天使与魔鬼英文文章

本文节选自美国知识悬疑小说家丹·布朗《天使与魔鬼》的开篇。反物质粒子属于亚原子粒子，为物质的镜像。当物质和反物质相遇时会相互湮灭，同时会释放出能量。下面小编为大家整理的天使与魔鬼英文文章，希望对大家有用!

天使与魔鬼英文文章

The world's largest scientific research facility — Switzerland's Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire(CERN)— recently succeeded in producing the first particles of antimatter.Antimatter is identical to physical matter except that it is composed of particles whose electric charges are opposite to those found in normal matter.

Antimatter is the most powerful energy source known to man.It releases energy with 100 percent efficiency(nuclear fission is 1.5 percent efficient). Antimatter creates no pollution or radiation, and a droplet could power New York City for a full day.

There is, however, one catch…

Antimatter is highly unstable.It ignites when it comes in contact with absolutely anything…even air.A single gram of antimatter contains the energy of a 20-kiloton nuclear bomb — the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Until recently antimatter has been created only in very small amounts(a few atoms at a time).But CERN has now broken ground on its new Antiproton Decelerator — an advanced antimatter production facility that promises to create antimatter in much larger quantities.

One question looms:Will this highly volatile substance save the world, or will it be used to create the most deadly weapon ever made?

天使与魔鬼(开篇)

丹·布朗

世界上较大的科研机构，瑞士的欧洲原子核研究中心新近首次成功制造出几滴反物质。反物质与普通物质并无二致，所不同的是，组成反物质的粒子与组成人们熟知的一般物质的粒子电荷相反。

反物质是人类目前所知的威力较大的能量源。它能以百分之百的效率释放能量(核裂变的效率是1.5%)。反物质不造成污染，也不产生辐射，一小滴反物质就可以供应整个纽约城全天的动能。

先别过于乐观，个中可隐藏着危机……

反物质极不稳定，它可以把接触到的任何东西都化为灰烬……连空气也概莫能外。仅仅一克的反物质就相当于二十千吨当量的核炸弹的能量——也就是相当于当年扔在广岛的那颗原子弹的能量。

反物质直到最近生产量也只是微乎其微(每次只不过几滴)。然而，“欧核中心”目前正在开发一种新型的反质子减速器，这是一种先进的反物质生产设备，这种设备有望大幅度提高反物质的生产能力。

一个严峻的问题摆在人们面前：这种极易爆炸的反物质是能为人类造福，还是会被用于制造有史以来毁灭性最强的武器?