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The Doomsday Clock.
末日时钟。
It sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster, but even though it's just a metaphor, its warning to humanity is quite real.
这个名字听起来像是好莱坞大片，尽管它只是一个隐喻，但对人类提出了十分严肃的警告。
Created in 1947, the Doomsday Clock is a symbol that represents how close we are to the end of the world.
末日时钟设立于1947年，象征我们距离世界毁灭的远近。
They call it "minutes to midnight," midnight meaning the apocalypse.
人们称之为“午夜警钟”，午夜则意味着世界末日的来临。
The clock hands are set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group formed at the University of Chicago where the symbolic Doomsday Clock lives today.
钟表指针是由《原子科学家公报》设置的，该组织成立于芝加哥大学，这座具有象征意义的末日时钟现在就位于此处。
But the origin of the Doomsday Clock dates back to World War II when the Manhattan Project was created.
但末日时钟的起源可以追溯到第二次世界大战，“曼哈顿计划”成立的时候。
This was the secret government mission that developed the first atomic bomb.
曼哈顿计划是美国政府秘密研制第一颗原子弹的任务。
Some of the physicists who helped build the weapon of mass destruction protested using it against people, but that proved unsuccessful when the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945.
一些参与制造原子弹的物理学家反对使用大规模杀伤性武器打击人类，但事实证明他们的反对未能奏效——美国于1945年8月在日本广岛和长崎投下了原子弹。
A month later, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was born, and so was its mission: "to equip the public, policy makers and scientists with the information needed to reduce man-made threats to our existence."
一个月后，《原子科学家公报》诞生了，它的使命是“向公众、政策制定者和科学家提供必要的信息，减少危及人类生存的人为威胁。”
Today, a group of 18 experts with backgrounds ranging from policy to military history to science meet twice a year to discuss world events and trends, which help determine where to set the clock.
如今，一个由政治、科学和军方等各个领域的18名专家组成的小组每年举行两次会议，讨论世界上发生的事件和国际形势，从而确定时钟该如何设置。
The Doomsday Clock announcement occurs every year in late January.
末日时钟在每年1月下旬发布设置结果。
The furthest from midnight the clock has been set was 17 minutes towards the end of the Cold War in 1991.
距离午夜最远的时间是1991年冷战接近尾声时的距离午夜17分钟。
Until recently, the closest the Doomsday Clock had ever been set was at two minutes to midnight.
直到最近，末日时钟距离午夜最近时仅有两分钟。
This first happened when the U.S. and Soviet Union tested thermonuclear weapons in 1953 and then in 2018, thanks to a combination of nuclear weapons as well as a lack of action on climate change.
这种情况第一次出现是在1953年，当年美国和苏联在试验热核装置；第二次出现是在2018年，原因是全球在应对全球气候变化方面没有做出行动，以及核武器的威胁。
But it wasn't until 2020 that the clock moved to the closest it has ever been - 100 seconds to midnight - citing three major threats to civilization: nuclear proliferation, climate change, and bio- and cybersecurity.
但2020年，距离午夜的时间达到了迄今为止的历史最近点——距离午夜仅100秒——调整的主要原因是人类文明面临的三大威胁：核扩散、气候变化以及生物和网络安全。
