英语听力：自然百科 已知的宇宙 接触外星人(2)

Are we alone?And it ties into all the big questions: how do we get here? where are we going?Are we a part of a bigger picture?

我们是否孤单这个问题又涉及到其他大的疑问,比如我们来自何方，又要去到哪里?我们是不是一幅更大画面的一部分?

But for the longest time ,the question was taboo¹ to science.

但很长一段时间，这个问题却是科学研究的禁忌。

Before the Mid-1990s ,it was considered somewhat embarassing to even address the question, because looking for alien life seems a little frighteningly close to science fiction.

在20世纪90年代中期前，即使是谈论这类问题都被认为是很难堪的，因为寻找外星生命听起来很吓人好像科幻一样。

For decades ,the farthest we got in looking for aliens was imagining them on the silver screen.(What is your name?) After all,alien life needs a hull², and we havn't even find a planet outside our own solar system.

几十年以来，我们在探索外星生命之上，最多就是在银屏上想象他们的样子，你叫什么名字？毕竟外星生命需要一个家，而我们还未在太阳系外找到一个行星。

Scientists in fact never talked about planets around other stars. There is no way to detect them.

科学家们实际上从不谈论围绕其他恒星的行星，因为没办法侦测到它们。

And so it was one of those domains³ of science that you couldn't answer and therefore you didn't talk about it.

所以这是一个我们回答不了的科学领域，以致于我们就不会去谈论它了。

Then in 1995, a stronomer discovered a planet orbiting a star 50 light-years from earth. And since then they found hundreds more.

在1995年，一个天文学家发现了一个距离地球55光年围绕恒星运转的行星，从那之后，天文学家们又发现了数百个。

For the first time, in human history ,we realized that our sun with its 8 major planets that go around，it is just one type of a planetary system ,one example of billlions.

这是人类历史上首次我们发现我们的有8个主行星围绕的太阳只是几百万个行星系统中的一种形式。

These discoveries are exciting ,but don't expect to dial up ET on these planets anytime soon.

这些发现着实令人兴奋，但别对很快就会发现外星人抱太大希望。

Well ,it's been a spectacular ride in the last decade to find these planets,most of them are giant planets.

过去几十年对行星的寻找真的是很惊人，他们多数都是大行星。

Most of the worlds we found are gas giants which probably couldn't support life.

我们大多找到的是不太有可能支持生命的巨大的气体星球。

You can't stand on pneumas ,no hard surface,they are large balls of hydrogen and helium gas like Jupiter and Saturn⁴.

你不能站在那些星球上，因为那里没有坚固的地面，它们都是由氢气，氦气等组成的大气球，比如木星和土星就是这样。

We have found a few rocky planets with hard surfaces ,but they are many times more massive than earth,and contain the most hostile environments you could ever imagine.

我们虽然找到了一些有地面的岩石行星，但它们比地球大很多倍，并且上面的条件恶劣到你无法想象。

One such planet, CoRoT-7b,orbits so close to its star that surface temperatures reach as high as 3000 degrees.Sunlights here does not bring the sound of birds' song,instead it's an Armageddon of volcanic⁵ explosions.

例如CoRoT-7b，它与自己的太阳如此之近以致星球表面温度高达炙热的华氏3000度，这里的阳光带来的不是优美的鸟鸣，而是巨大的火山爆发。

1 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

2 hull   

n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳

参考例句：

• The outer surface of ship's hull is very hard.船体的外表面非常坚硬。
• The boat's hull has been staved in by the tremendous seas.小船壳让巨浪打穿了。

3 domains   

n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产

参考例句：

• The theory of thermodynamics links the macroscopic and submicroscopic domains. 热力学把宏观世界同亚微观世界联系起来。 来自辞典例句
• All three flow domains are indicated by shading. 所有三个流动区域都是用阴影部分表示的。 来自辞典例句

4 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• 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。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

5 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。