Dinosaurs, basic astronomy stump Australians：survey 調查顯示 恐龍、基礎天文學難倒澳洲人

Dinosaurs, basic astronomy stump Australians：survey
調查顯示 恐龍、基礎天文學難倒澳洲人
2013-08-06◎陳維真


One in four Australians believe humans co-existed with dinosaurs while one in three think it takes just one day for the Earth to orbit the sun, according to a "worrying" survey published Wednesday.
根據一份週三公布、「令人憂心」的調查顯示，有4分之1的澳洲人以為，人類與恐龍曾同時存在，3分之1的澳洲人認為，地球繞太陽公轉只要花1天。


The Auspoll survey of 1,515 adults for the Australian Academy of Sciences showed basic scientific knowledge was declining on key questions, including human influences on evolution and the Earth’s reserves of fresh water.
Auspoll為澳洲科學院調查1515名成年人，發現澳洲人對重要問題的基礎科學知識持續下滑，包括人類對演化的影響，以及地球的淡水存量等。


Only 59 percent of those surveyed knew that it took Earth one year to orbit the sun, a fall of two percentage points from the same survey three years ago -- with 30 percent saying it took just one day.
只有5成9受訪者知道地球繞太陽公轉一周需時1年，比3年前同一調查減少2個百分點，其中還有3成受訪者認為，地球繞太陽轉1圈只要1天。


Some 27 percent said the earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, down from 30 percent in the previous survey; while 70 percent said they knew evolution was currently occurring.
約27%受訪者表示，最早出現的人類曾與恐龍存活在同一時期，少於前次調查的3成；7成受訪者知道演化還在進行。


Ten percent said evolution was not occurring, nine percent said they did not believe in evolution and another 12 percent said they were not sure -- a similar result to 2010.
有1成的人表示目前沒有發生演化，9%受訪者不相信演化，另有12%不確定，與2010年的調查結果類似。


"It’s a worrying wake-up call to see scientific literacy declining among young adults, and to a lesser degree among the broader Australian adult population," said Les Field, secretary for science policy at the academy.（AFP）
澳洲科學院的科學政策處長菲爾德表示：「年輕人以及部分澳洲成年人的科學素養每況愈下，是個令人憂心的警訊。」（法新社）



新聞辭典：
stump：動詞，難倒。例句：John is stumped by an unexpected question.（約翰被這個意想不到的問題難倒了。）
orbit：動詞，環繞（天體等）的軌道運行。例句：Mercury orbits the Sun.（水星環繞太陽而行。）
wake-up call：名詞，警鐘。例句：Today’s statistics will be a wake-up call for the administration.（今天出爐的統計數據將是執政團隊的一記警鐘。）