为什么我们找不到外星生命的证据？：英语精读讲义

Somewhere out there in that vast universe,

在浩瀚宇宙的某处，

there must surely be countless other planets teeming with life. 短語搭配

肯定有无数其他星球生机盎然。

But why don't we see any evidence of it? 表達脈絡

但为什么我们没有看到任何相关的证据呢？

Well, this is the famous question asked by Enrico Fermi in 1950. 文化背景

嗯，这就是恩里科·费米在 1950 年提出的著名问题：

Where is everybody?

大家都去哪儿了？

Conspiracy theorists claim

阴谋论者声称，

that UFOs are visiting all the time

不明飞行物一直在造访我们，

and the reports are just being covered up. 短語動詞

而相关报告只是被掩盖了。

But honestly, they aren't very convincing.

但老实说，这些说法并没有什么说服力。

But that leaves a real riddle. 表達脈絡

这就留下了一个真正的谜团。

In the past year,

在过去的一年里，

the Kepler space observatory

开普勒空间天文台

has found hundreds of planets just around nearby stars.

在邻近恒星周围发现了数百颗行星。

And if you extrapolate that data, 用詞

如果你推断一下这些数据，

it looks like there could be half a trillion planets just in our own galaxy. 語法

就会发现仅仅在我们所在的银河系里，就可能有五千亿颗行星。

If any one in 10,000 has conditions that might support a form of life, 語法

如果在万分之一的行星上拥有可能支持某种生命形式的条件，

that's still 50 million possible life-harboring planets right here in the Milky Way. 用詞

那么在银河系中依然有 5000 万个可能孕育生命的星球。

So here's the riddle. 表達脈絡

所以谜团就在这里。

Our Earth didn't form until about 9 billion years after the Big Bang. 語法

我们的地球直到大爆炸后约 90 亿年才形成。

Countless other planets in our galaxy

而我们银河系中无数其他的行星

should have formed earlier 語法

应该形成得更早，

and given life a chance to get underway billions, 短語搭配

并让生命的诞生提前了数十亿年，

or certainly many millions of years earlier than happened on Earth.

或者至少比地球上早了数百万年。

If just a few of them had spawned intelligent life 語法

如果其中哪怕只有几个孕育出了智慧生命，

and started creating technologies,

并开始创造技术，

those technologies would have had millions of years

那么这些技术就有数百万年的时间

to grow in complexity and power.

来发展其复杂程度和威力。

On Earth,

在地球上，

we've seen how dramatically technology can accelerate in just 100 years.

我们已经看到技术在短短 100 年里能以多么惊人的速度加速发展。

In millions of years,

在数百万年的时间里，

an intelligent alien civilization

一个智慧的外星文明

could easily have spread out across the galaxy, 短語動詞

可能早就轻易地蔓延到了整个银河系，

perhaps creating giant energy-harvesting artifacts, 用詞

也许正建造着巨大的能量收集装置，

or fleets of colonizing spaceships,

或是成群的殖民飞船，

or glorious works of art that fill the night sky.

又或者是填满夜空的辉煌艺术品。

At the very least, 短語搭配

至少，

you'd think they'd be revealing their presence deliberately or otherwise 講解

你会认为他们会通过这样或那样的电磁信号，

through electromagnetic signals of one kind or another.

无论是有意还是无意地揭示他们的存在。

And yet we see no convincing evidence of any of it. 表達脈絡

然而我们并没有看到任何令人信服的证据。

Why?

为什么呢？

Well, there are numerous possible answers,

嗯，有许多可能的答案，

some of them quite dark. 表達脈絡

其中一些还相当黑暗。

Maybe a single superintelligent civilization has indeed taken over the galaxy 短語動詞

也许一个单一的超级智慧文明已经接管了银河系，

and has imposed strict radio silence 短語搭配

并实行了严格的无线电静默，

because it's paranoid of any potential competitors. 用詞

因为它对任何潜在的竞争对手都偏执不已。

It's just sitting there ready to obliterate anything that becomes a threat. 語法

它只是蛰伏在那里，随时准备抹杀任何可能成为威胁的事物。

Or maybe they're not that intelligent.

又或者他们并没有那么聪明。

Or perhaps the evolution of an intelligence

或者这种能够创造复杂技术的

capable of creating sophisticated technology

智慧演化过程，

is far rarer than we've assumed. 語法

远比我们假设的要罕见得多。

After all, 表達脈絡

毕竟，

it's only happened once on Earth in 4 billion years.

在地球 40 亿年的历史中，这也才发生过一次。

Maybe even that was incredibly lucky.

也许甚至连这一次都已经是难以置信的幸运了。

Maybe we are the first such civilization in our galaxy. 用詞

也许我们就是银河系中第一个这样的文明。

Or perhaps civilization carries with it 習語

又或者文明本身就携带着

the seeds of its own destruction

自我毁灭的种子，

through the inability to control

因为它们无法控制

the technologies it creates.

自己所创造的技术。

But there are numerous more hopeful answers.

但是，还有许多更具希望的答案。

I mean, for a start, 表達脈絡

我的意思是，首先，

we're not looking that hard

我们搜寻得并没有那么努力，

and we're spending a pitiful amount of money on it. 用詞

而且我们在这上面投入的资金少得可怜。

Only a tiny fraction of the stars in our galaxy 短語搭配

在我们的银河系中，只有极小一部分恒星

have really been looked at closely for signs of interesting signals. 語法

被真正仔细地寻找过有趣信号的踪迹。

And perhaps we're not looking the right way. 短語搭配

也许是我们寻找的方式不对。

Maybe as civilizations develop, 語法

也许随着文明的发展，

they quickly discover communication technologies

他们很快就会发现一些通信技术，

far more sophisticated and useful 語法

这些技术远比那些普通的更先进且实用，

than electromagnetic waves.

甚至超越了电磁波。

And maybe all the action takes place inside the mysterious, 短語搭配

也许所有的活动都发生在神秘的、

recently discovered dark matter or dark energy 文化背景

最近被发现的暗物质或暗能量之中，

that appear to account for most of the universe's mass. 用詞

它们似乎占据了宇宙的大部分质量。

Or maybe we're looking at the wrong scale. 短語搭配

又或者我们看错了尺度。

Perhaps intelligent civilizations come to realize 短語搭配

也许智慧文明最终会意识到，

that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information 用詞

生命本质上不过是复杂的信息模式，

interacting with each other in a beautiful way

以一种优美的方式相互作用，

and that can happen more efficiently at a small scale.

而这在小尺度上发生可以更加高效。

So just as on Earth, 表達脈絡

所以就像在地球上，

clunky stereo systems have shrunk to beautiful tiny iPods,

笨重的立体声音响已经缩小成了美丽小巧的 iPod，

maybe intelligent life itself,

也许智慧生命本身，

in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, 習語

为了减少其对环境的影响，

has turned itself microscopic. 短語搭配

已经将自己变成了微观形态。

So the Solar System might be teeming with aliens

那么太阳系中可能早就挤满了外星人，

and we're just not noticing them.

只是我们没有注意到他们罢了。

Maybe the very ideas in our heads are a form of alien life.

也许我们脑海中的这些想法本身就是一种外星生命形式。

Well, okay,

好吧，行吧，

that's a crazy thought.

这是一个疯狂的想法。

The aliens made me say it. 語氣意圖

是外星人让我这么说的。

But it is cool that ideas do seem to have a life all of their own 習語

但这种思想似乎有其自身的生命，

and that they outlive their creators. 用詞

并且能比创造它们的人活得更久，这确实很酷。

Maybe biological life is just a passing phase. 用詞

也许生物生命仅仅是一个过渡阶段。

Well,

那么，

within the next 15 years,

在未来的 15 年内，

we could start seeing real spectroscopic information 用詞

我们可能会开始看到真实的恒星光谱信息，

from promising nearby planets

来自那些有希望的邻近行星，

that will reveal just how life-friendly they might be. 語法

这将揭示它们对生命到底有多么友好。

And meanwhile, SETI, 文化背景

与此同时，SETI，

the search for extraterrestrial intelligence,

即搜寻地外智慧生命的计划，

is now releasing its data to the public 短語搭配

正在向公众发布其数据，

so that millions of citizen scientists, 語法

这样数以百万计的民间科学家，

maybe including you,

也许包括你在内，

can bring the power of the crowd to join the search. 習語

就能汇聚大众的力量加入到搜索中来。

And here on Earth,

而在地球这里，

amazing experiments are being done

令人惊叹的实验正在进行，

to try to create life from scratch, 短語搭配

试图从零开始创造生命，

life that might be very different from the DNA forms we know.

一种可能与我们所知的 DNA 形式截然不同的生命。

All of this will help us understand

所有这些都将帮助我们理解，

whether the universe is teeming with life 語法

宇宙中是否生机盎然，

or whether indeed it's just us.

或者真的只有我们存在。

Either answer,

无论哪个答案，

in its own way, 短語搭配

以它自己的方式，

is awe-inspiring.

都令人心生敬畏。

Because even if we are alone, 語法

因为即使我们是孤独的，

the fact that we think and dream and ask these questions

我们会思考、会做梦并提出这些问题这一事实，

might yet turn out to be one of the most important facts about the universe. 短語動詞

可能最终会被证明是关于宇宙最重要的事情之一。

And I have one more piece of good news for you.

我还有一个好消息要告诉大家。

The quest for knowledge and understanding never gets dull. 短語搭配

对知识和理解的追求永远不会变得枯燥。

It doesn't.

绝对不会。

It's actually the opposite.

实际上恰恰相反。

The more you know, 語法

你知道的越多，

the more amazing the world seems.

这个世界看起来就越令人惊叹。

And it's the crazy possibilities, 語法

正是那些疯狂的可能性，

the unanswered questions,

那些悬而未决的问题，

that pull us forward.

在推动着我们不断向前。

So stay curious. 表達脈絡

所以，请保持好奇心。