俄羅斯中部隕石墜落 一百餘人受傷
Residents heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt a shockwave as they went to work in Chelyabinsk, according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow.據路透社當地記者報道,車裡雅賓斯克當地居民當時正準備工作,聽到一聲爆炸聲響,看見一道閃亮白光,並感到強烈衝擊波。
The meteorite then raced across the horizon, leaving a long trail of white smoke in its wake which could be seen as far as 200 km (125 miles) away in Yekaterinburg. Car alarms went off, windows shattered and mobile phones worked only intermittently.當時隕石划過地平線,在空中留下一道白煙,目測白煙距離該市200千米。隕石墜落使得汽車防盜鈴聲此起彼伏,窗戶玻璃破碎,手機信號也時好時斷。
"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," said Viktor Prokofiev, a 36-year-old resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains.「我當時正開車去工作,那是天還很黑,突然天空亮如白晝。」車裡雅賓斯克36歲的維克托·普羅柯菲耶夫說道,該市位於烏拉爾山脈。
"I felt like I was blinded by headlights," he said.「我感覺自己快被汽車前燈閃瞎眼了。」他說道。
No fatalities were reported but President Vladimir Putin, who was due to host Finance Ministry officials from the Group of 20 nations in Moscow, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were quickly informed.目前尚未接到死亡報告,但已很快通知原本主持G20國集團財長會議的俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾·普京和總理德米特里·梅德韋傑夫。
The Emergencies Ministry said 150 people had been hurt, mainly by flying glass.緊急事務部稱目前已有150人因此受傷,其中大部分是被玻璃碎片扎傷。
A local ministry official said the meteor shower may have been connected with an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool that was due to pass Earth at a distance of 27,520 km (17,100 miles) but this could not be confirmed.一位當地官員表示,這場流星雨可能與一個奧運會游泳池般大小的小行星有關,這顆小行星距離地球兩萬七千五百二十千米遠,但目前這一說法尚未得到證實。
Windows were shattered on Chelyabinsk"s central Lenin Street and some of the frames of shop fronts buckled.車裡雅賓斯克主街道列寧街上的玻璃被震碎,很多店鋪前門框也被震彎。
A loud noise, resembling an explosion, rang out at around 9:20 a.m. (0520 GMT). The shockwave could be felt in apartment buildings in the industrial city"s center.一聲類似於爆炸的巨響於早上九點二十左右發出,衝擊波在這做工業城市中心的公寓內都可以感受到。
"I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend," said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. "Then there was a flash, and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows."「我正在汽車站送別我的女朋友,」當地一位叫安德烈的男子說道,「突然一陣閃光,然後我看到天空有道煙幕,同時感到有股衝擊波震碎玻璃。」
A wall was damaged at the nearby Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant but there was no environmental threat, a plant spokeswoman said.當地一位發言人稱車裡雅賓斯克附近一家鍍鋅廠的牆壁因此被破壞,但這並不會造成環境污染。
Such incidents are rare in Russia. A meteorite is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 square km (1,250 miles) in Siberia in 1908, smashing windows as far as 200 km (125 miles) from the point of impact.這類事情在俄羅斯比較少見,據說1908年在西伯利亞有一處約200平方千米的區域被隕石破壞,在隕石墜落出周圍200千米的玻璃都被震碎。
The Emergencies Ministry described Friday"s events as a "meteor shower in the form of fireballs" and said background radiation levels were normal. It urged residents not to panic.該國緊急事務部稱該事件是「流星雨形狀似火球」,並表示輻射值屬正常,同時敦促居民不用恐慌。
Chelyabinsk city authorities urged people to stay indoors unless they needed to pick up their children from schools and kindergartens. They said a blast had been heard at an altitude of 10,000 meters (32,800 feet), apparently signaling it occurred when the meteorite entered Earth"s atmosphere.當地政府警告人們盡量呆在家中,除非需要從學校或幼兒園中接回孩子。他們表示爆炸聲在約一萬米的高空響起,很顯然是隕石進入大氣層後發生的。
The U.S. space agency NASA has said an asteroid known as 2012 DA14, about 150 feet in diameter, would have an encounter with Earth closer than any asteroid since scientists began routinely monitoring them about 15 years ago.美國國家航空航天局2012年表示,在經過15年的跟蹤觀測後,一顆名為DA14,直徑150英尺的隕石將與地球相遇,兩者之間的距離比以往任何隕石與地球的距離都要近。
Television, weather and communications satellites fly about 500 miles higher. The moon is 14 times farther away.電視、氣象和通信衛星距離地球表面約500英里,月亮與地球的距離則是這的14倍。
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