美国用来测试公众科学素养的10个简单问题

　　Question 1:TRUE OR FALSE? The center of the Earth is very hot.

　　问题1：判断对错 地球的中心非常热。

　　The correct answer...True.Scientists estimate that Earth’s core is more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit — nearly the temperature found on the surface of the Sun.

　　正确答案：对。科学家估计，地核的温度超过1万华氏度(约合5538摄氏度)，接近太阳表面的温度。

　　Question 2:TRUE OR FALSE? The continents have been moving their location for millions of years and will continue to move.

　　问题2： 判断对错 地球上各大洲的位置数百万年来一直在移动，它们会继续移动。

　　The correct answer...True.Plate tectonics is the science of how continent-size slabs of crust form Earth’s outermost layer and constantly move and regenerate. Most move less than a couple inches per year, according to Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, though the process may be essential to making a rocky planet habitable to life.

　　正确答案：对。板块构造学专门研究大陆大小的地壳板块是如何形成地球最外层并不断移动和再生的。根据美国太平洋西北地震网络中心的数据，大多数板块每年移动不到两英寸(约合5厘米)。不过，要让一个由岩石构成的行星适合生命居住，这个过程恐怕是必不可少的。

　　Question 3: Which is correct?A: The Earth goes around the Sun.B:The Sun goes around the Earth.

　　问题3： 选择题 以下哪个说法正确：A.地球绕着太阳转。B.太阳绕着地球转。

　　The correct answer...We know this is true on a basic level because we can see the position of the stars change over time. The space age has also required us to intimately understand this fact — and acknowledge our puny existence in the cosmos via stunning pictures of Earth from afar.

　　正确答案：A。这是基本常识，因为我们能看到星星的位置随着时间的推移而变化。太空时代也要求我们谙熟这个事实，并通过从远处拍摄到的地球照片认识到我们在宇宙中的渺小。

　　Question 4: TRUE OR FALSE? All radioactivity is man-made.

　　问题4： 判断对错 所有辐射线都是人造的。

　　The correct answer...Natural radiation is everywhere, especially in space. Small amounts are present in soil, water, and vegetation. Even a portion of the potassium found in bananas is radioactive.

　　正确答案：错。天然辐射无处不在，特别是在太空中。土壤、水和植被中也有少量辐射，甚至在香蕉中发现的一部分钾也具有放射性。

　　Question 5:TRUE OR FALSE? Electrons are smaller than atoms.

　　问题5：判断对错 电子比原子要小。

　　The correct answer...True. Electrons are much less massive than the protons and neutrons that make up the cores of atoms.

　　正确答案：对。电子远不如构成原子核心的质子和中子大且重。

　　Question6: TRUE OR FALSE? Lasers work by focusing sound waves.

　　问题6：判断对错 激光的原理是把声波集中。

　　The correct answer...False. Lasers concentrate light waves, not sound waves.

　　正确答案：错。激光集中的是光波，不是声波。

　　Question7: TRUE OR FALSE? The universe began with a huge explosion.

　　问题7：判断对错 宇宙始于一次巨大的爆炸。

　　The correct answer...True. This is the best theory that we have as to how the universe began: a point of infinite density at the beginning of the universe began to expand and created the galaxies, planets, and stars that we see — still in motion — today. People call this "the Big Bang," though it’s not technically an explosion.

　　正确答案：对。这是关于宇宙起源的最佳理论：宇宙之初，一个密度无限大的点开始膨胀，创造了我们今天看到的——并且仍在运行中的——星系、行星和恒星。人们称其为“大爆炸”，但从严格意义上讲，它并不是爆炸。

　　"For an explosion to occur, it requires per-existing space and the material will be distributed or scattered in that space. For example, a star explodes and distributes material in the space," Nabin Rijal, a PhD student in nuclear astrophysics Florida State University, wrote in an email to Business Insider. "The Big Bang is very different than that. It is the expansion of space itself. Materials (elementary particles-antiparticles) are created in the process of expansion. [...] So, calling it an explosion would be wrong."

　　“爆炸需要有预先存在的空间，物质会散落在这个空间里。例如，一颗恒星爆炸并使物质散落在太空中。”佛罗里达州立大学核天体物理学博士生纳宾?里贾尔在发给商业内幕网站的电子邮件中写道。“大爆炸与此截然不同。它是空间本身的膨胀。物质(基本粒子-反粒子)在膨胀过程中产生……所以，称它为爆炸是错误的。”

　　Question8:TRUE OR FALSE? It is the father’s gene that decides whether the baby is a boy or a girl..

　　问题8： 判断对错 婴儿是男是女由父亲的基因决定。

　　The correct answer...True. Sex is determined by two chromosomes, and sperm carries one of them: either an X (female) chromosome or a Y (male) chromosome. Whichever sperm makes it to the egg first to join an X chromosome in the mother’s egg determines the baby’s sex. (XX is a girl and XY is a boy, anatomically speaking.)

　　正确答案：对。性别由两条染色体决定，精子携带其中一条：要么是X(女性)染色体要么是Y(男性)染色体。哪个精子最先靠近卵子与母亲卵子里的X染色体结合，它就决定了婴儿的性别。(从解剖学上讲，XX就是女孩，XY就是男孩。)

　　Question9:TRUE OR FALSE? Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria.

　　问题9： 判断对错 抗生素既能杀死细菌也能杀死病毒。

　　The correct answer...False. Antibiotics only kill bacteria, not viruses.

　　正确答案：错。抗生素只能杀死细菌，不能杀死病毒。

　　Question10:TRUE OR FALSE? Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals.

　　问题10： 判断对错 我们今天所说的人类是从早期动物物种发展而来的。

　　The correct answer...True. Fossils in the ground, genetic studies, and other research over the past century has shown again and again that evolution not only gave rise to species like humans, but will continue to shape the forms of our descendants.

　　正确答案：对。过去一个世纪里的化石、基因研究和其他研究一次次揭示，进化不仅推动产生了像人类这样的物种，它还将继续塑造我们子孙后代的形态。