The air
空气
As the surface winds died down, things would get weirder.
随着地表的狂风消失，事情会变得更加奇怪。
The wind blast would translate to a heat blast. Normally, the kinetic energy of rushing wind is small enough to be negligible, but this would not be normal wind. As it tumbled to a turbulent stop, the air would heat up.
起初的狂风此时会转化成热浪。一般来说，大风中所携带的动能小到可以忽略不计，但现在我们面对的可不是一般的风。随着之前的狂风突然停止，空气会被加热。
Over land, this would lead to scorching temperature increases and-in areas where the air is moist-global thunderstorms.
整块大陆上的空气温度会急剧升高，而那些空气最为潮湿的地区将形成全球性的雷暴。
At the same time, wind sweeping over the oceans would churn up and atomize the surface layer of the water. For a while, the ocean would cease to have a surface at all; it would be impossible to tell where the spray ended and the sea began.
与此同时，横扫海面的大风会搅动表层海水，使之雾化。于是有这么一段时间，海洋将不存在表面一说——无法再区分出哪里是水珠结束的地方，哪里是海面开始的地方。
Oceans are cold. Below the thin surface layer, they 8217;re a fairly uniform 4°C. The tempest would churn up cold water from the depths. The influx of cold spray into superheated air would create a type of weather never before seen on Earth-a roiling mix of wind, spray, fog, and rapid temperature changes.
海水是冰冷的。在薄薄的表层水之下，是温度几乎均匀为4℃的深层水。风暴会将深处冰冷的海水带到表层，由此产生的冰冷的水珠遇上炽热的空气会产生一种前所未见的天气形态——一种夹杂着风、水珠、雾以及温度剧烈变化的混合体。
This upwelling would lead to blooms of life, as fresh nutrients flooded the upper layers. At the same time, it would lead to huge die-offs of fish, crabs, sea turtles, and animals unable to cope with the influx of low-oxygen water from the depths. Any animal that needs to breathe-such as whales and dolphins-would be hard-pressed to survive in the turbulent sea-air interface.
由于深层的新鲜营养物质随着水流涌到了表层，这种海水的涌升会使表层生物大量繁衍。但与此同时也会导致大量鱼类、蟹类、海龟等生物的死亡，因为深层的海水含氧量太低不足以供它们呼吸。任何需要呼吸空气的生物，比如鲸类和海豚，面对翻涌的海水空气界面都将难以存活。
The waves would sweep around the globe, east to west, and every east-facing shore would encounter the largest storm surge in world history. A blinding cloud of sea spray would sweep inland, and behind it, a turbulent, roiling wall of water would advance like a tsunami. In some places, the waves would reach many miles inland.
产生的海浪将会从东到西席卷全球，所有东面迎海的海岸都将直面有史以来最为凶猛的风暴潮。云雾状的海水水珠将会扫荡内陆，让你睁不开眼睛，随后是同样席卷而来的海浪。在一些地方，海浪将冲进数千米深的内陆。
The windstorms would inject huge amounts of dust and debris into the atmosphere. At the same time, a dense blanket of fog would form over the cold ocean surfaces. Normally, this would cause global temperatures to plummet. And they would.
风暴会把巨量尘土和碎屑抛射到大气层中。同时，冰冷的海洋表面将形成一层厚厚的毯状水雾。正常情况下这将导致全球气温急剧下降，事实上也将如此。
At least, on one side of the Earth.
至少，在其中一个半球上是这样。
If the Earth stopped spinning, the normal cycle of day and night would end. The Sun wouldn 8217;t completely stop moving across the sky, but instead of rising and setting once a day, it would rise and set once a year.
如果地球停止转动，平常的日夜交替将会终止。虽然太阳不会完完全全静止在空中，但以往每天仅有一次的日出日落此时将历时一年。
Day and night would each be six months long, even at the equator. On the day side, the surface would bake under the constant sunlight, while on the night side the temperature would plummet. Convection on the day side would lead to massive storms in the area directly beneath the Sun.
日夜将各有6个月长，即使是在赤道也是如此。在处于白天的那个半球上，地面将接受阳光不间断的炙烤，而在处于夜里的那个半球，气温会大幅下降。而且在对流的作用下，处于白天的那个半球，被阳光直接照射的地区将会产生巨大的风暴。
In some ways, this Earth would resemble one of the tidally locked exoplanets commonly found in a red dwarf star 8217;s habitable zone, but a better comparison might be a very early Venus. Due to its rotation, Venus-like our stopped Earth-keeps the same face pointed toward the Sun for months at a time. However, its thick atmosphere circulates quite quickly, which results in the day and the night side having about the same temperature.
从某种角度来说，此时的地球会与那些潮汐锁定的地外行星类似——这样的行星常见于红矮星宜居带里，但更好的比较对象也许是非常早期的金星。金星由于其特殊的自转速度，每次都会有一个面朝向太阳长达数月之久，像我们现在的地球一样。不过，由于金星表面的稠密大气层环流速度非常快，所以处于白天和黑夜的两个半球之间的温度基本相同。
Although the length of the day would change, the length of the month would not! The Moon hasn 8217;t stopped rotating around the Earth. However, without the Earth 8217;s rotation feeding it tidal energy, the Moon would stop drifting away from the Earth (as it is doing currently) and would start to slowly drift back toward us.
虽然一天的长度会发生变化，但一个月的长度并不会！因为月亮还是在绕着我们的地球转。不过没了地球的自转给它提供潮汐能，月亮将不会像之前那样慢慢地飘离地球，而是会慢慢地朝地球方向移动。
In fact, the Moon-our faithful companion-would act to undo the damage Andrew 8217;s scenario caused. Right now, the Earth spins faster than the Moon, and our tides slow down the Earth 8217;s rotation while pushing the Moon away from us.3 If we stopped rotating, the Moon would stop drifting away from us. Instead of slowing us down, its tides would accelerate our spin. Quietly, gently, the Moon 8217;s gravity would tug on our planet . . .
事实上我们的忠实伙伴月亮会逐渐着手修复安德鲁设想的悲剧情形带来的伤害。目前地球的自转速度比月亮快，潮汐在不断地减慢地球的自转速度，同时将月球慢慢推离地球。3如果地球停止转动了，月亮将不再飘离地球，而且也不再会减慢地球的自转速度。相反，月亮产生的潮汐会逐渐加快地球的自转速度。慢慢地，月亮的引力将会拖动地球……
. . . and Earth would start turning again.
……然后地球又会再度开始自转。
1 I mean, not right away.
1． 我是指不会马上灭绝。
2 Although without the Coriolis force, it 8217;s anyone 8217;s guess which way they would spin.
2． 此时由于没有了科里奥利力（来自物体运动所具有的惯性），风暴的旋转方向将变得无法预测。
3 See “Leap Seconds,”http://what-if.xkcd /26, for an explanation of why this happens. 8221;
3． 这一现象成因请参见第26期What If文章“闰秒”。 8221;