国家地理-2008-04-17 New Search For ET 寻找外星人（上）

Is anyone out there? For over 40 years scientists have been searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, but they’ve found nothing. Now the new Allen Telescope Array, a string of 350 radio telescopes, is being built 300 miles north of San Francisco and is breathing new life into the search. Find out why SETI scientists now say we might be hearing from ET sooner than you think.

Ok, imagine you are at the beach, in order to figure out if there are fish in the ocean, you dip an empty glass into the water and look inside. No fish in the glass? Well, there must be no fish in the ocean.

 Not too logical, is it? But that's exactly the type of reasoning that's plagued Dr. Jill Tarter¹ for years. Astronomers³ like Tarter began searching for alien intelligence in our galaxy⁴ about four decades ago. In that 40 years, they've only managed to search 1000 star systems, 1000 glasses of water, while an unexplored cosmic ocean lay right in front of them.

“40 years needs to be put in the context of how big the universe is, how enormous this cosmic haystack is that we are trying to search through. And so we've just begun.”

  Dr.Tarter knows a little something about SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. She is an astronomer² and the current director of the Center for SETI Research in Mountain View, California. Tarter, like many SETI scientists, was drawn⁵ into the search by the early work of astronomer Frank Drake. Drake looked at the makeup⁶ of our galaxy and created an equation to determine the likelihood that other intelligent life exists. By factoring invariables like the fraction of stars with orbiting planets, the percentage of planets they go on to develop intelligent life and the length of time that an intelligent race lasts. Drake’s equation made it clear. Scientifically, the odds⁷ are pretty good that we are not alone.

 But if you are hunting for ET, where do you start? What would the sign of a technically⁸ sophisticated alien culture look like? It could look something like this. Television and radio signals like this are examples of artificially focused electromagnetic waves, and we've been leaking them into space for over 80 years. That means any planet within 80 light-years of Earth is receiving them. Signals like this are simple to generate and use, and carry well over vast distances. That's why SETI scientists believe alien cultures might be leaking them just like we are.
 
 In 1979, as a young graduate student, Jill Tarter joined the hunt for these telltale signals.
 
“I was so enthralled⁹ by the idea that I lived in the first generation ever of human beings that could try and answer the "Are we alone" question by doing an experiment rather than just asking the priests and the philosophers what they believed.”
 
By the early 1990s with NASA funding, Tarter was heading up the search at the largest facility in the world, the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. Tarter became the poster child for SETI. Even Hollywood embraced her. Tarter is generally thought to be the inspiration for Ellie Arroway, the character played by Jodie Foster in the classic science fiction movie "Contact". It seemed that the golden age of SETI had arrived. Then in 1993, Congress abruptly¹⁰ shut off all federal SETI funding. But that wasn't the end.
 
Today, nearly 15 years later, something big is happening in this remote valley near Hat Creek¹¹, California. SETI's look may be about to change. These radio telescope dishes signal the beginning of what many believe will be a SETI renaissance¹². If there is to be a breakthrough, the new alien telescope array is the best bet.
 
The reversal of SETI's fortune has largely been made possible by a 25-million-dollar grant from Paul Allen, one of the founders¹³ of Microsoft. On October 11th, 2007, Allen pushed the silver button, bringing the first 42 radio dishes online. When completed, the Allen Telescope Array will consist of 350 separate dishes. Together, they can operate as a single virtual dish over 2,700 feet across, making it one of the largest and most sensitive radio telescopes in the world. It will be the fastest tool ever built to hunt for signals of extraterrestrial intelligence.
 
haystack：a large, firmly built pile of hay.(AmE idiom：needle in a haystack）
 
telltale signals/signs/marks ect: signs etc that clearly show something has happened or exists, often something that is a secret
 
enthral: to make someone very interested and excited, so that they listen or watch something very carefully
 
poster child: A person who is a prominent example or type of something

1 tarter   

tart（酸的，辛辣的）的比较级形式

参考例句：

• Bruce Tarter, who has directed Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the past eight years. 1975年，塔特拿到博士学位，其间除了念书，她还得忙著抚养第一次婚姻生下的女儿。 来自互联网

2 astronomer   

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   

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 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

7 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

8 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

9 enthralled   

迷住，吸引住( enthrall的过去式和过去分词 )； 使感到非常愉快

参考例句：

• The child watched, enthralled by the bright moving images. 这孩子看着那明亮的移动的影像，被迷住了。
• The children listened enthralled as the storyteller unfolded her tale. 讲故事的人一步步展开故事情节，孩子们都听得入迷了。

10 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

11 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

12 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

13 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句