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Looking Back From the Red Planet 从火星看地球

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本  

From orbit around our neighbor, the Red Planet, Earth looks like a pale blue crescent. In 2003, Earth and Mars are passing closer to each other than they have for many years, making it an ideal time for spacecraft to be sent to Mars. This year, the Martian space race includes two probes from NASA, along with two new players: Japan and the European Space Agency (ESA).

从我们的邻居，红色行星，的轨道上看去，地球宛如一弯灰蓝的新月。地球与火星交会而过的距离在2003年比过去多年来都还近，是派遣宇宙飞船去探测火星的好时机。今年，火星太空竞赛包括了美国太空总署的两次探险，以及两位新手：日本和欧洲太空总署(ESA)。

Since 1960, some three dozen unmanned spacecraft have blasted off for Mars. This round of Mars mission hopes to answer lingering questions which may cast light on the nature and origin of life on Earth. The odds of success, however, remain daunting: two-thirds of all missions to Mars have ended in failure.

自从1960年以来，前往火星探险的无人宇宙飞船已经多达30几艘。现在这一趟火星任务希望能解答长久以来的疑惑问题，或许能对地球生命的本质和起源有进一步的了解。不过成功的机率仍然不乐观：有三分之二的火星探险任务以失败收场。

The NASA and ESA probes will mostly be concerned with the age-old question of whether water, especially in liquid form, has ever been present on mars long enough for life to develop. NASA and ESA’s probes will land on either side of Mars’s equator in regions that may once have been awash with water.

美国和欧洲的太空总署日后探险重点仍然是过去的老问题，即火星上有没有可供发展生命的水长时间存在过，尤其是液态状的水。美国和欧洲太空总署的探测船会登陆在火星的赤道两侧，那地区或许曾经被水覆盖着。

Interestingly, the latest impetus to search Mars for life comes not from the tentative evidence revealed by NASA’s 1976 Viking probe, the first successful Mars landing, but rather from evidence uncovered in the Antarctic wastes.

令人玩味的是，导致如今前往火星探索生命起源的最新原动力，并不是美国太空总署1976年首次登陆火星成功的宇宙飞船海盗号所带来的试验证据，而是在南极荒原上所发现的证据。

Vocabulary

单词发音

Red Planet <天>火星 a nickname for the planet Mars

crescent [ˋkrɛsnt] n. 新月；弦月

spacecraft [ˋspes͵kræft] n. 宇宙飞船，航天器

unmanned [͵ʌnˋmænd] adj. 无人的；无人驾驶的

blast off (指宇宙飞船)被火箭发射出

lingering [ˋlɪŋgərɪŋ] adj. 久缠不去的

cast light on (something)  使(某事物)清楚些

odds [ɑds] n. 机会，可能性；成功的可能性

daunting [ˋdɔntɪŋ] adj. 使人气馁的

probe [prob] n. 探索；彻底调查

be concerned with 涉及; 关于

equator [ɪˋkwetɚ] n. 赤道

awash [əˋwɑʃ] adj. 被水覆盖的

impetus [ˋɪmpətəs] n. 动力, 推动力, 激励

tentative [ˋtɛntətɪv] adj. 不确定的; 暂定的; 试探性的

but rather 而是；而在于

Sentence of the Day

Hopefully, the suggestive evidence is no red herring.

希望显示出来的证据不是空欢喜一场。

red herring 遮眼法；转移注意力之物

课文讲解

In 1996, researchers in Antarctic found a Martian meteorite that some believe contains evidence of fossilized microbes. That same year, radar signals sent into Antarctic’s Lake Vida revealed a pool of liquid water that should have been frozen solid. This water contained microbes that are 2,800 years old. These findings indicate that life thrives in amazingly adverse conditions, and that liquid water may be found close to the arid surface of Mars.

1996年，研究人员在南极大陆发现了一颗火星殒石，某些学者相信有证据显示殒石上带有成了化石的微生物。同年，送进南极大陆维达湖的雷达讯号显示出有一滩液态水的反应，而它本来应该是冰冻的固态形。水里还存活有2800年之久的微生物。这些发现指出生命可以在极度恶劣的环境下成长繁荣，而那种液态水可以在接近火星枯瘠的表面上找到。

Scientists have begun to investigate hyper-resilient microbes known as extremophiles. Certain extremophiles can survive in temperature up to 169^o C.Given the adaptability of microbes to extreme conditions, like the ultraviolet (UV) radiation that bombards the surface of Mars, the NASA and ESA probes will be searching for evidence of microbes underneath Mars’s surface. ESA has devised an ingenious robotic arm for its probe that will dig 150cm under the Martian surface to retrieve a soil sample which, partly sheltered from UV radiation, may harbor life. If life is discovered on Mars, the meteorite found in Antarctic raises the possibility that Mars was the source of life on Earth.

科学家已经开始调查一种抵抗力超强的极端菌。某些极端菌甚至能在高达摄氏169度的温度下存活。鉴于微生物能适应恶劣的环境，像是不断冲击火星表面的紫外线，美国和欧洲太空总署的探测将寻找火星表面下有微生物的证据。欧洲太空总署已经制作一种精巧的机器手臂，用来挖掘火星表面下150公分处的泥土样本，因为有些泥土避开了紫外线，或许有生命存在。倘若在火星上找到了生命存在的迹象，在南极大陆发现的殒石指出，火星是地球生命起源的可能性就大为提高了。

The four probes, arriving this December and January, may change our view of life in the universe – perhaps, a Christmas present from the Red Planet?

今年的四次探险，抵达时间分别在12月和1月，说不定会改变我们对宇宙生命的看法－或许是火星送给地球人的圣诞礼物？

－by Iain Ferguson

Vocabulary

单词发音

meteorite [ˋmitɪər͵aɪt] n. 陨星；流星

fossilize [ˋfɑs!͵aɪz] v. 使成化石

microbe [ˋmaɪkrob] n. 微生物；（尤指引起疾病的）细菌

adverse [ædˋvɝs] adj. 不利的

arid [ˋærɪd] adj. 干燥的﹐ 干旱的; 贫瘠的﹐不毛的

resilient [rɪˋzɪlɪənt] adj. 能恢复活力的; 坚韧的; 适应力强的

extremophile [ɪks'trɛməˌfaɪl]  n. “嗜极生物”，或称作“嗜极菌”，生活在各种极端恶劣环境下的微生物。

given [ˋgɪvən] prep. 考虑到；鉴于

adaptability [ə͵dæptəˋbɪlətɪ] n. 顺应性；适应性

ingenious [ɪnˋdʒinjəs -nɪəs] adj. 制作精巧的；巧妙的

retrieve [rɪˋtriv] v.（猎犬）衔回（被击中的猎物）

shelter [ˋʃɛltɚ] v. 庇护；保护

harbor [ˋhɑrbɚ] v. 庇护；藏匿

Sentence of the Day

The findings in Antarctica may be the tip of the iceberg.

在南极大陆的发现或许只是冰山一角而已。

the tip of the iceberg 重要情况(或重大问题等)显露出的小部分