The 2012 London Olympics had enough problems to worry about. But one more has just been added - a communications blackout caused by solar storms.
2012年伦敦奥运会有太多的问题需要操心，现在又多了一个问题——太阳风暴导致的通信中断。
After a period of calm within the Sun, scientists have detected the signs of a fresh cycle of sunspots that could peak in 2012, just in time for the arrival of the Olympic torch in London.
太阳内部平静了一段时间后，科学家们发现了太阳黑子周期的迹象，太阳黑子周期可能在2012年达到顶峰，正好赶上奥运火炬抵达伦敦。
Now scientists believe that this peak could result in vast solar explosions that could throw billions of tons of charged matter towards the Earth, causing strong solar storms that could jam the telecommunications satellites and interact links sending five Olympic broadcast from London.
现在，科学家们认为，这一高峰可能会导致太阳的大爆炸，将数十亿吨带电物质抛向地球，引发强烈的太阳风暴，可能会干扰通信卫星，并影响从伦敦发出的五场奥运会广播信号。
"The Sun's activity has a strong influence on the Earth. The Olympics could be in the middle of the next solar maximum which could affect the functions of communications satellites," said Professor Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire.
牛津郡卢瑟福-阿普尔顿实验室空间物理学负责人理查德·哈里森教授表示：“太阳的活动对地球有着强烈的影响。奥运会可能处于下一个太阳极盛期之中，这可能会影响通信卫星的功能。”。
At the peak of the cycle, violent outbursts called coronal mass ejections occur in the Sun's atmosphere, throwing out great quantities of electrically-charged matter." A coronal mass ejection can carry a billion tons of solar material into space at over a million kilometres per hour. Such events can expose astronauts to a deadly amount, can disable satellites, cause power failures on Earth and disturb communications," Professor Harrison added. The risk is greatest during a solar maximum when there is the greatest number of sunspots.
在周期的高峰期，太阳大气中会发生称为日冕物质抛射的剧烈爆发，哈里森教授补充道：“日冕物质抛射可以以每小时超过100万公里的速度将十亿吨太阳物质带到太空中。这样的事件会使宇航员面临致命的危险，会使卫星失效，导致地球断电，并干扰通信。”当太阳黑子数量最多时，风险最大。
Next week in America, NASA is scheduled to launch a satellite for monitoring solar activity called the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which will take images of the Sun that are 10 times clearer than the most advanced televisions available.
下周，美国宇航局计划在美国发射一颗名为太阳动力学观测站（SDO）的太阳活动监测卫星，该卫星将拍摄比现有最先进电视清晰10倍的太阳图像。
The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory helped to make the high-tech cameras that will capture images of the solar flares and explosions as they occur.
卢瑟福-阿普尔顿实验室帮助制造了高科技相机，可以捕捉太阳耀斑和爆炸发生时的图像。
Professor Richard Hold away, the lab's director, said that the SDO should be able to provide early warning of a solar flare or explosion big enough to affect satellite communications on Earth. "If we have advance warning, we'll be able to reduce the damage. What you don't want is things switching off for a week with no idea of what's caused the problem," he said.
实验室主任理查德·霍德威教授说，SDO应该能够提供规模足以影响地球上的卫星通信的太阳耀斑或爆炸的早期预警。他说：“如果我们有预警，我们将能够减少损失。你不希望在一周内关闭的，却不知道是什么原因导致了问题”。
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