特别广播英语第 17 课：The Moon 月球-2

This shows that the moon gives no light of its own. 这就表明了月球本身是下发光的。

It merely reflects the light of the sun, like a huge mirror hung in the sky. 月球就像悬在画龙点睛的一面巨型的大镜子一样，它只能反射出太阳光。

Yet the dark part of the moon's surface is not absolutely black; 但是月球表面上黑暗的部分并不上绝对黑的。

generally it is just light enough for us to be able to see its outline, so that we speak of seeing "the old moon in the new moon's arms." 一般地这一部分也能有足够的光让我们能勉强刚刚能看清月球的轮廓，这就是我们所说的"新月抱着旧月"的现象。

The light by which we see the old moon does not come from the sun, but from the earth. 我们用来看到旧月轮廓的光并汪是来自太阳，而是来看地球。

We know well how the surface of the sea or of snow, or even of a wet road, may reflect uncomfortable much of the sun's light on to our faces. 我们都清楚地知道，海水的表面、雪地的表面，甚至下雨天的路面都会把很强的太阳光反射到我们的脸上，照得我们很不舒服。

In the same way the surface of the whole earth reflects enough of the sun's light on to the face of the moon for us to be able to see the parts of it which would otherwise be dark. 同样道理，整个地球的表面也足可以让我们看清月球的轮廓，如果没有地球的反射光，那月球的这一部分将会是黑暗的。

If there were any inhabitants of the moon, they would see our earth reflecting the light of the sun, again like a huge mirror hung in the sky. 假定月球上也有居民，他们就会看到，地球也像一面高悬在天空中的巨型的镜子一样，反射太阳光到月球上。

They would speak of earthlight just as we speak of moon-light. "月球居民们"也会谈到地球光，正像我们地球人谈到月亮光一样。

"the old moon in the new moon's arms" is nothing but that part of the moon's surface on which it is night, lighted up by earth light. "新月抱旧月"只不过就是月球表面上正处于黑夜的那一部分被地球的反射光反照的结果。

In the same way , the lunar inhabitants would occasionally see part of our earth in full sunlight, and the rest lighted only by moon-light; they might call this "the old earth in the new earth's arms." 同理，月球上的居民偶尔也会看到我们地球一部分完全处在阳光的照射下，而地球的其余的部分只能照到月光；月球的居民们或许也会把这种现象称作"新地球抱着旧地球"吧。