英语听力文摘 English Digest 458、外太空有人吗

 

 

 

 

The Fermi Paradox

Back in 1950, the Nobel prize-winning physicist¹ Enrico Fermi was having lunch with friends. Conversation turned to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. According to the popular story, Fermi fell silent for a moment and then asked the simple but profound question: “Where Is Everybody?”

That question is now known as the Fermi Paradox. A version goes like this. There are a few hundred billion stars in the Milky² Way Galaxy³. Suppose even half those stars have planets.

Then suppose only one or two of, say, ten planets per star is conducive⁴ to the formation of life, as is the case with our own solar system. Suppose life takes a billion years to get started, as happened on earth. Suppose the evolution of higher life forms takes another couple billion years, as it did here.

None of that would matter. The Milky Way galaxy is around ten billion years old. Even with very conservative estimates, it should still be swarming⁵ with life–even intelligent life. The late Carl Sagan calculated that there should be something like a million advanced civilizations out there right now.

So where are they? Tabloid⁶ stories aside, there’s no scientific evidence from any corner to suggest we aren’t alone in the Milky Way. But why not? The evidence should be everywhere.

That’s Fermi’s paradox. It has nothing to do with whether you believe in flying saucers or not. It’s a simple estimation: given what we know about our star, our planet, and how life evolved here, we can extrapolate to what probably happens elsewhere. And yet: there’s no sign of alien civilizations.

Something must have gone wrong in our thinking. But what? More next time.

 

费尔米悖论

早在1950年，诺贝尔奖获得者恩里克.费尔米正与他的朋友吃午餐。他们的话题转到是否可能存在外太空生命上。按照那个受欢迎故事的说法，当时费米尔沉默了一会，然后问到了这个简单而又深刻的问题：他们都去哪了？

现在，那个问题被称为是“费米尔悖论”。有个版本是这样的：在银河系里，有几千亿颗恒星。假设说那些恒星半数周围有行星。

然后假设和我们的太阳系一样，每颗恒星周围每十颗行星有一颗或两颗有利于形成生命。假设那的生命和地球上的一样，要花费十亿年才开始形成。再假设更高级形式的生命要再花几十亿年才能进化，就如地球上所经历的那样。

没有一项有问题。银河系已经近一百亿光年了。即使很保守的估计，它应该还是挤满了生命——甚至是智能生命。后来的卡尔.萨根计算了一下，目前应该大约有100万先进文明在那了。

那么他们在哪呢？把小报故事放一边看，现在还没有任何角度的科学证据表明我们不是银河系中唯一存在的人类。但是为什么不是呢？证据应该到处都是。

那就是“费米尔悖论”。你是否相信有飞碟都不重要。这只是一个简单的估计：假如让我们知道有关我们所在的恒星，行星的知识，还有生命如何进化的，那就可以推断别处可能发生什么。可是，还没有外星文明的迹象呢。

我们的思想一定是哪出了问题。但是是什么问题呢？下次再说吧。

 

1 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

2 milky   

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。

3 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。

4 conducive   

adj.有益的，有助的

参考例句：

• This is a more conducive atmosphere for studying.这样的氛围更有利于学习。
• Exercise is conducive to good health.体育锻炼有助于增强体质。

5 swarming   

密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
• The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。

6 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。