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新概念英语第四册Lesson 43 Are there strangers in spac

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Lesson 43
Are there strangers in space?
宇宙中有外星人吗?

First listen and then answer the following question.
听录音,然后回答以下问题。

What does the 'uniquely rational way' for us to communicate with other intelligent beings in space depend on?

We must conclude from the work of those who have studied the origin of life, that given a planet only approximately like our own, life is almost certain to start. Of all the planets in our solar system, we ware1 now pretty certain the Earth is the only one on which life can survive. Mars is too dry and poor in oxygen, Venus far too hot, and so is Mercury, and the outer planets have temperatures near absolute zero and hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. But other suns, start as the astronomers3 call them, are bound to have planets like our own, and as is the number of stars in the universe is so vast, this possibility becomes virtual certainty. There are one hundred thousand million starts in our own Milky4 Way alone, and then there are exist is now estimated at about 300 million million.
Although perhaps only 1 per cent of the life that has started somewhere will develop into highly complex and intelligent patterns, so vast is the number of planets, that intelligent life is bound to be a natural part of the universe.
If then we are so certain that other intelligent life exists in the universe, why have we had no visitors from outer space yet? First of all, they may have come to this planet of ours thousands or millions of years ago, and found our then prevailing5 primitive6 state completely uninteresting to their own advanced knowledge. Professor Ronald Bracewell, a leading American radio astronomer2, argued in Nature that such a superior civilization, on a visit to our own solar system, may have left an automatic messenger behind to await the possible awakening7 of an advanced civilization. Such a messenger, receiving our radio and television signals, might well re-transmit them back to its home-planet, although what impression any other civilization would thus get from us is best left unsaid.
But here we come up against the most difficult of all obstacles to contact with people on other planets -- the astronomical8 distances which separate us. As a reasonable guess, they might, on an average, be 100 light years away. (A light year is the distance which light travels at 186,000 miles per second in one year, namely 6 million million miles.) Radio waves also travel at the speed of light, and assuming such an automatic messenger picked up our first broadcasts of the 1920's, the message to its home planet is barely halfway9 there. Similarly, our own present primitive chemical rockets, though good enough to orbit men, have no chance of transporting us to the nearest other star, four light years away, let alone distances of tens or hundreds of light years.
Fortunately, there is a 'uniquely rational way' for us to communicate with other intelligent beings, as Walter Sullivan has put it in his excellent book, We Are not Alone. This depends on the precise radio frequency of the 21-cm wavelength10, or 1420 megacycles per second. It is the natural frequency of emission11 of the hydrogen atoms in space and was discovered by us in 1951; it must be known to any kind of radio astronomer in the universe.
Once the existence of this wave-length had been discovered, it was not long before its use as the uniquely recognizable broadcasting frequency for interstellar communication was suggested. Without something of this kind, searching for intelligences on other planets would be like trying to meet a friend in London without a pre-arranged rendezvous12 and absurdly wandering the streets in the hope of a chance encounter.
ANTHONY MICHAELIS Are There Strangers in Space? from The Weekend Telegraph

New words and expressions 生词和短语
Mercury
n. 水星
hydrogen
n. 氢气
prevailing
adj. 普遍的
radio astronomer
射电天方学家
uniquely
adv. 唯一地
rational
adj. 合理的
radio frequency
无线电频率
cm
n. 厘米
megacycle
n. 兆周
emission
n. 散发
intersteller
adj.星际的
rendezvous
n. 约会地点


参考译文
根据研究生命起源的人们所作的工作,我们必然会得出这样的结论:如果设想有一颗行星和我们地球的情况基本相似,那几乎肯定会产生生命。我们目前可以肯定的是,在我们太阳系的所有行星中,地球是生命能存在的唯一行星。火星太干燥又缺氧,金星太热,水星也一样。除此之外,太阳系的其他行星的温度都接近绝对零度,并围绕着以氢气为主的大气层。但是,其他的太阳,既天文学家所说的恒星,肯定会有像我们地球一样的行星。因为宇宙中恒星的数目极其庞大,所以存在着产生生命星球的这种可能性是肯定无疑的。仅我们的银河系就有1000亿颗星,况且在宇宙中还有30亿个天河,即银河系。因此,我们所知道的现有恒星数目估计约有30亿X1000亿颗。
虽然在已经产生生命的某个地方,可能只有1%会发展成高度复杂有智力的生命形态,但是行星的数目是那么庞大,有智力的生命必然是宇宙的自然组成道听部分。
既然我们如此坚信宇宙中存在着其他有智力的生命,那么我们为什么还未见到外层空间来访的客人呢?首先,他们可能在几千年前或几百年前已来过我们地球,并且发现我们地球汉时普遍存在着的原始状态同他们的先进的知识相比是索然无味的。美国一位重要的射电天文学家罗纳德.布雷斯韦尔教授在《自然》杂志上提出了这样的观点:假如有如此高级文明生命访问了我们的太阳系,很可能会在离开太阳系时留下自动化信号装置,等待先进文明的觉醒。这种自动化信息装置,在接收到我们的无线电和电视信号后,完全有可能把这些信号发回到原来的行星。至于其他文明行星对我们地球会有什么印象,还是不说为好。
然而,在和外星人联系中我们遇到的最大困难是分隔我们的天文距离。据合理推算,外星人离我们平均距离也有100光年之远(1光年是光以每秒186,000英里的速度在一年内走的距离即6万亿英里)。无线电波也是以光速传播的。假定外星人的这种自动化信息装置接收了我们二十世纪二十年代的第一次广播信号,那么这个信号在发回到原来的行星途中刚刚走了一半路程。同样,我们目前使用的原始化学火箭,虽然把人送入轨道,但尚不能把我们送到离我们最近、相距4光年的其他星球上去,更不用说几十光年或几百光年远的地方了。
幸运的是,有一种我们可以和其他智力生命通迅联系的“唯一合理的方法”,正如活尔特.沙利方在其杰作《我们并不孤独》中阐述的。这种通迅联系要靠21厘料波段,即每秒1420兆周的精确无线电频率。这个频率是空间氢原子释放的自然频率,是在1951年被人类发现的。这个频率是宇宙中任何射电天文学家都应该熟悉的。
一旦这种波长的实际存在被发现,提出把它作为星际间唯一可辨认的广播频率就为期不远了。没有这手段,要想寻觅其他星球上的智力生命,就如同去伦敦见一位朋友,事先未约定地点,而荒唐地在街上游逛,以期待碰巧遇上一样。
 

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 ware sh9wZ     
n.(常用复数)商品,货物
参考例句:
  • The shop sells a great variety of porcelain ware.这家店铺出售品种繁多的瓷器。
  • Good ware will never want a chapman.好货不须叫卖。
2 astronomer DOEyh     
n.天文学家
参考例句:
  • A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
  • He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。
3 astronomers 569155f16962e086bd7de77deceefcbd     
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》
4 milky JD0xg     
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的
参考例句:
  • Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
  • I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。
5 prevailing E1ozF     
adj.盛行的;占优势的;主要的
参考例句:
  • She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
  • This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。
6 primitive vSwz0     
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。
7 awakening 9ytzdV     
n.觉醒,醒悟 adj.觉醒中的;唤醒的
参考例句:
  • the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
  • People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。
8 astronomical keTyO     
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。
9 halfway Xrvzdq     
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
参考例句:
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
10 wavelength 8gHwn     
n.波长
参考例句:
  • The authorities were unable to jam this wavelength.当局无法干扰这一波长。
  • Radio One has broadcast on this wavelength for years.广播1台已经用这个波长广播多年了。
11 emission vjnz4     
n.发出物,散发物;发出,散发
参考例句:
  • Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施,降低污染物排放总量。
  • Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后,指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。
12 rendezvous XBfzj     
n.约会,约会地点,汇合点;vi.汇合,集合;vt.使汇合,使在汇合地点相遇
参考例句:
  • She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
  • I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。
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