VOA慢速英語：美洲地區(qū)迎來超級血狼月

Lunar Eclipse to Darken Moon over North, South America

美洲地區(qū)迎來超級血狼月

People in many parts of North and South America will be able to see a total lunar eclipse Sunday night and early Monday morning.

北美和南美很多地區(qū)的人們周日晚間和周一凌晨將能夠看到一場月全食。

A lunar eclipse happens when the moon passes through Earth's shadow as our planet goes around the Sun. This kind of event does not happen every year. The last lunar eclipse seen in the United States took place in September 2015.

當(dāng)月球穿過地球圍繞太陽公轉(zhuǎn)產(chǎn)生的陰影時，就會發(fā)生月食。這種事件不會每年都發(fā)生，美國上次看到月食是在2015年9月。

The eclipse this weekend is special. The moon will be a little closer than it normally is to the Earth. For this reason, it will appear brighter than usual. Such a moon has come to be called a supermoon.

本周末的這次月食有些特別。月亮?xí)绕綍r更靠近地球，因此，它會比平時更亮，這樣的月亮已經(jīng)被稱之為超級月亮。

Astrophysicist Patrick Hartigan told the Associated Press, "It not only is a supermoon and it's a total eclipse, but the total eclipse also lasts pretty long. It's about an hour." Hartigan works at Rice University in Texas.

天體物理學(xué)家帕特里克·哈蒂根(Patrick Hartigan)對美聯(lián)社表示：“這次不僅會有超級月亮和月全食，月全食還會持續(xù)很長時間，大概會持續(xù)一個小時。”哈蒂根在德克薩斯州萊斯大學(xué)工作。

If skies are clear, the total lunar eclipse also will be partly visible in western Europe. It will be fully visible in Greenland and Iceland.

如果天空晴朗，西歐地區(qū)也能看到部分月全食。格陵蘭島和冰島可以看到完整的月全食。

When the moon is completely eclipsed, it looks darker and appears to have an orange or even a red color. That is because the reduced amount of sunlight which reaches the moon is scattered by the Earth's atmosphere. A sunset on Earth looks orange for a similar reason.

當(dāng)月亮完全被遮蔽，看上去很暗，散發(fā)著橙色或紅色的光芒，這是因為照到月球的太陽光減少，并且受到了地球大氣層的散射。由于類似原因，地球上的日落看上去也是橙色。

Because of its reddish color, an eclipsed moon is sometimes called a blood moon.

由于呈現(xiàn)這種紅色，月食有時候也被稱之為血月。

In North America, there are traditional names given to each of the 12 full moons that happen throughout the year. January's full moon is known as the wolf moon or the great spirit moon. So this weekend's eclipse is being called a super, blood, wolf moon by some people.

在北美，每年的12個滿月都有其傳統(tǒng)名稱。一月的滿月被稱之為狼月或是great spirit moon。所以這個周末的月食也被一些人稱之為超級血狼月。

The eclipse will begin shortly after sunset in eastern North America and South America depending on where you are. A total lunar eclipse can be seen easily with the unaided eye.

這次月食將在北美東部和南美日落不久后開始，具體發(fā)生時間取決于你所在的位置。憑肉眼就能輕松看到這次月全食。

Hartigan said, "It's just a wonderful thing for the whole family to see because it's fairly rare to have all these things kind of come together at the same time."

哈蒂根表示：“這是全家人可以一起觀看的一件美妙的事情，因為所有這些因素湊到一塊很難得(指超級月亮、血月、狼月湊到一塊)。”

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While the moon, Earth's only natural satellite, will be closer than usual, it still will be 357,000 kilometers away from our planet. This will be the first of three full-moon supermoons this year.

月球是地球唯一的天然衛(wèi)星，雖然它比平時更接近地球，但是還是距離地球有357000公里。這將是今年將會遇到的三次超級滿月中的第一次。

The next total lunar eclipse visible anywhere in the world will not happen until May 2021.

下次全球任意地方看到月全食要等到2021年5月。

I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

小馬里奧·里特報道。