虽然2012并非世界末日，但是谁又能保证地球永世长存？随着科技的发展，人类利用自己的伟大智慧探索神秘莫测的宇宙黑洞、天体运动，研制出极具毁灭性的核武器、无所不能的机器人以及方便快捷的交通工具等高科技产品，却也给自然界带来了温室效应、水土流失、生物多样性丧失，造成海啸、泥石流等诸多灾害频发。或许某一天，世界真的就会因此而灭亡……
Black Holes 黑洞
Stars collapse on an almost daily basis. When a massive star collapses， it produces an immense gravitational pull along the way， drawing everything in its path—including light—toward its core， like a giant vacuum cleaner from which there"s no escape. While black holes sit at the center of most galaxies， including our own， the real danger comes from a discovery made in the year 2000. "We now have conclusive evidence，" physicist Michio Kaku told ABC News， "that there are wandering black holes—nomads1）， renegades2）—and right next to us in our own galaxy." How long until one of these nomads bumps into Earth？ No one is sure， and it"s a big universe， but everyone agrees that it"s going to happen sooner or later.
几乎每天都有恒星坍缩。大质量恒星坍缩过程中会产生强大的引力，犹如一个巨大的真空吸尘器将轨道沿途的一切物体（包括光）吸入核心，无物可逃脱。坍缩形成的“黑洞”位于大多数星系（包括我们所在的银河系）的中心区域，并不会对我们构成危险，而2000年的一项发现则说明了真正的危险是什么。“现在我们有确凿证据表明，”物理学家加来道雄在接受美国广播公司新闻网的采访时说，“我们所在的银河系存在着‘流浪黑洞’，它们不守规矩、四处游荡，而且就在地球的近旁。”这些“流浪黑洞”哪天会撞上地球？宇宙浩瀚，无人得知，但我们都认为，那一天迟早会来。
Nanotech 纳米技术
What if the programming of billions of tiny self-replicating robots—nanobots—suddenly went awry3）？ And instead of doing the job for which they were built， they started consuming all matter on Earth—while building more of themselves？ In his 1986 book， Engines of Creation， nanotech pioneer Eric Drexler describes it this way： "Imagine such a replicator floating in a bottle of chemicals， making copies of itself.... The first replicator assembles a copy in one thousand seconds， the two replicators then build two more in the next thousand seconds， the four build another four， and the eight build another eight. At the end of ten hours， there are not thirty-six new replicators， but over 68 billion. In less than a day， they would weigh a ton； in less than two days， they would outweigh Earth； in another four hours， they would exceed the mass of Sun and all the planets combined."
假如数十亿具有自我复制功能的微型机器人——纳米机器人——运行程序突然出错，结果将会如何？要是它们不再干它们该干的活儿，反而开始吞噬地球上的一切，同时制造出更多的同类，又会如何？纳米技术的先驱埃里克·德雷克斯勒在其1986年出版的《造物引擎》一书中这样写道：“想象一下，这样的一个纳米机器人漂浮在一个盛着化学液体的瓶子里，不断地自我复制……最初的这个纳米机器人用1000秒制造出一个一模一样的纳米机器人，然后在接下来的1000秒，这两个纳米机器人又制造出两个纳米机器人，四个变成八个，八个变成16个。十小时后，新生纳米机器人的数量不是36个，而是680多亿个。不到一天，这些纳米机器人的重量就将达到一吨；不到两天，它们的重量就将超过地球；再过四个小时，它们就会比太阳和太阳系所有行星加起来还要重。”
Supervolcano超级火山
Supervolcanoes are a bit like Mount Saint Helens on steroids4）. The explosion of such a giant volcano would pump enough ash and sulfuric acid5） into the atmosphere to blot out6） the sun and bring on a sequel to the ice age—and no， we don"t mean another one of those animated movies. Scientists calculate that 71，500 years ago， a Sumatran supervolcano exploded， plunging7） Earth into a decade-long volcanic winter， the effects of which reduced the total human population to less than 10，000 individuals. Worse， Sumatra"s is just one of six known supervolcanoes. Another， the largest in the world， is at Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately， scientists have discovered that Yellowstone"s erupts roughly once every 600，000 years， with the last explosion occurring 630，000 years ago—meaning we"re a little overdue. 超级火山有点类似于加强版的圣海伦斯火山。体型如此庞大的超级火山爆发后会向空中喷射大量火山灰和硫酸，尘埃遮天蔽日，地球又回到冰河时期——别想错了，我们可不是在说那一系列动画影片中的又一部。科学家们推测，7.15万年前，苏门答腊岛的一座超级火山爆发，地球由此陷入一个长达十年的“火山冬季”，致使世界总人口数量锐减至不足一万。更糟糕的是，苏门答腊岛的这座超级火山仅是已知的六座超级火山中的一座。另外一座（也是地球上最大的）超级火山位于美国的黄石国家公园。不幸的是，科学家们业已发现，黄石公园的这座超级火山大约每隔60万年就爆发一次，而上一次爆发是在63万年前——也就是说，我们有些滞后了。
Loss of Biodiversity 生物多样性丧失
Currently， life on Earth is dying as never before. One quarter of all mammals now face extinction， while 90 percent of the large fish are already gone. If present trends continue， one-half of Earth"s animal species will have vanished within a hundred years. According to a warning issued by UN officials at the 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity， so dependent are humans on the services of plants and animals that unless this loss of biodiversity is halted， humans will likely join this list of extinctions.
目前，地球上的生物正以前所未有的速度走向灭亡。四分之一的哺乳动物正面临灭绝危险，90%的大型鱼类已经灭绝。如果当前趋势继续下去，不出100年，地球上一半的动物物种将消失殆尽。联合国官员在2010年发布了《生物多样性公约》，按照其中发出的一条警告，动植物是人类赖以生存的重要条件，如果不阻止生物多样性的丧失，接下来灭绝的物种可能就是人类。
Alien Invasion 外星人入侵
It"s a big universe and statistically we"re probably not alone in it. So what happens if visitors from outer space do show up？ Well， they could come in peace or they could be here sport hunting or wanting our resources or carrying diseases to which we have no immunity—each of which could spell doom for the human race. And if these advanced invaders treat us anything like humans treat other cultures—well， the prognosis8） is decidedly bad.
宇宙茫茫，从统计学上来讲，人类可能并非独客。如果真有天外来客到访，将会发生什么？嗯，他们可能会和平到访，也可能是来地球狩猎，或者图谋我们的资源，再或者带来人类无法免疫的疾病——上述三种情况中任何一种都可能让人类遭受灭顶之灾。如果这些高级入侵者对待人类就像人类对待其他文明一样，那么，后果显然不堪设想。
Near-Earth Objects 近地天体
Ever since scientists figured out that it was the impact of an asteroid9） 10 kilometers wide that wiped out the dinosaurs， they"ve been hunting the skies for species-ending space rocks. An estimated 90 percent of these 3200-foot-long big boys have been found， although none pose immediate danger. But we"ve barely begun drawing our map of the smaller rocks and therein lies the real problem. In 1908， an asteroid less than 40 meters wide exploded over Siberia， leveling forests for hundreds of square miles. If that had happened above New York， well， goodbye Gotham10）.
自从科学家们弄明白恐龙灭绝是因一个直径一万米的小行星撞击地球后，他们便一直在寻找太空中那些能导致物种灭绝的天体。科学家们现在已经找到了约90%的这种长达3200英尺（编注：约等于975.36米）的大个天体，不过没有一个会立即给人类带来危险。然而，在较小天体分布图的绘制方面，我们却才刚刚起步，而这正是真正的问题所在。1908年，一颗直径不到40米的小行星在西伯利亚上空爆炸，将数百平方英里的森林夷为平地。如果那次爆炸当时发生在纽约上空，那么，别了，纽约。
1. nomad [?n??m?d] n. 流浪者
2. renegade [?ren?ɡe?d] n. 叛徒
3. go awry： （事）出岔子，失败
4. on steroids： 以一种更强大或更极端的形式
5. sulfuric acid： 【化】硫酸
6. blot out： 遮蔽
7. plunge [pl?nd?] vt. 使突然陷入（或遭受） （into， in）
8. prognosis [pr?ɡ?n??s?s] n. 预测
9. asteroid [??st?r??d] n. 【天】小行星
10. Gotham [?ɡ?θ?m] n. （美国）纽约市