VOA标准英语2013--科学家们重新努力寻找外星智慧生命

 

Scientists Renew Effort Looking for Intelligent Alien Life 科学家们重新努力寻找外星智慧生命

After the 1982 megahit E.T. the Extraterrestrial, the search for alien intelligent life was much in focus. And although no evidence has yet been found, scientists are still watching and listening to deep space.  Now, recent technological¹ advances are giving them additional hope.

自从1982年电影的《外星人ET》上世后，搜索外星智能生命引起了众多关注。虽然到目前还没有发现任何外星人存在的证据，但是科学家们还在继续观测着深层宇宙。如今，正如美国之争记者乔治·蒲提科告诉我们，最新的科技进步再一次给了我们希望。

The search for extraterrestrials is being done with telescopic "eyes" and "ears".

Michael Liu, an astronomy professor at the University of Hawaii, in Honolulu, uses an optical telescope to look for planets orbiting distant stars.  

Liu says until recently, earth-bound telescopes could not provide extremely sharp images of distant stars because of the refraction of light passing through earth's atmosphere.  But that has changed.

"One of the technological advances that has happened in the last 15 years is that telescopes are now equipped with technology known as adaptive optics, that essentially² allows you a way to measure in real time the trembling of the earth’s atmosphere and correct for those images," Liu said.

Liu says the images of stars are now more than 10 times sharper than before.

Scientists can not actually see distant planets. Instead they calculate their presence by measuring their gravitational pull at their stars. It is also possible to detect heat emitted by very young planets that provides clues to their physical properties, like how big they are, how much energy they put out, even the materials they are made of.

"Every piece of evidence we’ve found today suggest that planetary systems, planets around the stars, are common," said astronomer³ Liu. "And we’re getting ever and ever closer -- not quite yet, but we’re getting very close to finding planets just like our earth, around stars just like our sun.  And that almost seems inevitable⁴."

Other scientists are using radio telescopes -- huge dish antennas⁶ or antenna⁵ arrays -- listening to radio emissions⁷ from deep space.

Dr. Alan Penny, an astronomy professor at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, is chairman of the United Kingdom's Search for Extraterrestrials group (UKSETI), which plans to connect all radio telescopes in Britain into a huge network in search of intelligent alien life.

Penny says noise and natural signals from stars and quasars are chaotic⁸, while signals from intelligent life must have a structure.  

"There’s no natural source, there’s no star or quasar that can do it. So when you take your picture of the sky and you look at the colors, the equivalent of the colors, if there is one sharp band -- that must be artificial, which means it must be intelligence."

But the sky is enormous. Where exactly will the astronomers⁹ look for extraterrestrial life?

Perhaps they’re like us and they live on other planets and they emit strong radio waves, then you point your telescopes at nearby stars which you know have planets, and just within the last 10 years we’ve been detecting planets around nearby stars," Penny said.

Penny says funding for the search will be provided by private grants and he expects the UKSETI network to be fully¹⁰ operational in about two years. In the meantime, other scientists keep looking for extraterrestrial life because, they say, the chances are high that we are not alone.

1 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 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。

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 antenna   

n.触角，触须；天线

参考例句：

• The workman fixed the antenna to the roof of the house.工人把天线固定在房顶上。
• In our village, there is an antenna on every roof for receiving TV signals.在我们村里，每家房顶上都有天线接收电视信号。

6 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

7 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

8 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

9 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》

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。