全球變暖：地球自轉慢了 每天的日子長了
Melting of glaciers near the Earth's poles and the resulting rise in sea level is slowing down the Earth's rotation, thereby increasing the length of our days, a new study suggests.
最新的研究稱，地球兩極附近的冰川融化以及由此引起的海平面上升，減緩了地球自轉的速度，進而增加了一天的時長。
Scientists are studying past changes in sea level in order to make accurate future predictions of the consequence of climate change, and they are looking down to Earth's core to do so.
為了準確預測未來氣候變化的結果，科學家正在研究過去海平面的變化，他們準備通過觀察地核來進行這項研究。
"In order to understand the sea-level change that has occurred in the past century, we need to understand the dynamics of the flow in Earth's core," said Mathieu Dumberry, a professor in physics. The connection is through the change in the speed of Earth's rotation.
物理學教授馬修·大木博瑞說：“為了弄清楚過去一個世紀海平面發生的變化，我們需要了解地核中的流動力學。”我們發現了地球自轉速度的改變，它們之間存在關聯。
Melting water from glaciers not only causes sea-level rise, but also shifts mass from the pole to the equator. The gravity pull from the Moon also contributes to the slow down. As a consequence, the length of our days is slowly increasing. In fact, a century from now, the length of a day will increase by 1.7 milliseconds, researchers said.
冰川融化不僅引起了海平面上升，而且把地球質量從極點轉移到了赤道。來自月球的引力同樣促成了地球自轉速度的降低。因此，我們一天的長度正在逐漸變長。研究者稱，事實上，一個世紀以后，一天的長度將增加1.7微秒。
Vocabulary
domino effect：多米諾骨牌效應
tally mark：計數
Melting of glaciers near the Earth's poles and the resulting rise in sea level is slowing down the Earth's rotation, thereby increasing the length of our days, a new study suggests.
最新的研究稱，地球兩極附近的冰川融化以及由此引起的海平面上升，減緩了地球自轉的速度，進而增加了一天的時長。
Scientists are studying past changes in sea level in order to make accurate future predictions of the consequence of climate change, and they are looking down to Earth's core to do so.
為了準確預測未來氣候變化的結果，科學家正在研究過去海平面的變化，他們準備通過觀察地核來進行這項研究。
"In order to understand the sea-level change that has occurred in the past century, we need to understand the dynamics of the flow in Earth's core," said Mathieu Dumberry, a professor in physics. The connection is through the change in the speed of Earth's rotation.
物理學教授馬修·大木博瑞說：“為了弄清楚過去一個世紀海平面發生的變化，我們需要了解地核中的流動力學。”我們發現了地球自轉速度的改變，它們之間存在關聯。
Melting water from glaciers not only causes sea-level rise, but also shifts mass from the pole to the equator. The gravity pull from the Moon also contributes to the slow down. As a consequence, the length of our days is slowly increasing. In fact, a century from now, the length of a day will increase by 1.7 milliseconds, researchers said.
冰川融化不僅引起了海平面上升，而且把地球質量從極點轉移到了赤道。來自月球的引力同樣促成了地球自轉速度的降低。因此，我們一天的長度正在逐漸變長。研究者稱，事實上，一個世紀以后，一天的長度將增加1.7微秒。
Vocabulary
domino effect：多米諾骨牌效應
tally mark：計數
