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And after a while a pattern emerged.
久而久之，人們就歸納出一個模式
If you observe sun spots over several years,
若連續(xù)觀察太陽黑子好幾年
they come and go with an about an eleven year cycle.
會發(fā)現(xiàn)它們約每隔11年會周期性地出現(xiàn)和消失
From solar minimum where there can be no spots at all
從連續(xù)數(shù)周或數(shù)月
on the sun for weeks or months at a time,
完全沒有黑子的太陽活動極小期
to at maximum where you can have a hundred spots visible
到表面出現(xiàn)好幾百個太陽黑子的太陽活動極大期
on the surface of the sun,and then they decline again,
接下來是為期約六年的衰退
usually over about six years or so,to, back to minimum.
直至進(jìn)入太陽活動極小期為止
Until recently no-one knew what was driving the solar cycle.
我們到最近才得知太陽周期的原理
Or where sun spots came from.
及太陽黑子的由來
But people had always suspected that the scars on the suns surface
但人們早就懷疑太陽表面的瘢疤
had an effect on the Earth.
會影響地球
But no-one could quite put their finger on what it was.
只是說不出所以然來
It has been correlated with all kinds of different things,
人們認(rèn)為太陽黑子與很多事情有關(guān)系
er the price of wheat,the thickness of fur on animals,
如谷物的價格，動物皮毛的厚度等
I'm inundated with it every day.
我每天都會收到大量訊息
I got a guy that comes to my website to try and predict the,
有個人上我的網(wǎng)站，為的就是用太陽黑子的位置
the stock market from the daily sunspot areas.
預(yù)測股市走向
You know, 'oh, you didn't post them today, I gotta know!'
他會說“你今天怎么沒公布？我一定要知道”
So, are you making money or what,I want some if you are.
你究竟有沒有賺到錢？有的話，我可是要分紅的
One effect sun spots do have on the earth is on the climate.
我們可以確定的是，太陽黑子會影響地球氣候
But it is a subtle effect.
但是影響并不明顯
Its greatest impact was
其最大的沖擊
only noticed 3 hundred years after the event.
在事發(fā)三百年后才被發(fā)現(xiàn)
It was discovered in Greenwich by the astronomer Robert Maunder
發(fā)現(xiàn)這件事的是天文學(xué)家羅伯蒙德
who was studying the hundreds of years of sunspot records
當(dāng)時他在格林威治的皇家天文臺
held at the Royal Observatory.
研究數(shù)百年來的太陽黑子紀(jì)錄
And in the late part of the 19th century he er
他在十九世紀(jì)下半
became particularly interested in the sunspots.
開始對太陽黑子產(chǎn)生濃厚興趣
He discovered that there had been this peculiar effect
他發(fā)現(xiàn)在十七和十八世紀(jì)下半
in the second half of the 17th and the 18th centuries
發(fā)生了奇怪的現(xiàn)象
when the sunspot numbers diminished to a real,
太陽黑子的數(shù)目減少
really a fraction of what they are today.
至今日的一小部分
And he described this as the Maunder minimum.
他將之稱為“蒙德極小期”
For seventy years,from 1645-1715 sunspots disappeared.
從1645年到1715年，太陽黑子消失了70年
It was as if the engine that drives the solar cycle had stopped.
推動太陽周期的引擎仿佛熄火了
And it correlated almost exactly with the last period
北半球也在這段期間
of prolonged cold to strike the Northern hemisphere.
進(jìn)入了漫長的寒冷期
They call it the Little Ice Age.
這就是“小冰河期”
What's interesting about a period like the little ice age is
小冰河期有意思的地方是
that you don't necessarily see a very large dip in temperatures,
溫度并沒有大幅降低
but nonetheless even a degree or two
不過盡管只降低了一、兩度
is enough to see some really quite dramatic effects,
仍然產(chǎn)生了明顯的結(jié)果
like pack ice advancing south from the north pole,
如北極的浮冰向南方延伸
like the Viking colonies in Greenland being wiped out
格陵蘭的維京人聚落消失
by the changing climate and the population
隨著變化的氣候
of Iceland falling by half.
冰島人口銳減五成
Now in Britain the weather was cold enough
英國也很冷
that the Thames would regularly freeze in winter
以至于泰晤士河在冬天會結(jié)冰
and one of the classic depictions of life
當(dāng)時生活的最好寫照
at the time is Frost Fairs,
就是冰霜市集
when the population would hold a fair on the frozen river.
人們會在冰凍河面上舉行市集
So things really must have been a lot harsher
可見當(dāng)時的氣候絕對比現(xiàn)在
than they are today.
嚴(yán)酷得多
