為什麼我們找不到外星生命的證據？：英語精讀講義

Somewhere out there in that vast universe,

在浩瀚宇宙的某處，

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

肯定有無數其他星球生機盎然。

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

但為什麼我們沒有看到任何相關的證據呢？

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

嗯，這就是恩里科·費米在 1950 年提出的著名問題：

Where is everybody?

大家都去哪兒了？

Conspiracy theorists claim

陰謀論者聲稱，

that UFOs are visiting all the time

不明飛行物一直在造訪我們，

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

而相關報告只是被掩蓋了。

But honestly, they aren't very convincing.

但老實說，這些說法並沒有什麼說服力。

But that leaves a real riddle. 表達脈絡

這就留下了一個真正的謎團。

In the past year,

在過去的一年裡，

the Kepler space observatory

克卜勒太空望遠鏡

has found hundreds of planets just around nearby stars.

在鄰近恆星周圍發現了數百顆行星。

And if you extrapolate that data, 用詞

如果你推斷一下這些數據，

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

就會發現僅僅在我們所在的銀河系裡，就可能有五千億顆行星。

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

如果在萬分之一的行星上擁有可能支持某種生命形式的條件，

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

那麼在銀河系中依然有 5000 萬個可能孕育生命的星球。

So here's the riddle. 表達脈絡

所以謎團就在這裡。

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

我們的地球直到大爆炸後約 90 億年才形成。

Countless other planets in our galaxy

而我們銀河系中無數其他的行星

should have formed earlier 文法

應該形成得更早，

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

並讓生命的誕生提前了數十億年，

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

或者至少比地球上早了數百萬年。

If just a few of them had spawned intelligent life 文法

如果其中哪怕只有幾個孕育出了智慧生命，

and started creating technologies,

並開始創造技術，

those technologies would have had millions of years

那麼這些技術就有數百萬年的時間

to grow in complexity and power.

來發展其複雜程度和威力。

On Earth,

在地球上，

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

我們已經看到技術在短短 100 年裡能以多麼驚人的速度加速發展。

In millions of years,

在數百萬年的時間裡，

an intelligent alien civilization

一個智慧的外星文明

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

可能早就輕易地蔓延到了整個銀河系，

perhaps creating giant energy-harvesting artifacts, 用詞

也許正建造著巨大的能量收集裝置，

or fleets of colonizing spaceships,

或是成群的殖民飛船，

or glorious works of art that fill the night sky.

又或者是填滿夜空的輝煌藝術品。

At the very least, 片語搭配

至少，

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

你會認為他們會透過這樣或那樣的電磁訊號，

through electromagnetic signals of one kind or another.

無論是有意還是無意地揭示他們的存在。

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

然而我們並沒有看到任何令人信服的證據。

Why?

為什麼呢？

Well, there are numerous possible answers,

嗯，有許多可能的答案，

some of them quite dark. 表達脈絡

其中一些還相當黑暗。

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

也許一個單一的超級智慧文明已經接管了銀河系，

and has imposed strict radio silence 片語搭配

並實行了嚴格的無線電靜默，

because it's paranoid of any potential competitors. 用詞

因為它對任何潛在的競爭對手都偏執不已。

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

它只是蟄伏在那裡，隨時準備抹殺任何可能成為威脅的事物。

Or maybe they're not that intelligent.

又或者他們並沒有那麼聰明。

Or perhaps the evolution of an intelligence

或者這種能夠創造複雜技術的

capable of creating sophisticated technology

智慧演化過程，

is far rarer than we've assumed. 文法

遠比我們假設的要罕見得多。

After all, 表達脈絡

畢竟，

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

在地球 40 億年的歷史中，這也才發生過一次。

Maybe even that was incredibly lucky.

也許甚至連這一次都已經是難以置信的幸運了。

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

也許我們就是銀河系中第一個這樣的文明。

Or perhaps civilization carries with it 慣用語

又或者文明本身就攜帶著

the seeds of its own destruction

自我毀滅的種子，

through the inability to control

因為它們無法控制

the technologies it creates.

自己所創造的技術。

But there are numerous more hopeful answers.

但是，還有許多更具希望的答案。

I mean, for a start, 表達脈絡

我的意思是，首先，

we're not looking that hard

我們搜尋得並沒有那麼努力，

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

而且我們在這上面投入的資金少得可憐。

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

在我們的銀河系中，只有極小一部分恆星

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

被真正仔細地尋找過有趣訊號的蹤跡。

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

也許是我們尋找的方式不對。

Maybe as civilizations develop, 文法

也許隨著文明的發展，

they quickly discover communication technologies

他們很快就會發現一些通訊技術，

far more sophisticated and useful 文法

這些技術遠比那些普通的更先進且實用，

than electromagnetic waves.

甚至超越了電磁波。

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

也許所有的活動都發生在神祕的、

recently discovered dark matter or dark energy 文化背景

最近被發現的暗物質或暗能量之中，

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

它們似乎佔據了宇宙的大部分質量。

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

又或者我們看錯了尺度。

Perhaps intelligent civilizations come to realize 片語搭配

也許智慧文明最終會意識到，

that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information 用詞

生命本質上不過是複雜的資訊模式，

interacting with each other in a beautiful way

以一種優美的方式相互作用，

and that can happen more efficiently at a small scale.

而這在小尺度上發生可以更加高效。

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,

笨重的立體聲音響已經縮小成了美麗小巧的 iPod，

maybe intelligent life itself,

也許智慧生命本身，

in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, 慣用語

為了減少其對環境的影響，

has turned itself microscopic. 片語搭配

已經將自己變成了微觀形態。

So the Solar System might be teeming with aliens

那麼太陽系中可能早就擠滿了外星人，

and we're just not noticing them.

只是我們沒有注意到他們罷了。

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

也許我們腦海中的這些想法本身就是一種外星生命形式。

Well, okay,

好吧，行吧，

that's a crazy thought.

這是一個瘋狂的想法。

The aliens made me say it. 語氣意圖

是外星人讓我這麼說的。

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

但這種思想似乎有其自身的生命，

and that they outlive their creators. 用詞

並且能比創造她們的人活得更久，這確實很酷。

Maybe biological life is just a passing phase. 用詞

也許生物生命僅僅是一個過渡階段。

Well,

那麼，

within the next 15 years,

在未來的 15 年內，

we could start seeing real spectroscopic information 用詞

我們可能會開始看到真實的恆星光譜資訊，

from promising nearby planets

來自那些有希望的鄰近行星，

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

這將揭示它們對生命到底有多麼友善。

And meanwhile, SETI, 文化背景

與此同時，SETI，

the search for extraterrestrial intelligence,

即搜尋地外智慧生命的計畫，

is now releasing its data to the public 片語搭配

正在向大眾發布其數據，

so that millions of citizen scientists, 文法

這樣數以百萬計的民間科學家，

maybe including you,

也許包括你在內，

can bring the power of the crowd to join the search. 慣用語

就能匯聚大眾的力量加入到搜尋中來。

And here on Earth,

而在地球這裡，

amazing experiments are being done

令人驚嘆的實驗正在進行，

to try to create life from scratch, 片語搭配

試圖從零開始創造生命，

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

一種可能與我們所知的 DNA 形式截然不同的生命。

All of this will help us understand

所有這些都將幫助我們理解，

whether the universe is teeming with life 文法

宇宙中是否生機盎然，

or whether indeed it's just us.

或者真的只有我們存在。

Either answer,

無論哪個答案，

in its own way, 片語搭配

以它自己的方式，

is awe-inspiring.

都令人心生敬畏。

Because even if we are alone, 文法

因為即使我們是孤獨的，

the fact that we think and dream and ask these questions

我們會思考、會作夢並提出這些問題這一事實，

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

可能最終會被證明是關於宇宙最重要的事情之一。

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

我還有一個好消息要告訴大家。

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

對知識和理解的追求永遠不會變得枯燥。

It doesn't.

絕對不會。

It's actually the opposite.

實際上恰恰相反。

The more you know, 文法

你知道的越多，

the more amazing the world seems.

這個世界看起來就越令人驚嘆。

And it's the crazy possibilities, 文法

正是那些瘋狂的可能性，

the unanswered questions,

那些懸而未決的問題，

that pull us forward.

在推動著我們不斷向前。

So stay curious. 表達脈絡

所以，請保持好奇心。