逐字稿如下：

Topic: Australia's bushfires: 2019 like nothing seen before

As the bushfires in Australia this year extend across five million hectares, an area larger than many countries, stories of destruction have become depressingly familiar.
大火不斷延燒，澳洲本季野火所焚毀的面積超過了五百萬公頃，比許多國家的面積都還要大，災情不斷傳出，在在都是慘重的破壞，令人灰心。

So far 24 people and 460 million animals have been killed. In New South Wales (NSW), the worst-affected state, up to 1,365 homes have been destroyed. It is too early for a thorough examination of the impact on wildlife, including the many threatened species in the fires' path.
目前已知大火造成了二十四人死亡、四點六億隻動物喪命。新南威爾斯省的災情最為嚴重，已有多達一千三百六十五座房屋被毀。現在仍無法全面調查野生生物所受的影響，包括火舌所席捲的區域中許多瀕危的物種。

Does this qualify as unprecedented? Plenty of experts say yes, but not all politicians and newspaper columnists are convinced. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged the fires were severe, but also adopted a familiar line: Australia has always had bushfires. That's true. But a key question is whether it has always had bushfires like this.
這樣的大火算是前所未見的嗎？許多專家都說是的，但並非所有的政客和報紙專欄作家都這麼認為。澳洲總理史考特‧莫里森承認大火很嚴重，但也採用了一套常見的說詞：澳洲一直都有森林火災。確實如此。但一個關鍵問題是，澳洲是否一直都有像這樣的森林大火。

David Bowman, director of The Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania, says the most striking thing about this fire season is the continent-scale nature of the threat. "The geographic range, and the fact it is occurring all at once, is what makes it unprecedented," Bowman says. "There has never been a situation where there has been a fire from southern Queensland, right through NSW, into Gippsland, in the Adelaide Hills, near Perth and on the east coast of Tasmania."
塔斯馬尼亞大學消防研究中心主任大衛‧鮑曼表示，這次火災季節最突出的是，災情的威脅橫跨整個大陸。鮑曼說：「由於它所影響的地理範圍，且是同時發生，因此這火災是空前的」。「從未發生過像這樣的情況，大火從昆士蘭省南部燒到新南威爾斯省，吉普斯蘭、阿德雷德山、珀斯附近都燒起來，還有塔斯馬尼亞島東岸。」

He says one of the less explored issues, though it has begun to receive some attention in recent days, is the economic impact of having prolonged fires that affect so many Australians. "You can't properly run an economy when you get a third to a half of the population affected by smoke, and the media completely focused on fires," he says.
他說，有個問題雖近來已有人開始關注，但研究較少，那就是長時間的大火對許多澳洲人造成了經濟上的影響。他說：「當有三分之一到一半的人口受到煙塵影響，而媒體完全聚焦於火災時，就無法正常經營經濟」。

There are also fears critically endangered Wollemi pines have burned in the fires tearing through the Blue Mountains. They were thought extinct until discovered by bushwalkers in 1994. Their whereabouts had been kept secret from the public to keep them safe.
也有人擔心，瀕臨滅絕的瓦勒邁杉已在肆虐藍山的大火中被燒毀。一九九四年登山客在藍山發現了瓦勒邁杉，在此之前該樹種被認為已經滅絕。為保護瓦勒邁杉，其發現地點一直秘而不宣。

Authorities say the smoke that has smothered Sydney, Canberra and other centers and towns in recent weeks has produced pollution up to 11 times greater than the hazardous level for human health. In Sydney, the air pollution has been hazardous for at least 30 days.
澳洲政府表示，最近幾週以來，煙塵壟罩了雪梨、坎培拉與其他城鎮，所造成污染之巨，是足以造成人類健康危害程度的十一倍。在雪梨，空氣污染達有害程度的情況，已有至少三十天。

The explanation should be familiar by now: greenhouse gas emissions do not cause bushfires, but they play a demonstrated role in increasing average and particularly extreme temperatures and contribute to the extraordinarily dry conditions afflicting eastern Australia. Scientists cite the near absolute lack of moisture in the landscape as a key reason the fires have been so severe. Multiple studies, here and overseas, have found the climate crisis is lengthening the fire season.
以下的解釋如今應不陌生了：溫室氣體的排放不會引起森林大火，但它對於提高平均溫度，尤其是提高極端溫度，有舉足輕重的作用，助長了澳洲東部極端乾燥的成災條件。科學家指出，地景中幾乎完全沒有水分，是火災如此嚴重的關鍵原因。澳洲國內外所進行的多項研究已發現，氣候危機正在拉長火災季節。
Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/01/07/2003728808

Next Article Topic: 7.5 billion-year-old meteorite contains oldest material ever found on Earth

Scientists analyzing a meteorite that fell down onto an Australian village in 1969 have discovered that the rock contained many particles of stardust that existed before our solar system was formed, dating them to around 7.5 billion years ago, making them the oldest material ever found on the Earth. The study findings have been published in the American scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
科學家對一九六九年墜落在澳洲的一顆隕石進行分析，發現其中含有許多在太陽系形成前就已存在的星塵，最久遠者更可追溯到約七十五億年前，是迄今在地球上能找到的最古老物質。研究結果刊登於美國國家科學院院刊。

The meteorite that was analyzed fell to the Earth in the area around the village of Murchison in Victoria, Australia on Sept. 28, 1969. A team of scientists from the US and Switzerland placed ground particles of the meteorite in acid to remove all the material, leaving only the stardust. They then measured the length of time that this stardust would have been exposed to cosmic rays, in order to determine its age.
這顆被分析的隕石是在一九六九年九月二十八日墜落於澳洲維多利亞省默奇森附近。來自美國及瑞士的研究團隊將隕石磨碎後溶於酸中，只留下其中的星塵，並測量這些星塵暴露於宇宙射線下的時間，以確定其年齡。

According to Philipp Heck, the primary author of the study, they determined that 90 percent of the stardust in the meteorite was dated to between 4.6 billion and 5.5 billion years ago, with the remaining 10 percent being over 5.5 billion years old, of which the oldest was around 7.5 billion years old. By comparison, the solar system started to form around 4.6 billion years ago.
這項研究的第一作者赫克指出，結果發現隕石中有百分之九十的星塵可追溯到四十六億至五十五億年前，其餘一成則有逾五十五億年的歷史，其中最古老者約有七十五億年歷史。作為對比，太陽系大約是在四十六億年前開始形成。

Although this stardust is the oldest material discovered thus far on Earth, Heck believes that there is even more material older than the solar system in the Murchison meteorite and in other meteorites, it's just that they have yet to be discovered by scientists.
雖然成功發現迄今地球上最古老的物質，但赫克相信，默奇森隕石及其他隕石中還有更多比太陽系更古老的物質，只是還沒有被科學家發現。
Source article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2020/01/20/2003729528

Next Article Topic: About Australia - Australia wins AI 'Eurovision Song Contest'

Dutch broadcaster VPRO decided to organise an AI Song Contest after the country won the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. The aim was to research the creative abilities of AI and the impact it has on us, as well as the influence it could have on the music industry, according to the official Eurovision website.
荷蘭廣播公司VPRO決定舉辦一場AI歌曲大賽，在這個國家贏得2019年歐洲歌唱大賽後。歐洲歌唱大賽官方網站指出，（比賽的）目標是研究AI的創意能力、對我們的衝擊，以及它對音樂產業的影響。

Thirteen teams entered the contest, with Australia beating out Sweden, Belgium, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands to take home the title, giving fans a taste of Eurovision after 2020 contest was cancelled due to COVID-19.
共有13組人馬參賽，最後由澳洲擊敗瑞典、比利時、英國、法國、德國、瑞士與荷蘭等對手，將冠軍頭銜帶回家，在2020年歐洲歌唱大賽因為2019冠狀病毒流行病（COVID-19）疫情取消後，讓歌迷一嚐大賽的滋味。

The winning song, titled Beautiful the World, includes audio samples of koalas, kookaburras and Tasmanian devils, and was made by music-tech collective Uncanny Valley as a response to the Black Summer bushfires.
獲勝曲的題目為「Beautiful the World」，含有無尾熊、笑翠鳥與袋獾的聲音樣本，由音樂技術團體「恐怖谷」製作，回應黑暗夏日的叢林大火。

Next Article Topic: Night at the museum: Australian police arrest German student over break-in

博物館之夜：澳洲警方逮捕闖入的德國學生
Australian police on Monday charged a German student with breaking into a Sydney museum as security footage showed him allegedly taking selfies next to dinosaur exhibits.

澳洲警方週一指控一名德國學生闖入雪梨一間博物館，據稱安全監控影像顯示他當時在恐龍展品旁自拍。
New South Wales (NSW) Police said that Paul Kuhn broke into the Australian Museum on May 10 around 1 a.m. local time, using some nearby scaffolding to gain access, before exploring the exhibits for 40 minutes.

新南威爾斯州警方表示，保羅．孔恩探索展品長達40分鐘，之前他利用周圍一些鷹架，在當地時間5月10日上午1點左右闖入澳洲博物館。
"He's taken some selfies with some of the displays. He's also stolen a hat and a picture (from) the wall and eventually left," Sean Heaney, chief inspector, NSW Police told reporters in Sydney.

新南威爾斯州警方總督察尚恩．希尼在雪梨告訴記者，「他和部分陳列品自拍了一下。他也從牆上偷了一頂帽子和一幅畫，最後離開。」
The 25-year-old student appeared on Monday in court where he faced charges of stealing a cowboy hat and a piece of artwork.

這名25歲的學生週一現身法院，當庭面臨偷竊一頂牛仔帽和一件藝術品的罪名指控。
He was granted bail on the condition that he surrenders his passport and adheres to a curfew.

在交出護照並遵守宵禁的條件下，他獲准保釋。
The Australian Museum is the country's oldest. It has been closed to the public since August 2019 for renovations.

澳洲博物館是該國歷史最悠久的博物館。自2019年8月整修以來，就對大眾關閉。
Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1374692; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1373759

Next Article Topic: About Australia - Australian stinging trees contain 'scorpion-like venom'

Australia is notorious for its venomous spiders, snakes and sea creatures, but researchers have now identified "scorpion-like" toxins secreted by a tree that can cause excruciating pain for weeks.
澳洲的有毒蜘蛛、蛇和海洋生物惡名昭彰，但是研究人員現在辨識出一種樹木分泌的「類似蠍子」的毒物，能使人極度疼痛達數週。

Split-second contact with the dendrocnide tree, a rainforest nettle known by its indigenous name gympie-gympie, delivers a sting far more potent than similar plants found in the US or Europe.
與這種生長在熱帶雨林、當地名為「金皮金皮」的火麻樹屬樹木接觸瞬間，就能造成劇烈刺痛，疼痛程度遠比在美國或歐洲發現的類似樹種還嚴重。

Irina Vetter, an associate professor at the University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience, said the research team discovered a new class of neurotoxin miniproteins, which they christened 'gympietides'.
昆士蘭大學分子生物科學研究所副教授維特說，研究團隊發現一類新的神經毒素微蛋白，他們將它命名為「金皮潮」。

Vetter said the long-lasting pain inflicted by the tree may be explained by the gympietides permanently altering the chemical makeup of the affected sensory neurons – not due to the fine hairs getting stuck in the skin.
維特說，「金皮潮」會對受影響的感覺神經元化學組成，造成永久性的改變，而非細小絨毛卡在皮膚裡，這或許可解釋這種樹為何造成長時間的疼痛。

Next Article Topic: Magpie swoops Australian reporter moments before he goes on air

準備進入現場報導前澳洲記者遭喜鵲俯衝猛撲
A magpie swooped an Australian reporter in the face on Monday, moments before the journalist went live on air for the evening bulletin.

1隻喜鵲週一俯衝撲向一名澳洲記者的臉，就在這名記者為晚間時段準備現場報導之前。
Nine Network reporter, Brett McLeod, was preparing for his live cross outdoors when the crow-like bird dived at his face but he quickly regained his composure and delivered his piece to the camera.

這隻像烏鴉的鳥朝他臉上俯衝時，「九號電視網」記者布雷特．麥克利奧德正準備在戶外進入現場報導，但他迅速恢復沉著並對鏡頭完成報導。
The black-and-white Australian magpie, not related to the European magpies famous for taking glittering treasures for their nests, tend to attack anyone who comes close to their suburban nests.

黑白相間的澳洲喜鵲，和帶發光寶物回巢而知名的歐洲喜鵲無關，往往對接近牠們位於郊外鳥巢的任何人發動攻擊。
Spring is widely known as the 'swooping season' to Australians when birds, mostly magpies, attack humans and even other birds when they stray too close while its fledglings hatch and nest.

回顧星期天LBS - 澳洲趣聞 All about Australia

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