08:23
actually passing through this keyhole and
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佢穿過鎖匙眼，係下一個回合撞到我地嘅幾率
08:25
hitting us next go-around are one in a million,
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係百萬分之一
08:27
roughly -- very, very low odds, so I personally
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幾乎係非常非常之細嘅幾率
08:29
am not lying awake at night worrying about this at all.
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所以我自己唔會因為擔心佢而瞓唔著
08:31
I don't think Apophis is a problem.
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我唔認為阿波菲斯係一個問題
08:33
In fact, Apophis is a blessing in disguise,
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事實上，塞翁失馬焉知非福
08:35
because it woke us up to the dangers
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阿波菲斯帶俾我地
08:37
of these things.
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危險警示
08:39
This thing was discovered just a few years
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呢個嘢係幾年前被發現
08:41
ago and could hit us a few years from now.
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係幾年後可能會撞擊我地
08:43
It won't, but it gives us a chance to study
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佢將來唔會俾，但佢依家俾咗我地一個機會
08:45
these kinds of asteroids. We didn't really
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來研究呢類小行星
08:47
necessarily understand these keyholes, and
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我地過去對鎖匙眼知之甚少
08:49
now we do and it turns out
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不過依家我地好清楚
08:51
that's really important, because how do you
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而且瞭解清楚小行星係非常重要
08:53
stop an asteroid like this?
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因為你要點樣阻止呢類小行星呢
08:55
Well, let me ask you, what happens if you're
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等我問你，如果你企係路上
08:57
standing in the middle of the road and a car's
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突然有部車向你衝來，你會點做呢
08:59
headed for you? What do you do? You do this.
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你會點做？你會咁做
09:01
Right? Move. The car goes past you.
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係咪？移動。部車剛好同你擦身而過。
09:03
But we can't move the Earth, at least
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但係我地不可以令地球移動
09:05
not easily, but we can move a small asteroid.
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至少唔係冇咁易，但係我地可以令小行星移動。
09:07
And it turns out, we've even done it.
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而且睇來，我地甚至已經做好了
09:09
In the year 2005, NASA launched a probe
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2005年，NASA發射咗一個叫深層衝擊嘅探測器
09:12
called Deep Impact, which slammed into --
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撞到咗--
09:15
slammed a piece of itself into the nucleus of a comet.
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其中一部份撞入咗一顆彗星嘅核部
09:18
Comets are very much like asteroids.
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彗星好似小行星
09:20
The purpose wasn't to push it out of the way.
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目的唔係要將佢推到第二度
09:22
The purpose was to make a crater to excavate
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而且撞出一個坑來發掘
09:24
the material and see what was underneath
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以瞭解彗星表面之下係咩嘢物質
09:26
the surface of this comet, which we learned
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我地由呢度
09:28
quite a bit about.
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學到好多
09:30
We did move the comet a little tiny bit,
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我地的確將小行星移動咗小小
09:32
not very much, but that wasn't the point.
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雖然唔大，但唔緊要
09:34
However, think about this.
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不過，唸下呢個
09:36
This thing is orbiting the sun at
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呢個每秒圍繞太陽10英里，
09:38
10 miles per second, 20 miles per second.
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每秒圍繞太陽20英里
09:40
We shot a space probe at it and hit it. Okay?
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我地發射咗一顆太空探測器而且擊中咗佢
09:42
Imagine how hard that must be, and we did it.
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唸下件事有幾難，但係我地做到咗
09:45
That means we can do it again.
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所以我們可以做多一次
09:48
If we need, if we see an asteroid that's coming
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如果我地需要，如果我地睇來一顆小行星撞埋來
09:50
toward us, and it's headed right for us,
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而且直直咁對住我地
09:52
and we have two years to go, boom! We hit it.
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而且我地有兩年時間，嘣！我地擊中咗佢！
09:55
You can try to -- you know, if you watch
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你地可以試下。如果你地睇電影
09:57
the movies, you might think about,
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你地可能會唸
09:59
why don't we use a nuclear weapon?
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點解我地不用原子彈
10:01
It's like, well, you can try that, but the problem is timing.
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好似你係可以試下，但是問題係時間
10:03
You shoot a nuclear weapon at this thing,
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如果你用原子彈來打佢
10:05
you have to blow it up within a few milliseconds
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你要係幾百萬分之秒鐘引爆原子彈
10:07
of tolerance or else you'll just miss it.
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如果唔係就打不中
10:09
And there are a lot of other problems
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而且仲有好多其他問題
10:11
with that. It's very hard to do.
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呢個好高難度
10:13
But just hitting something? That's pretty easy.
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如果只係要去撞呢？就易好多
10:15
I think even NASA can do that,
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我唸NASA可以做到
10:17
and they proved that they can. (Laughter)
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佢地證明咗佢地可以。（笑）
10:19
The problem is, what happens if you hit
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問題係如果撞到小行星會點呢
10:21
this asteroid, you've changed the orbit,
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因為你改變咗佢嘅軌道
10:23
you measure the orbit and then you find out,
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測量佢嘅軌道然之後你地就會發現
10:25
oh, yeah, we just pushed it into a keyhole,
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喔，耶，我地將佢推入咗鎖匙眼
10:27
and now it's going to hit us in three years.
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佢將會係三年之後撞擊我地
10:29
Well, my opinion is, fine. Okay?
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我嘅觀點係，唔緊要。
10:31
It's not hitting us in six months. That's good.
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佢唔會係6個月之內撞到我地，咁就好好了。
10:33
Now we have three years to do something else.
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依家我地有3年去做其他事情
10:36
And you can hit it again. That's kind of
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你可以再次撞擊佢
10:38
ham-fisted. You might just push it into a third
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呢係一件好蠢嘅事情
10:40
keyhole or whatever, so you don't do that.
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你會將佢撞入第三個鎖匙眼，所以你唔會咁做
10:42
And this is the part, it's the part I just love.
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呢個係我鍾意嘅部份
10:46
(Laughter)
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（笑）
10:48
After the big macho "Rrrrrrr BAM! We're
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呢個威力十足嘅“嘣！
10:50
gonna hit this thing in the face,"
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我地將會迎面撞到呢個嘢”過後
10:52
then we bring in the velvet gloves.
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我地就有咗天鵝絨手套
10:55
(Laughter)
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（笑）
10:58
There's a group of scientists and engineers
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有一群自稱為B612基金會
11:00
and astronauts and they call themselves
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科學家，工程師
11:02
The B612 Foundation. For those of you
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同埋太空人
11:04
who've read "The Little Prince,"
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對於讀過“小王子”嘅人
11:06
you understand that reference, I hope. The little prince
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我希望你地明白那個指代
11:08
who lived on an asteroid, it was called B612.
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小王子住係一個叫做B612嘅小行星上
11:10
These are smart guys -- men and women --
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上邊有好多聰明人，有男有女
11:12
astronauts, like I said, engineers.
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太空人，似我話齋，工程師
11:14
Rusty Schweickart, who was an Apollo 9
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拉塞尔·施威卡特，曾是阿波羅9嘅太空人就係上面。
11:16
astronaut, is on this. Dan Durda, my friend
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我朋友丹·德達製作咗呢幅影像
11:18
who made this image, works here at
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佢依家就係博爾德核桃街嘅
11:20
Southwest Research Institute in Boulder,
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西南研究中心工作。
11:22
on Walnut Street. He created this image for this,
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佢為呢個製作做一幅影像
11:24
and he's actually one of the astronomers
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而且佢事實上就是為佢地
11:26
who works for them. If we see an asteroid
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工作太空人之一
11:28
that's going to hit the Earth and we have
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如果我地發現咗一顆即將撞擊地球嘅小行星
11:30
enough time, we can hit it to move it into
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而且有足夠嘅時間
11:33
a better orbit. But then what we do is we launch
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我地可以將佢撞至一個更安全嘅軌道
11:36
a probe that has to weigh a ton or two.
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但我地依家做緊嘅係發射一顆一至兩噸重嘅探測器
11:38
It doesn't have to be huge -- couple of tons,
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佢不一定要幾噸咁大
11:41
not that big -- and you park it near the asteroid.
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你只要將佢停係靠近小行星嘅地方
11:44
You don't land on it, because these things are
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你不需要登陸小行星
11:46
tumbling end over end. It's very hard to land on them.
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因為小行星來回震動，所以好難登陸
11:48
Instead you get near it.
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不如先靠近佢地
11:50
The gravity of the asteroid pulls on the probe,
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小行星嘅重力會拉動探測器
11:52
and the probe has a couple of tons of mass.
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而探測器又只有幾噸重
11:55
It has a little tiny bit of gravity, but it's enough
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佢嘅重力太細，
11:57
that it can pull the asteroid, and you have your
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但佢足以拉動小行星
11:59
rockets set up, so you can -- oh, you can barely
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再發射火箭，咁基本上就可以
12:01
see it here, but there's rocket plumes -- and you
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噢，你幾乎可以係度睇到佢，但係那度有火箭羽焰
12:03
basically, these guys are connected by their
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呢啲嘢嘅重力將佢地連接起來
12:05
own gravity, and if you move the probe very
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如果你慢慢移動探測器
12:08
slowly, very, very gently, you can very easily
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非常非常細力
12:12
finesse that rock into a safe orbit.
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你就可以好輕鬆咁將岩石送入一個安全軌道
12:15
You can even put in orbit around the Earth
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你甚至可以將佢送入圍繞地球嘅軌道,等我地摧毀佢
12:17
where we could mine it, although that's a
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但係那個完全係另一件事
12:19
whole other thing. I won't go into that.
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我唔會深入呢個話題
12:21
(Laughter)
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（笑）
12:23
But we'd be rich!
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但係我地會成為有錢人
12:25
(Laughter)
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（笑）
12:30
So think about this, right?
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考慮下，好冇
12:32
There are these giant rocks flying out there,
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一些巨大岩石飛過
12:34
and they're hitting us, and they're doing
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而且佢地會撞到我地，造成破壞
12:36
damage to us, but we've figured out how to do
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但係我地已經唸出點樣做呢件事
12:38
this, and all the pieces are in place to do this.
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用手上嘅每一樣嘢來做
12:41
We have astronomers in place with telescopes
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我地已經有太空人埋位，用望遠鏡搵佢地
12:43
looking for them. We have smart people,
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我地有聰明人
12:45
very, very smart people, who are concerned
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聰明到跌渣嘅人
12:47
about this and figuring out how to fix the
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佢地關心而且唸出咗點樣解決問題
12:49
problem, and we have the technology to do this.
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而且我地有科技相助
12:52
This probe actually can't use chemical rockets.
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實際上呢個探測器唔可以使用化學火箭
12:54
Chemical rockets provide too much thrust, too
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化學火箭嘅推力好大，大得濟。
12:56
much push. The probe would just shoot away.
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探測器就打唔中
12:58
We invented something called an ion drive,
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我地發明咗叫做離子推動器嘅嘢
13:00
which is a very, very, very low-thrust engine.
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佢係一個推力非常細嘅引擎
13:03
It generates the force a piece of paper would
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佢產生嘅推力十分之細
13:05
have on your hand, incredibly light,
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相當於一張擺係手上嘅紙產生嘅力
13:07
but it can run for months and years,
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但係佢可以連續幾個月到幾年
13:10
providing that very gentle push.
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提供輕微嘅推力
13:13
If anybody here is a fan of the original "Star Trek,"
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如果呢讀有人係“星際旅行”原始系列嘅FAN士
13:15
they ran across an alien ship that had
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佢地揸住一部有離子推動器嘅外星飛船
13:17
an ion drive, and Spock said,
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而且斯波克話
13:19
"They're very technically sophisticated.
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“佢地有精密嘅科技
13:21
They're a hundred years ahead of us with this drive."
349
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憑住呢個推動器，佢地領先我地100年。“
13:23
Yeah, we have an ion drive now. (Laughter)
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耶，我地依家都有咗離子推動器。（笑）
13:25
We don't have the Enterprise, but
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我地冇企業號
13:27
we've got an ion drive now.
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但係我地已經有離子推動器
13:29
(Applause)
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（掌聲）
13:32
Spock.
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斯波克
13:34
(Laughter)
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（笑）
13:37
So ...
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所以...
13:39
that's the difference, that's the difference
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呢個就是差別
13:41
between us and the dinosaurs.
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就係我地同恐龍嘅差別
13:43
This happened to them.
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佢地會滅亡
13:45
It doesn't have to happen to us.
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但我地唔一定
13:47
The difference between the dinosaurs and us
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我地同恐龍嘅差別在於
13:50
is that we have a space program
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我地有太空計劃
13:52
and we can vote,
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而且我地可以投票
13:54
and so we can change our future.
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所以我地可以改變未來
13:57
(Laughter)
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（笑）
13:58
We have the ability to change our future.
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我地有能力去改變未來
14:01
65 million years from now,
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6千5百萬年後
14:03
we don't have to have our bones
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我們嘅骨頭唔會
14:05
collecting dust in a museum.
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係博物館裡面惹塵埃
14:07
Thank you very much.
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多謝晒
14:09
(Applause)
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（掌聲）
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Phil Plait - AstronomerPhil Plait blogs at Bad Astronomy, where he deconstructs misconceptions and explores the wonder of the universe.
Why you should listen
Phil Plait is the Bad Astronomer. Not a bad astronomer, but a blogger for Slate who debunks myths and misconceptions about astronomy -- and also writes about the beauty, wonder and importance of fundamental research.
He worked for six years on the Hubble Space Telescope, and directed public outreach for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. He is a past president of the James Randi Educational Foundation, and was the host of Phil Plait's Bad Universe, a documentary series on the Discovery Channel.
Read more from Phil Plait in the Huffington Post's special TEDWeekends feature, "Asteroids: Getting Ready" >>
Phil Plait | Speaker | TED.com