经济学人219:寻找外星人

 　　Science and technology

　　科学技术

　　Searching for aliens

　　寻找外星人

　　The wow factor

　　防止再次意外

　　A new citizen-science project will improve the chances of finding ET

　　一个新的平民科学项目可以增大找到地外智慧的机会

　　EVER since 1993, when funding from America's space agency, NASA, was cut, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which scans the sky looking for radio signals from intelligent aliens, has been inventive in its methods.

　　自从1993年，寻找地外智慧在失去了美国航天局的资助后，开辟了一个新的的研究途径。

　　In particular, it was one of the pioneers of the field of citizen science, in which interested amateurs are recruited to help professionals crunch¹ data.

　　具体来说，这个新途径是平民科学的先驱之一，它邀请感兴趣的外行人来帮助专家处理海量数据。

　　In 1999 it started SETIhome, an application that uses spare processing power on volunteers' computers to sift² the information generated by its radio telescopes.

　　1999年，在家寻找地外智慧项目启动了，它通过一个应用程序利用志愿者的电脑上闲置的计算资源来筛选来自射频望远镜的信息。

　　These days, SETIhome boasts more than 1m users.

　　今天，在家寻找地外智慧已经号称拥有超过100万的用户。

　　On February 29th the SETI Institute launched another citizen-science project.

　　2月29号，寻找地外智慧协会启动了一个新的平民科学项目。

　　This time, though, its researchers are less interested in the digital computers on volunteers' desks than in the biological ones between their ears.

　　这次，研究人员们更加感兴趣的是志愿者的双眼，而不是他们桌上的计算机。实时寻找地外智慧，

　　SETILive, as the project is called, hopes to use the pattern-recognition capabilities³ of brains to distinguish interesting signals from the cacophony⁴ of interference generated by the denizens⁵ of planet Earth—and to do so in real time.

　　就像它的名称所说，它希望利用我们大脑的模式识别能力来辨认出夹杂在由地球原住民产生的信号中的有趣信号，实时地。

　　The basic idea behind SETI is to look for distinctive⁶ radio-frequency emissions⁷ that might come from advanced aliens rather than natural sources like stars.

　　寻找地外智慧的基本想法是寻找来自高级地外生命而不是其他自然来源如恒星的射频信号。

　　To do this, the SETI Institute uses an instrument called the Allen Telescope Array—a group of 42 small radio-telescope dishes in California, partly paid for by the eponymous co-founder of Microsoft.

　　其协会依靠的工具是坐落在加州的艾伦望远镜阵列，它由42个小的射频望远镜组成，因为微软的共同创始人提供了部分资金而得名。

　　Unfortunately, some parts of the radio spectrum⁸ are full of signals created by Earthlings, rather than aliens.

　　不幸的是，来自地球居民而不是外星人的信号挤满了射频频谱的一部分。

　　Everything from passing satellites and tumbling space junk to ground-based radar⁹ and even the ignition systems of nearby cars can generate spurious radio waves that confuse the software.

　　各种各样的来源产生了欺骗性的信号迷惑了相关软件，这些来源包括划过天空的卫星和翻滚的太空垃圾，地面上的雷达甚至是附近汽车的点火系统。

　　Until now, the project has dealt with that by ignoring the more crowded bits of the spectrum.

　　目前，项目只能避开这些拥挤的频段。

　　But SETILive will bring them into play.

　　但是实时寻找地外智慧就可以把这些被迫忽略的频段拿来一起分析。

　　It will do so by feeding pictorial¹⁰ representations of data from these noisy chunks¹¹ of the spectrum to its users in the hope that they will be able to filter out the noise and spot potentially interesting signals buried behind the radio clutter¹² from Earth.

　　它把在这些充满噪声的拥挤频段内的信息转换成图像发送给用户，希望他们能够在这些噪音中发现潜在特别的信号。

　　Those interesting signals will not necessarily have come from alien civilisations, says Chris Lintott,

　　这些特别的信号不一定就来自外星文明。Chris Lintott说。

　　an astrophysicist at Oxford¹³ University who helps to run Zooniverse, a citizen-science website that manages several projects, including SETILive.

　　他是牛津大学的天文物理学家，

　　But even if they do not, some new astronomical¹⁴ phenomena¹⁵ may be discovered by the project. And as the various sources of interference become better characterised, the results will be fed back into the automated-search algorithms, improving their ability to deal with Earth-generated noise.

　　帮助运作一个管理了包括实时寻找地外智慧在内的一些项目的平民科学网站-宇宙动物园。

　　Other citizen-science projects already use the superior pattern-recognition capabilities of human wetware, but SETILive is different from these in one important way.

　　其他一些平民科学项目已经在利用人类自身湿件的模式识别能力了，但是实时寻找地外智慧在一个重要方面与它们都不同。

　　Rather than having its users pore at leisure over stored data, aliens are hunted on the fly.

　　外星人是被即时捕捉到的，而不是用户从容地凝视那些储存好了的数据。

　　Users logging on to the project's website view information that is hot from the Allen Array.

　　用户登录项目网站后看到的信息是刚刚从艾伦望远镜阵列传来的。

　　They have to work quickly, though.

　　他们还必须看得快些，

　　Every 90 seconds, the array switches to looking at a different star, or a different frequency range, and a new image is generated.

　　因为每隔90秒望远镜阵列就会切换观测另外一个星体或者一个不同的频段，一幅新的信息转换成的图像就会显示出来。

　　If, however, the humans do spot something interesting, the array can be told within three minutes to switch back to observing the star or range in question, to see if the signal is still there.

　　如果万一有人确实看到了一些特别的信息，望远镜阵列会在3分钟之内切换回那个特定的星体或者频段，看看信号还是否在那。

　　That is a big advantage, says Dr Lintott.

　　Lintott博士说这是一个很大的优势。

　　Volunteers working on SETIhome have found plenty of interesting signals,

　　在家寻找地外智慧的志愿者们就发现过很多有趣的信号，

　　but because the data they analyse are often months old, those signals have usually vanished by the time anyone gets around to checking up on them.

　　但是因为那些数据大多是几个月之前的，当研究人员有机会回头查看时通常它们都已经消失了。

　　The most famous example of such delayed discovery, though it long predates the start of SETIhome, is the so-called Wow! signal.

　　这类延迟事件最出名的一次，尽管早在在家寻找地外智慧启动之前，是一个被称为Wow！的信号。

　　This signal, which looked exactly like the sort of thing astronomers¹⁶ had theorised aliens might use to get in touch was spotted¹⁷ in telescope printouts in 1977.

　　1977年，这个信号在一个望远镜输出文件中被发现了，它完全符合天文学家理论预测的外星人用来和外界联系的特征。

　　It was a powerful, finely tuned¹⁸ broadcast at the most important natural frequency for radio astronomers—the one generated by the flipping¹⁹ spin of the electron in a hydrogen atom.

　　这个信号不仅强烈，而且精确地在射频天文学中最重要的自然频率上发射出来。

　　But by the time astronomers had noticed it and set their instruments up to double-check, the signal had vanished.

　　但是等到天文学家发现并且使用仪器进行二次确认的时候它已经消失了。

　　If a second Wow! signal were discovered by SETILive, astronomers could focus on it almost immediately.

　　如果第二个Wow！信号被实时寻找地外智慧发现，天文学家就可以几乎立即对准它。

　　First contact with aliens, then, might take place not in a lab full of computers but late one night in a suburban²⁰ bedroom. There could be a film in that.

　　第一次与外星人的接触，说不定就不是发生在满是电脑的实验室里，而是深夜在一个城郊住宅区的卧室中。果真如此就可以拍一部电影了。

　　1.improve v.改善；改进；提高

　　Your work will get by, but try to improve it.

　　你的工作勉强通过了,但要设法改善它。

　　2.extraterrestrial n.外星人

　　Extraterrestrial life has often become the subject of science fiction films.

　　科幻片经常以外星生命为主题。

　　3.amateur n.外行；业余爱好者

　　An amateur shouldn't play roulette for high stakes.

　　外行不该下大赌注赌轮盘赌。

　　4.application n.应用；申请

　　The application of new scientific discoveries to industrial production methods usually increases efficiency.

　　把新的科学发现运用到工业生产上,通常可以提高效率。

　　5.biological a.生物的；生物学的

　　Biological warfare²¹ is terrible.

　　生物战很可怕。

1 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

2 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。

3 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 cacophony   

n.刺耳的声音

参考例句：

• All around was bubbling a cacophony of voices.周围人声嘈杂。
• The drivers behind him honked,and the cacophony grew louder.后面的司机还在按喇叭，且那刺耳的声音越来越大。

5 denizens   

n.居民，住户( denizen的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• polar bears, denizens of the frozen north 北极熊，在冰天雪地的北方生活的动物
• At length these denizens of the swamps disappeared in their turn. 到了后来，连这些沼泽国的居民们也不见了。 来自辞典例句

6 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

7 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

8 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

9 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

10 pictorial   

adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报

参考例句：

• The had insisted on a full pictorial coverage of the event.他们坚持要对那一事件做详尽的图片报道。
• China Pictorial usually sells out soon after it hits the stands.《人民画报》往往一到报摊就销售一空。

11 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

12 clutter   

n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱

参考例句：

• The garage is in such a clutter that we can't find anything.车库如此凌乱，我们什么也找不到。
• We'll have to clear up all this clutter.我们得把这一切凌乱的东西整理清楚。

13 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

14 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

15 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

16 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

18 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》

19 flipping   

讨厌之极的

参考例句：

• I hate this flipping hotel! 我讨厌这个该死的旅馆！
• Don't go flipping your lid. 别发火。

20 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

21 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。