Alien Neighbors 寻访外星人 7

“And so with Magellan we’ve got the first chance, one of the first chances, ok, to really get a complete map and view of it.”

The Venusian landscape has a desert-like appearance, but it’s a good deal hotter than any desert on earth.

“On Venus it’s about 500 degrees centigrade, due to that green house effects. So it’s far too hot for life to exist. In fact we think that that green house has existed for a very, very long time, so that even if we could get samples back on Venus, we don’t think we’d find any fossil evidence of life. Here on earth, there was abundant water and that’s where life began.”

Temperatures and pressures on parts of our own ocean floor are similar to those on Venus, not especially hospitable¹, in fact, downright hostile. Yet even in these conditions where there is no oxygen, life flourishes around smoking, hydrothermal vents². All over the earth, there are amazing examples of life surviving even thriving in harsh environments. These hardy³ life forms on earth add power to the argument that life may once have existed, may still exist, in forbidding environments elsewhere in the solar system. The first humans to land on Mars may yet discover the imprint⁴ of life.

“We don’t know that life originated on earth. It could have come here from elsewhere in a meteorite⁵ or comet or something. Now from time to time, asteroids⁶ and comets hit Mars and splash Martian material around the solar system. And we know that some of this material comes to earth because there are about a dozen meteorites⁷ that have been identified that come from Mars. One of these meteorites could have brought life here to earth.”

This is no ordinary rock. It was found on earth but it came from Mars, one of at least a dozen alien rocks from the Red Planet. 13,000 years ago a rock fell to earth. In 1984, it was found in Antarctica, at a place called Alan Hills. For over a decade, this Mars meteorite stayed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. It had been mistaken for a piece of the moon. But in 1996, NASA scientists took a second look. Inside the meteorite, there appeared to be microscopic⁸ fossils, possible signs of life. The meteorite made front-page news around the world. But the initial euphoria was replaced by doubt when the evidence proved to be inconclusive.

“The Alan Hills Meteorite is a very important find. It, the things that we do know for sure is that this meteorite is very old. It’s one of the oldest objects in the solar system. It had fractures that were filled with carbonates precipitated from environments, perhaps not unlike this one. I mean we think perhaps they were hydrothermal.”

Even if the Alan Hills Meteorite shows evidence of possible microscopic fossils, this is still not proof of life on Mars.

“So really, where we rest on the Alan Hills Meteorite is that it’s an important find but not indicative of biology.”

“What a time to be alive! In the last year we’ve discovered planets around nearby stars, and today….” NASA Administrator¹⁰ Dan Golden.

~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。~。

words in this passage:

abundant: more than enough 丰富的, 充裕的

downright: (especially of something bad) extremely or very great 完全地；彻头彻尾地

hydrothermal:热水的, 热液的

forbidding:unfriendly and likely to be unpleasant or harmful:可怕的, 令人难亲近的

meteorite : a piece of rock or other matter from space that has landed on Earth 陨星

asteroids: one of many rocky objects, varying in width from over 900 kilometres to less than one kilometre, which circle the sun　小行星

front-page : describes information that is so important that it deserves to be printed on the front page of a newspaper:重要的, 轰动的

euphoria: extreme happiness, sometimes more than is reasonable in a particular situation:兴高采烈

precipitate: If a liquid precipitates, substances in it become solid and separate from the liquid:沉淀；（空气中水汽）凝结

1 hospitable   

adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的

参考例句：

• The man is very hospitable.He keeps open house for his friends and fellow-workers.那人十分好客，无论是他的朋友还是同事，他都盛情接待。
• The locals are hospitable and welcoming.当地人热情好客。

2 vents   

（气体、液体等进出的）孔、口( vent的名词复数 )； （鸟、鱼、爬行动物或小哺乳动物的）肛门； 大衣等的)衩口； 开衩

参考例句：

• He always vents his anger on the dog. 他总是拿狗出气。
• The Dandelion Patch is the least developed of the four active vents. “蒲公英区”在这四个活裂口中是发育最差的一个。

3 hardy   

adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的

参考例句：

• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。
• He is a hardy person.他是一个能吃苦耐劳的人。

4 imprint   

n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记

参考例句：

• That dictionary is published under the Longman imprint.那本词典以朗曼公司的名义出版。
• Her speech left its imprint on me.她的演讲给我留下了深刻印象。

5 meteorite   

n.陨石；流星

参考例句：

• The meteorite in Jilin Exhibition Hall is believed to be the largest in the world.吉林展览馆的陨石被认为是世界上最大的。
• The famous Murchison meteorite smashed into the Australian ground in 1969.1969年著名的默奇森陨石轰然坠落在澳大利亚。

6 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

7 meteorites   

n.陨星( meteorite的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• One theory about the existence of extraterrestrial life rests on the presence of carbon compounds in meteorites. 地球外存在生命的理论是基于陨星上存在碳化合物质这一事实的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

9 precipitated   

v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀

参考例句：

• His resignation precipitated a leadership crisis. 他的辞职立即引发了领导层的危机。
• He lost his footing and was precipitated to the ground. 他失足摔倒在地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。