劍橋雅思9Test1閱讀Passage2原文翻譯Is there anybody out there

劍橋雅思9Test1閱讀Passage2原文翻譯Is there anybody out there，今天中國教育在線就來為大家分析這個問題。

Is there anybody out there

外星有生命存在嗎

劍橋雅思9 Test1 Passage2閱讀原文翻譯

引言

The question of whether we are alone in the Universe has haunted humanity for centuries,but we may now stand poised on the brick of the answer to that question,as the search for radio signals from other intelligent civilizations.This search,often known by the acronym SETI(search for extra-terrestrial intelligence),is a difficult one.Although groups around the world have been searching intermittently for three decades,it is only now that we have reached the level of technology where we can make a determined attempt to search all nearby stars for any sign of life.

關(guān)于我們是否在宇宙中獨自存在的問題困擾著人類已有數(shù)百年之久。但隨著對來自其他文明無線電信號的尋找，我們現(xiàn)在可能正處于解決該問題的邊緣。這種搜索通常以縮寫詞SETI（search for extra-terrestrial intelligence）而聞名，是一項困難的工作。盡管世界各地的團體已經(jīng)斷斷續(xù)續(xù)搜索了三十年，但直到現(xiàn)在我們才達到相應(yīng)的技術(shù)水平，使我們可以堅定地嘗試搜索所有附近的恒星以尋找生命跡象。

A部分

The primary reason for the search is basic curiosity—the same curiosity about the natural world that drives all pure science.We want to know whether life evolves naturally if given the right conditions,or whether there is something very special about the Earth to have fostered the variety of life forms that we see around us on the planet.The simple detection of a radio signal will be sufficient to answer this most basic of all the questions.In this sense,SETI is another cog in the machinery of pure science which is continually pushing out the horizon of our knowledge.However,there are other reasons for being interested in whether life exists elsewhere.For example,we have had civilization on Earth for perhaps only a few thousand years,and the threats of the nuclear war and pollution over the last few decades have told us that our survival may be tenuous.Will we last another two thousand years or will we wipe ourselves out?Since the lifetime of a planet like ours is several billion years,we can expect that,if other civilizations do survive in our galaxy,their ages will range from zero to several billion years.Thus any mere existence of such a civilization will tell us that long-term survival is possible,and gives us some cause for optimism.It is even possible that the older civilization may pass on the benefits of their experience in dealing with threats to survival such as nuclear war and global pollution,and other threats that we haven’t yet discovered.

進行搜索的主要原因是基本的好奇心-對自然世界的好奇心驅(qū)使所有科學(xué)向前發(fā)展。我們想知道，我們在宇宙中是否獨自存在；我們想知道，如果條件合適生命是否會自然進化，或者地球上是否存在某種特殊的事物，從而孕育了我們在地球上看到的各種生命形式。無線電信號的簡單檢測就足以回答所有這些最基本的問題。從這個意義上講，SETI是純科學(xué)機器中的另一個齒輪，它正在不斷推動我們知識的發(fā)展。但是，還有其他原因讓我們對其他地方是否存在生命感興趣。例如，我們在地球上的文明可能只有幾千年的歷史，而在過去的幾十年中核戰(zhàn)爭和污染的威脅告訴我們，我們的生存可能十分脆弱。我們會再延續(xù)2000年，還是會導(dǎo)致自我毀滅？由于像地球這樣的行星的壽命高達數(shù)十億年，我們可以預(yù)期，如果其他文明確實在我們的銀河系中生存下來，它們的年齡將在零到數(shù)十億年之間。因此，我們聽到的任何其他文明的年齡都可能比我們自身要古老的多。這樣一個文明存在本身就可以告訴我們長期生存是可能的，并賦予我們一些樂觀的理由。在應(yīng)對生存威脅（例如核戰(zhàn)爭和全球污染）以及我們尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)的其他威脅時，更古老的文明甚至可能會傳授他們的一些經(jīng)驗。

B部分

In discussing whether we are alone,most SETI scientists adopt two ground rules.First,UFOs(Unidentified Flying Objects)are generally ignored since most scientists don’t consider the evidence for them to be strong enough to bear serious consideration although it is also important to keep an open mind in case any really convincing evidence emerges in the future.Second,we make a very conservative assumption that we are looking for a life form that is pretty well like us,since if it differs radically from us we may well not recognize it as a life form,quite apart from whether we are able to communicate with it.In other words,the life form we are looking for may well have two green heads and seven fingers,but it will nevertheless resemble us in that it should communicate with its fellows,be interested in the Universe,live on a planet orbiting a star like our Sun,and perhaps most restrictively,have a chemistry,like us,based on carbon and water.

在討論我們是否獨自存在時，大多數(shù)SETI科學(xué)家采用兩個基本規(guī)則。首先，UFO（不明飛行物）通常被忽略，因為大多數(shù)科學(xué)家認為文章來自 雅思它們所提供的證據(jù)不足以進行認真考慮（盡管在將來出現(xiàn)任何真正令人信服的證據(jù)時保持開放的態(tài)度也很重要）。其次，我們做出一個非常保守的假設(shè)，即我們正在尋找一種與我們十分相似的生命形式，因為如果它與我們截然不同，我們很可能不認為它是一種生命形式。而不是我們是否能夠與它交流。換句話說，我們正在尋找的生命形式可能有兩個綠色的腦袋和七個手指，但是它仍然與我們相似，因為它應(yīng)該與它的同伴交流，對宇宙感興趣，生活在一個繞著類似于太陽這樣的恒星運轉(zhuǎn)的行星上，并且，或許最具限制性的條件是擁有跟我們相同的化學(xué)結(jié)構(gòu)，建立在碳和水之上。

C部分

Even when we make these assumptions,our understanding of other life forms is still severely limited.We do not even know,for example,how many stars have planets,and we certainly do not know how likely it is that life will arise naturally,given the right conditions.However,when we look at the 100 billion stars in our galaxy(the milky way),and 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe,it seems inconceivable that at least one of these planets does not have a life form on it:in fact,the best educated guess we can make,using the little we do know about the conditions for carbon-based life,leads us to estimate that perhaps one in 100,000 stars might have a life-bearing planet orbiting it.That means that our nearest neighbours are perhaps 100 light years away,which is almost next door in astronomical terms.

即使我們做出這些假設(shè)，我們對其他生命形式的理解仍然受到嚴(yán)重限制。例如，我們甚至不知道有多少顆恒星擁有行星，而且我們當(dāng)然也不知道在適當(dāng)?shù)臈l件下自然產(chǎn)生生命的可能性。但是，當(dāng)我們觀察銀河系中的1000億顆恒星和可觀察到的宇宙中的1000億個星系時，似乎無法想象這些行星中沒有一個擁有生命：事實上，我們對碳基生命的誕生條件了解很少，我們可以做出的最好的有猜測讓我們估計，每十萬顆恒星中可能有一顆有生命的行星正圍繞它運行。這意味著我們與最近的鄰居可能相距100光年。在天文學(xué)意義上，這幾乎就是隔壁。

D部分

An alien civilization could choose many different ways of sending information across the galaxy,but many of these either require too much energy,or else are severely attenuated while traversing the vast distances across the galaxy.It turns out that,for a given amount of transmitted power,radio waves in the frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz travel the greatest distance,and so all searches to date have concentrated on looking for radio waves in this frequency range.So far there have been a number of searches by various groups around the world,including Australian searches using the radio telescope at Parkes,New South Wales.Until now there have not been any detections from the few hundred stars which have been searched.The scale of the searches has been increased dramatically since 1992,when the US Congress NASA 110 million per year for ten years to conduct a thorough search for extra terrestrial life.Much of the money in this project is being spent on the developing the special hardware needed to search many frequencies at once.The project has two parts.One part is a targeted search using the world’s largest radio telescopes,the America-operated telescope in Arecibo,Puerto Rico and the French telescope in Nancy in France.This part of the project is searching the nearest 1000 likely stars with high sensitivity for signals in the frequency range 1000 to 3000 MHz.The other part of the project is an undirected search which is monitoring all of space with a lower sensitivity,using the smaller antennas of NASA’s Deep Space Network.

外星文明可以選擇許多不同的方式在銀河系之間發(fā)送信息，但是其中許多要么需要太多能量，要么在穿越星系的巨大距離時會嚴(yán)重衰減。事實證明，對于給定的發(fā)射功率，在1000到3000 MHz頻率范圍內(nèi)的無線電波傳播的距離最遠。因此迄今為止，所有的搜索都集中在尋找該頻率范圍內(nèi)的無線電波。目前，世界各地的各種團體進行了許多搜索，包括澳大利亞使用新南威爾士州帕克斯市的射電望遠鏡進行搜索。到現(xiàn)在為止，還沒有從已經(jīng)搜索的幾百顆恒星中找到任何發(fā)現(xiàn)。自1992年以來，搜索的規(guī)模已急劇增加，當(dāng)時美國國會給NASA每年1億美元，連續(xù)十年進行深入的地外生命的搜索。該項目中的大部分資金都花在了開發(fā)可同時搜索多個頻率所需的特殊硬件上。該項目分為兩個部分。一部分是采用世界上最大的射電望遠鏡進行有目的的搜索。該項目的這一部分以較高的敏感度正在搜索最近1000個恒星，以尋找1000至3000MHz頻率范圍內(nèi)的信號。該項目的另一部分是不定向搜索。它使用NASA深空網(wǎng)絡(luò)的小型天線以較低的靈敏度監(jiān)視所有空間。

E部分

There is considerable debate over how we should react if we detect a signal from an alien civilization.Everybody agrees that we should not reply immediately.Quite apart from the impracticality of sending a reply over such large distances at short notice,it raises a host of ethical questions that would have to be addressed by the global community before any reply could be sent.Would the human race face the culture shock if faced with a superior and much older civilization?Luckily,there is no urgency about this.The stars being searched are hundreds of light years away,so it takes hundreds of years for their signal to reach us,and a further few hundreds for our reply to reach them.It’s not important,then,if there’s a delay of a few years,or decades.While the human race debates the question of whether to reply,and perhaps carefully drafts a reply.

關(guān)于如果我們檢測到來自外來文明的信號時該如何應(yīng)對，存在著很多爭論。所有人都同意我們不應(yīng)該立即答復(fù)。除了在這么短的時間內(nèi)跨越如此巨大的距離發(fā)送答復(fù)不切實際之外，它還提出了許多國際社會在發(fā)送任何答復(fù)之前必須解決的道德問題。如果人類面臨著優(yōu)越而古老的文明，人類會面對文化的沖擊嗎？幸運的是，這一問題并不緊迫。被搜尋的恒星距離我們有數(shù)百光年，因此它們的信號到達我們也需要數(shù)百年，而我們的回復(fù)還需要數(shù)百年才能抵達它們那里。因此，有幾年或幾十年的延遲并不重要。在人類辯論是否應(yīng)回答的問題時，也許還要仔細起草答復(fù)。

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