桃園學英文 | 一生必看之景──極光（Northern Lights） @ TOEIC,TOEFL,IELTS,全民英檢,SAT,菁英英日語-桃園分校

傳說，看見極光（Northern Lights）就能得到一輩子的幸福。

姑且不論這個說法是不是太過浪漫，極光炫目的景色的確令人畢生難忘。

據說最適合觀賞的月份是每年的9月中，到隔年3月左右，所以把看極光列為夢想版的項目之一吧！

什麼是極光呢？

Northern Lights is a common name for the Aurora Borealis (Polar Aurorae) in the Northern Hemisphere.

極光是北半球的北極光（極地極光）的通用名稱。

The Northern Lights are actually the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere. Variations in colour are due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common auroral color, a pale yellowish-green, is produced by oxygen molecules located about 60 miles above the earth. Rare, all-red auroras are produced by high-altitude oxygen, at heights of up to 200 miles. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red aurora.

北極光實際上是在地球大氣層的氣體粒子從太陽大氣層釋放的帶電粒子之間碰撞的結果。在顏色變化是由於氣體粒子發生碰撞的類型。最常見的極光的顏色，淺黃綠色，由位於60英里的地球上的氧分子產生。罕見的，全紅色極光由高空氧氣產生的，在高達200英里高度。氮氣產生藍色或紫紅色的極光。

gaseous(n.) 氣體的

colliding(v.) 碰撞

Where is the best place to watch the Northern Lights?

哪裡有極光可以看呢？下列這幾個地方都很適合。

1.美國阿拉斯加費爾班克斯（Fairbanks）

2.瑞典齊魯納（Kiruna）

3.挪威芬馬克郡（Finnmark）

4.加拿大黃刀鎮（Yellowknife）

5.冰島首都雷克雅維克（Reykjavik）

A photographer spent eight hours a night, braving snow and fierce winds to capture these stunning images of the Northern Lights.

They were taken by 27-year-old Swiss Stefan Forster, during his time in Iceland, Greenland and Norway.

Stefan, who has visited Iceland six times to photograph the stunning natural phenomena, braved fierce winds and minus 6 degrees to get perfect shots.

攝影師Stefan Forster花了八小時的夜晚，冒著大雪和狂風，在冰島、格陵蘭島、挪威拍下了這些令人驚嘆的照片。

如何？是不是很像異世界或奇幻電影裡面的場景呢？

關於極光的傳說

'Aurora borealis', the lights of the northern hemisphere, means 'dawn of the north'. 'Aurora australis' means 'dawn of the south'.

In Roman myths, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn. \par Many cultural groups have legends about the lights. In medieval times, the occurrences of auroral displays were seen as harbingers of war or famine. The Maori of New Zealand shared a belief with many northern people of Europe and North America that the lights were reflections from torches or campfires.

The Menominee Indians of Wisconsin believed that the lights indicated the location of manabai'wok (giants) who were the spirits of great hunters and fishermen. The Inuit of Alaska believed that the lights were the spirits of the animals they hunted: the seals, salmon, deer and beluga whales. Other aboriginal peoples believed that the lights were the spirits of their people.

在羅馬神話裡，極光是黎明的女神。

中世紀時期，極光的出現被視為戰爭或飢荒的前兆。

新西蘭的毛利人認為極光是火炬或篝火的反射光。

威斯康星州梅諾米尼印第安人認為極光指示「巨人」的位置，是偉大的獵人和漁民的靈魂。

阿拉斯加的因紐特人認為，極光是他們獵殺的動物靈魂：海豹，鮭魚，鹿和白鯨。

其他原住民認為，極光是人的靈魂。

torches(n.) 火把

campfires(n.) 篝火

seal(n.) 海豹

資料來源：

http://travel.ettoday.net/article/273855.htm

http://dailym.ai/TWLB8p