從你的腳下挖洞，穿過地心，會到達地球另一端的什么地方？你是否也想過這個問題？

 
世界各地的孩子都知道，如果他們能在地球上挖一個足夠長的地洞，就能到達另一個國家。?

英國的孩子們認為自己會挖到澳大利亞，美國的孩子則覺得自己會挖到中國。

但是，真的是這樣嗎？

有人研發了一張互動對跖地圖，地圖顯示，世界上人口最稠密區的對跖點在海洋里。

在這張互動對跖地圖上，你可以找到地球上任意一點的對跖點位置。

名詞解釋：

對跖點（antipodes）：位于地球直徑兩端的點互為對跖點，在地球兩端遙遙相望，時差12小時。兩點季節恰好相反，兩點之間的距離兩萬公里，等于地球半圓周長。

The Chinese are among the relative minority of countries who would strike land if they were to undertake this enterprise, according to the website.
該網站顯示，中國是為數不多的對跖點在陸地的國家。

Digging a hole from the centre of Beijing, you would emerge in Rio Negro, near Bahia Blanca in Argentina.
如果從北京的中心挖一個洞，你會出現在阿根廷布蘭卡港附近的里奧內格羅。

Other major or capital cities that are close to being antipodes include Auckland, New Zealand, and Seville and Malaga in Spain.
也有不少主要城市或者首都幾乎互為對跖點，比如新西蘭奧克蘭的對跖點大致是西班牙的塞維利亞以及馬拉加。

Exact antipodes include Ulan Ude in Russia and Puerto Natales in Chile.
完全互為對跖點的是俄羅斯的烏蘭烏德和智力的納塔萊斯。

The two largest inhabited antipodal areas are located in East Asia, in China and Mongolia, and South America, in Argentina and Chile.
最大的兩塊人居對跖區域是東亞的中國和蒙古，以及南美的阿根廷和智利。

'The Australian mainland is the largest landmass with its antipodes entirely in ocean,' the Antipodes website writes.
對跖點網站上寫道：“澳大利亞大陸是對跖點完全在海洋里的最大陸地塊。”

'The majority of locations on land do not have land-based antipodes.'
“絕大多數陸地連小島都對不上?！?/p>

The largest antipodal land masses are the Malay Archipelago, which is opposite the Amazon Basin and adjoining Andean ranges.
擁有最多陸地對跖區域的陸地為馬來群島，其對跖點是亞馬遜流域及其附近的安第斯山脈。

Given that the surface of the earth is around 71 percent water, it's probably unsurprising that the chances of hitting land are relatively low.
不過考慮到地球表面71%都是水，那么陸地的對跖點是陸地的情況出現幾率之小也就不足為奇了。

An American digging a hole from Times Square in New York would end up in the ocean off the coast of Australia.
如果一個美國人從紐約時代廣場開始挖洞，他會挖到澳大利亞海岸周邊的海域。

Brits wouldn't fare much better, with a tunnel dug from under the Houses of Parliament finishing up off the coast of New Zealand.
換做英國人也是半斤八兩，因為英國國會大廈的對跖點是新西蘭海岸。

Japanese tunnel diggers starting in Tokyo would surface off the coast of Uruguay.
日本人從東京開始挖洞會挖到烏拉圭海邊。

And Russians digging from Moscow would find themselves in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
而俄羅斯人若在莫斯科挖洞，最后他們會發現自己挖到了太平洋中心。

There are no non-stop scheduled flights between any two antipodal locations by commercial airline service.
但目前，這些對跖點間都沒有直達的民航定期航班。

But a hypothetically perfect antipode flight would be Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport, Morocco to Whangarei Aerodrome, New Zealand, a flight of approximately 20,000km.
不過理想中的航線是從摩洛哥的丹吉爾機場飛至新西蘭的旺阿雷機場，全程約20000公里。

The North and South pole are, by definition, antipodes.
南北兩極倒是標準定義上的對跖點。

Scientists have previously calculated the journey time, were tunnel diggers to make it all the way through the Earth's core and out to the other side.
科學家此前曾計算從地表的一點，穿過地心，到達地球另一端的時間。

Research has previously found that it would take a person 38 minutes to fall from one side of the planet to the other.
此前的研究表明，一個人用38分鐘就能從地球的一邊掉到另一邊。

你所在的地方對應的地球另一端是哪里呢？來看看對跖地圖，查找自己所在城市的對跖點吧：

一起來找對跖點

英文來源：每日郵報
翻譯; 朱曉婷（中國日報網愛新聞iNews譯者）
編審：yaning