2019年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--如何与外星人交谈(1)

 

Johnson

约翰逊语言专栏

How to talk to aliens

如何与外星人交谈

The challenge says a lot about talk among people, too

这个挑战也说明了很多人与人沟通的问题

Imagine dining in a European capital where you do not know the local language. The waiter speaks little English, but by hook or by crook¹ you manage to order something on the menu that you recognise, eat and pay for. Now picture instead that, after a hike goes wrong, you emerge, starving, in an Amazonian village. The people there have no idea what to make of you. You mime² chewing sounds, which they mistake for your primitive³ tongue. When you raise your hands to signify surrender, they think you are launching an attack.

想象一下，你在一个不懂当地语言的欧洲首都用餐。服务员几乎不会说英语，但你想尽办法点了菜单上你认识的菜，吃了，付了钱。现在想象一下，一次远足出了问题，你饿着肚子出现在亚马逊的一个村庄。那里的人根本不知道你是干什么的。你模仿咀嚼的声音，他们会误认为是你的原始舌头有什么问题。当你举手示意投降时，他们认为你是在发起进攻。

Communicating without a shared context is hard. For example, radioactive sites must be left undisturbed for tens of thousands of years; yet, given that the English of just 1,000 years ago is now unintelligible⁴ to most of its modern speakers, agencies have struggled to create warnings to accompany nuclear waste. Committees responsible for doing so have come up with everything from towering concrete spikes⁵, to Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”, to plants genetically⁶ modified to turn an alarming blue. None is guaranteed to be future-proof.

没有共享背景信息的沟通是困难的。例如，放射性场所必须保持数万年不受干扰；然而现在，考虑到仅仅1000年前的英语对大多数说现代英语的人来说是难以理解的，各机构一直在努力创造核废料的警告话语。负责这项工作的委员会想出了各种各样的办法，从高耸的混凝土建筑物，到爱德华·蒙克的《呐喊》，再到变成令人担忧的蓝色的转基因植物。没有一个是可以保证万无一失的。

Some of the same people who worked on these waste-site messages have also been part of an even bigger challenge: communicating with extraterrestrial life. This is the subject of “Extraterrestrial Languages”, a new book by Daniel Oberhaus, a journalist at Wired.

同样是这些垃圾填埋场信息的工作人员也面临着更大的挑战：与外星生命交流。这是《外星语言》的主题，《外星语言》是《连线》杂志记者丹尼尔·奥伯豪斯的新书。

Nothing is known about how extraterrestrials might take in information. A pair of plaques⁸ sent in the early 1970s with Pioneer 10 and 11, two spacecraft, show nude⁹ human beings and a rough map to find Earth—rudimentary stuff, but even that assumes aliens can see. Since such craft have no more than an infinitesimal chance of being found, radio broadcasts from Earth, travelling at the speed of light, are more likely to make contact. But just as a terrestrial radio must be tuned¹⁰ to the right frequency, so must the interstellar kind. How would aliens happen upon the correct one? The Pioneer plaque⁷ gives a hint in the form of a basic diagram of a hydrogen atom, the magnetic polarity of which flips¹¹ at regular intervals¹², with a frequency of 1,420MHz. Since hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, the hope is that this sketch¹³ might act as a sort of telephone number.

关于外星人如何获取信息，我们一无所知。上世纪70年代初，“先锋10号”和“11号”两艘宇宙飞船发射了一对牌匾，上面展示了裸体的人类，还有一张寻找地球基础生命的粗略地图，但仍假设外星人能看到。由于这种飞行器被发现的机会微乎其微，所以来自地球的以光速飞行的无线电广播更有可能与之接触。但是，就像地球上的无线电必须调到合适的频率一样，星际间的无线电也必须调到合适的频率。外星人如何碰巧找到正确的频率呢？先驱牌匾以氢原子基本图的形式给出了一个提示，氢原子的磁极按一定的间隔翻转，频率为1420mhz。因为氢是宇宙中最丰富的元素，所以希望这张草图能充当某种通讯号码。

1 crook   

v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处)

参考例句：

• He demanded an apology from me for calling him a crook.我骂他骗子，他要我向他认错。
• She was cradling a small parcel in the crook of her elbow.她用手臂挎着一个小包裹。

2 mime   

n.指手画脚，做手势，哑剧演员，哑剧；vi./vt.指手画脚的表演，用哑剧的形式表演

参考例句：

• Several French mime artists will give some lectures this afternoon.几位法国哑剧表演艺术家将在今天下午做几场讲座。
• I couldn't speak Chinese,but I showed in mime that I wanted a drink.我不会讲汉语，但我作摹拟动作表示要一杯饮料。

3 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

4 unintelligible   

adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的

参考例句：

• If a computer is given unintelligible data, it returns unintelligible results.如果计算机得到的是难以理解的数据，它给出的也将是难以理解的结果。
• The terms were unintelligible to ordinary folk.这些术语一般人是不懂的。

5 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

7 plaque   

n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板

参考例句：

• There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
• Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。

8 plaques   

（纪念性的）匾牌( plaque的名词复数 )； 纪念匾； 牙斑； 空斑

参考例句：

• Primary plaques were detectable in 16 to 20 hours. 在16到20小时内可查出原发溶斑。
• The gondoliers wore green and white livery and silver plaques on their chests. 船夫们穿着白绿两色的制服，胸前别着银质徽章。

9 nude   

adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品

参考例句：

• It's a painting of the Duchess of Alba in the nude.这是一幅阿尔巴公爵夫人的裸体肖像画。
• She doesn't like nude swimming.她不喜欢裸泳。

10 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

12 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

13 sketch   

n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述

参考例句：

• My sister often goes into the country to sketch. 我姐姐常到乡间去写生。
• I will send you a slight sketch of the house.我将给你寄去房屋的草图。