中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
燈火輝煌的城市，光影交錯。在欣賞現代科技帶來的炫目夜景時，我們是否意識到——用光線填滿的黑夜，已遮蔽了深邃蒼穹那點點繁星？
By Andrew Fraknoi
那零 選 亦文 譯
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You may think that light pollution isn’t something extraordinarily important. You may believe that every other type of pollution has a larger impact on the environment than light pollution does. You may not even have heard of it before. It may not be polluting our lakes, our air or the Earth’s living creatures, but light pollution is serious, and it needs to be addressed by everyone. Light pollution, or “sky glow”, is the glow you can see at night above cities and towns. Light pollution is a problem that has been accompanying man ever since he started his first fire some 15,000 years ago, and technology has only made it worse. Light pollution is the stray light that comes from streetlights, billboard signs, buildings, parking lots, sports arenas and any other source of illumination that is reflected or directed into the atmosphere. Light pollution is made worse with air pollution, as the small particles that float in the air serve to scatter and reflect the light, compounding the problem. The effect of light pollution is to reduce the contrast, and therefore the visibility of dimmer objects in the night sky, which affects professional, as well as amateur astronomers. Light pollution has obscured our view of constellations, meteor showers, and even the planets. Light pollution exists on every continent except Antarctica. Urban light pollution means that one-fifth of the world’s population can no longer see the Milky Way with the naked eye. Many city kids, even if they did peer through the orange smog above their heads, would probably see only a handful of stars. We have lost our view of the stars, and we have mucked up our nighttime environment as well. Astronomers are calling for the dark places on Earth to be preserved as national parks, so that we do not lose completely our window on the Universe. Light pollution impacts astronomical research and can even affect human health. The excess illumination also affects wildlife in various ways from altering migration routes to eating habits and breeding behavior, to name a few. Lots of people find the ever-brightening night annoying, and animals that are programmed to prefer the dark may avoid brightened habitat. Sea turtles can get lost searching for a beach to lay eggs, and their hatchlings may confuse over-lit beachfront resorts for the ocean horizon, wasting precious energy needed to find the sea and escape predators. Because their necks aren’t yet long enough to see things far away, baby turtles rely on the mirror image of the moon to guide them to the sea, to begin their new life. A car may even hit a particular turtle, which was thinking the light from a nearby city was moonlight reflecting off the ocean waves. Birds that live in and around cities can die because of sky glow, too. The abundance of bright lights can blind them, leading to countless collisions with buildings, billboards and other tall structures. These are merely a few of the possible negative effects light pollution has on our world. A very serious issue in our modern-day society is that light pollution is a terrible waste of energy. Reducing light pollution is not difficult. Light pollution is the easiest type of pollution to end. On an individual level, people can help reduce much sky glow by using lighting only when necessary and by choosing well shielded lighting fixtures. The stars above us are a priceless heritage—not only for astronomers but for all humans. More of our children should be able to look up at night and see that the Milky Way is not just a candy bar.
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或許你覺得光污染不是什么了不得的大事。或許你認為其他任何一種污染對環境造成的影響都要比光污染嚴重。沒準兒在此之前你連聽都沒聽說過光污染。或許此刻它并沒有污染湖泊、空氣或者地球上的生物，但是光污染之嚴重，需要大家協力解決。 光污染，也稱“人工白晝”，在夜晚的城鎮上空均可見到這種發光現象。自大約1.5萬年前人類生起第一堆火起，光污染問題就一直伴隨著人類，科學技術只是令這一問題更加嚴重而已。光污染屬雜散光，來源于街燈、廣告牌、建筑物、停車場、露天體育場以及其他反射或直射入大氣層中的照明光。而空氣污染又使光污染問題愈發嚴重，因為漂浮在空氣中的小顆粒通過散射和反射光線，加劇了這一問題。由于光污染導致明暗對比降低，夜空中較暗物體的能見度因此而下降，這給專業及業余天文學者都造成了影響。光污染使星座、流星雨甚至行星都變得模糊不清，遮蔽了我們的視線。 除南極洲外，各大洲均存在光污染。城市光污染意味著世界上五分之一的人都無法再用肉眼看見銀河。而許多在城市的孩子，即便他們能透過頭頂上方的橙色煙霧凝視夜空，瞥見的也很可能只有屈指可數的幾顆星星。我們已經看不見星星，也破壞了夜晚的自然環境。天文學家們呼吁，將地球上無光源的地點保護為國家公園，這樣才不至于徹底喪失我們了解宇宙的窗口。 光污染不僅影響天文學研究，甚至還會影響人類健康。過度照明也會對野生動物造成不同方面的影響，譬如，改變遷徙路線、攝食習慣和繁育行為等。 許多人都會覺得持續明亮的夜晚很煩人，而天性喜黑的動物或許也會避開明亮的棲息地。海龜會在尋找海灘產卵的途中迷路，新生的小龜則會把過于明亮的海灘度假勝地誤認為是大海的水平線，從而浪費掉尋找大海、躲避天敵的寶貴精力。由于幼龜頸部不夠長，視物不遠，因此要依賴月亮的映像引導它們爬向大海，開始新的生活。一只這樣的幼龜甚至可能會被汽車撞到，因為它誤以為附近城市的燈光就是從海浪反射而來的月光。生活在城市及周邊的鳥類也會死于人工白晝。大量的強光令它們無法視物，從而導致無數次撞上大樓、廣告牌及其他高層建筑的事故發生。 這些僅僅是光污染可能給我們的世界所帶來的幾種負面影響。現代社會面臨的一個非常嚴重的問題就是光污染是對能源的可怕浪費。 減少光污染并不難，它是最容易消滅的污染類型。就個人而言，僅在必要時使用照明，且選擇遮光性能好的照明設備，就能有助于大幅減少人工白晝現象。我們頭頂上方的點點繁星，不僅對天文學家而言是無價遺產，對全人類來說也是如此。我們應該有更多的孩子能夠仰望夜空，眼中所看到的銀河不應僅僅只是（模糊的）“一條糖塊”而已。 （來源：英語學習雜志） |
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Vocabulary: 1. address: 對付，處理。 2. sky glow: 人工白晝，指廣告牌、廣告燈、霓虹燈以及城市夜景照明等發出的強光使夜晚如同白天一樣的現象。 3. particle: 微粒，顆粒。 4. compound: 使加重，使惡化。 5. smog: （常指由汽車尾氣和工業區排出的煙與霧混合而成的）煙霧。 6. muck up: 破壞，弄糟。 7. window on sth.: 了解信息的渠道，窗口。 8. impact: 對……產生不良影響；affect: 影響，通常指不好的影響。 9. programme: 訓練；培養。 10. mirror image: 鏡像，映像（左右相反之影像）。 11. candy bar: 單獨包裝的條（塊）狀糖，這里用來形象地比喻夜空中模糊呈現的銀河形狀。沒有光污染的情況下，銀河在晴天夜晚可見，是橫跨夜空的一條寬而發亮的銀白色光帶，銀河里有許多小光點，輝映成一片，這其實是由無數顆恒星的光形成的；銀河由大量恒星構成，它是銀河系的一部分，銀河系則是太陽系所屬的星系。 |
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