返回首页

SethShostak_2012X-_外星人（可能）真的存在_请准备好_
Is E.T. out there? 外星人真的存在吗？
Well, I work at the SETI Institute . 我在SETI机构工作
Institute:v.开始(调查);制定;创立;提起(诉讼);n.学会,协会;学院;
That's almost my name. SETI: SETI几乎成为了我的代名词
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence . 它的意思是:搜寻地外文明计划
Extraterrestrial:adj.地球外的;n.天外来客; Intelligence:n.智力;智慧;才智;(尤指关于敌国的)情报;
In other words, I look for aliens, and when I tell people that at a cocktail party , they usually look at me with a mildly incredulous look on their face. 换句话说,我的工作是寻找外星人 当我在一个鸡尾酒聚会上跟人说起我的工作,他们通常 会带着一副友善却怀疑的样子看着我
cocktail party:n.鸡尾酒会; mildly:adv.温和地,和善地;适度地; incredulous:adj.怀疑的;不轻信的;
I try to keep my own face somewhat dispassionate . 而我尽量让自己看起来很镇静
somewhat:n.几分;某物;adv.有点;多少;几分;稍微; dispassionate:adj.不带感情的;平心静气的;公平的;
Now, a lot of people think that this is kind of idealistic , ridiculous , maybe even hopeless, but I just want to talk to you a little bit about why I think that the job I have is actually a privilege , okay, 现在很多人都认为寻找外星人这件事太理想化 很可笑,甚至可能毫无希望 但是我只想跟你们解释为什么我认为 我的工作事实上是一个特权,好吗？
idealistic:adj.理想主义的;唯心论的;唯心主义者的;空想家的; ridiculous:adj.可笑的;荒谬的; privilege:n.特权;优待;v.给与…特权;特免;
and give you a little bit of the motivation for my getting into this line of work, if that's what you call it. 我还会告诉你们促使我走向 这条不归路 的动机 - 如果你们这样称呼它的话
motivation:n.动机;积极性;推动;
This thing — whoops , can we go back? 这件事 - 哦,能倒回去吗？
whoops:n.高喊,大叫;v.高喊,喊叫;(whoop的第三人称单数和复数)
Hello, come in, Earth. 拜托
There we go. All right. 好了,我们继续
This is the Owens Valley Radio Observatory behind the Sierra Nevadas, and in 1968, 这是奥文斯谷射电天文台 它坐落在内华达山脉后面,在1968年
Observatory:n.天文台;气象台;瞭望台; Sierra:n.(尤指西班牙和美洲的)锯齿状山脉;
I was working there collecting data for my thesis . 我就在那里工作,为我的论文搜集数据
thesis:n.论文;论点;
Now, it's kinda lonely, it's kinda tedious , just collecting data, so I would amuse myself by taking photos at night of the telescopes or even of myself, 因为只是收集数据难免会有些孤单,有些无聊 所以我会在晚上为望远镜 甚至给自己拍照作为娱乐
tedious:adj.沉闷的;冗长乏味的; amuse:v.逗乐;逗笑;(提供)消遣;(使)娱乐; telescopes:n.望远镜; v.套叠; (telescope的第三人称单数)
because, you know, at night, I would be the only hominid within about 30 miles. 因为在晚上,我是30英里内 唯一的原始人
hominid:n.原始人类;人科动物;adj.人类及其祖先的;
So here are pictures of myself. 这里有些我自己的照片
The observatory had just acquired a new book, written by a Russian cosmologist by the name of Joseph Shklovsky, and then expanded and translated and edited by a little-known 天文台刚刚添置了一本新书 是一位俄国宇宙学家所著 他的名字是约瑟夫.什克洛夫斯基,这本书还被 一位鲜为人知的康奈尔天文学家卡尔.萨根
acquired:adj.习得的; v.获得; (acquire的过去分词和过去式) cosmologist:n.宇宙论者,宇宙学家; by the name of:名叫;以…的名义; Joseph:n.连帽大氅; expanded:adj.扩充的;展开的;vt.扩大(expand的过去式); edited:v.编辑,校订;编选;编集;(edit的过去分词和过去式) little-known:鲜为人知的;
Cornell astronomer by the name of Carl Sagan. 扩写,翻译并校订
astronomer:n.天文学家;
And I remember reading that book, and at 3 in the morning I was reading this book and it was explaining how the antennas I was using to measure the spins of galaxies could also be used to communicate, to send bits of information from one star system to another. 我记得在读这本书的时候, 那是凌晨三点 我正好看到一段在写 我用来测量旋转星系的天线还可以用来 进行通信,从一个星系发送信息 去另外一个星系
antennas:n.[电讯]天线,[动]触角(antenna的复数形式); spins:n.[物]旋转; v.[物]旋转(spin的三单形式); galaxies:n.银河; (galaxy的复数)
Now, at 3 o'clock in the morning when you're all alone, haven't had much sleep, that was a very romantic idea, but it was that idea -- the fact that you could in fact prove that there's somebody out there just using this same technology -- 你想想,凌晨三点,你自己一个人 没睡多少觉,而那又是一个非常浪漫的念头 但正是因为“你也许真的可以 证明有外星人 而且只需用到同样的科学技术”
romantic:adj.浪漫的;爱情的;n.浪漫的人;耽于幻想的人; technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
that appealed to me so much that 20 years later I took a job at the SETI Institute. Now, I have to say that my memory is notoriously porous , and I've often 这个念头的吸引力太大了,所以20年后 我选择了SETI机构工作。现在,我必须要说 我的记忆力是众所周知的不可靠,甚至我自己经常
appealed:v.上诉;申诉;有吸引力;呼吁;吁请;恳求;(appeal的过去分词和过去式) notoriously:adv.众所周知地;声名狼藉地;恶名昭彰地; porous:adj.多孔渗水的;能渗透的;有气孔的;
wondered whether there was any truth in this story, or I was just, you know, misremembering something, but I recently just blew up this old negative of mine, and sure enough, there you can see the Shklovsky and Sagan book underneath that analog calculating device . 怀疑这个故事到底有没有真实性 也许我只是记错了什么 但是最近我刚刚赶走了这个消极的想法 并且我非常确定,你可以看到 那本由什克洛夫斯基和赛根编写的书 就在那部模拟计算装置的下面
misremembering:vt.记错; recently:adv.最近;新近; negative:adj.[数]负的;消极的;否定的;阴性的;n.否定;负数;[摄]底片;v.否定;拒绝; underneath:prep.在…的下面;在…的支配下;n.下面;底部;adj.下面的;底层的; analog:n.[自]模拟;类似物;adj.[自]模拟的;有长短针的; device:n.装置;策略;图案;
So it was true. 所以这个故事是真实的
All right. Now, the idea for doing this, it wasn't very old at the time that I made that photo. 好了,用天线和外星人联络这一理念距离 我照下那张照片的时间并不是很久
The idea dates from 1960, when a young astronomer by the name of Frank Drake used this antenna in West Virginia , pointed it at a couple of nearby stars in the hopes of eavesdropping on E.T. 这个理念可以追溯到1960年,当时一个年轻的天文学家 弗兰克.德雷克用西弗吉尼亚州的一根天线 指向了一些附近的星球 希望能偷听到外星人的谈话
Frank:adj.坦白的,直率的;老实的;n.免费邮寄特权;v.免费邮寄; Drake:n.公鸭;蜉蝣类(等于drakefly); Virginia:adj.弗吉尼亚州的; nearby:adj.附近的,邻近的;adv.在附近;prep.在…附近; eavesdropping:v.偷听,窃听(其他人谈话)(eavesdrop的现在分词)
Now, Frank didn't hear anything. 但是,弗兰克并没有听到什么
Actually he did, but it turned out to be the U.S. Air Force , which doesn't count as extraterrestrial intelligence. 事实上他听到了一些声音,但是那只来自美国空军 并不是什么“外星文明”
Air Force:n.空军;
But Drake's idea here became very popular because it was very appealing — and I'll get back to that — and on the basis of this experiment, which didn't succeed, we have been doing SETI ever since, not continuously , but ever since. 但是德雷克的理念从此以后开始流行 因为它很吸引人 - 等会儿我还会说到 在这个并没有成功的实验基础上, 我们从此之后就开始做SETI了 有过间断,但是一直在做
appealing:adj.吸引人的; v.呼吁; (appeal的现在分词) on the basis of:根据;基于…; continuously:adv.连续不断地;
We still haven't heard anything. 我们还没听到任何东西
We still haven't heard anything. 我们还没听到任何东西
In fact, we don't know about any life beyond Earth, but I'm going to suggest to you that that's going to change rather soon, and part of the reason, in fact, 事实上,我们还不知道任何除地球以外的生命 但是我认为这一切即将有变化 一部分原因是,事实上
the majority of the reason why I think that's going to change is that the equipment's getting better. 大部分原因 是因为设备更加先进了
majority:n.大部分:大多数:多数票:成年人:
This is the Allen Telescope Array , about 350 miles from whatever seat you're in right now. 这是艾伦望远镜系列,离你现在的位置 大约350英里远
Array:n.数组,阵列;排列,列阵;大批,一系列;衣服;v.排列,部署;打扮;
This is something that we're using today to search for E.T., and the electronics have gotten very much better too. 这是我们现在用来搜寻外星人的仪器 其他的电子设备 也比以前提高了很多
electronics:n.电子学;电子工业;
This is Frank Drake's electronics in 1960. 这是弗兰克.额雷克在1960年使用的电子设备
This is the Allen Telescope Array electronics today. 这是如今的艾伦望远镜系列电子设备
Some pundit with too much time on his hands has reckoned that the new experiments are approximately 100 trillion times better than they were in 1960, 100 trillion times better. 有些闲的发慌的权威人士 认为新的实验几乎 比1960年的要精准百万亿倍 百万亿倍啊
pundit:n.博学者;梵文学者; reckoned:v.认为,被看作是;料想;预计;指望;(reckon的过去分词和过去式) approximately:adv.大约,近似地;近于; trillion:n.[数]万亿;adj.万亿的;num.[数]万亿;
That's a degree of an improvement that would look good on your report card , okay? 如此大幅度的水平提升会 在你的报告上看起来非常显著,对吗？
improvement:n.改进,改善; report card:成绩单;工作报告;
But something that's not appreciated by the public is, in fact, that the experiment continues to get better, and, consequently , tends to get faster. 但是没有被大众赏识的一点是 事实上,这个实验正在越做越好 所以也会越来越快
appreciated:v.欣赏;感激;理解;(appreciate的过去分词和过去式) consequently:adv.因此;结果;所以;
This is a little plot , and every time you show a plot , you lose 10 percent of the audience. 这是一个示意图,每当你展示示意图的时候 你通常会损失百分之十的听众
plot:n.情节;阴谋;布局;小块土地;v.密谋;暗中策划;(在地图上)标出;绘制(图表);
I have 12 of these. (Laughter) 不幸的是我有12个（笑声）
But what I plotted here is just some metric that shows how fast we're searching. 但是我绘制的只是一些 会显示我们搜寻速度的度量标准
plotted:v.密谋;暗中策划;标出;绘制(图表);(plot的过去分词和过去式) metric:adj.米制的;公制的;按公制制作的;用公制测量的;
In other words, we're looking for a needle in a haystack . 换句话说,我们正在大海捞针
a needle in a haystack:大海捞针啊;海底捞针;被忽略的人;
We know how big the haystack is. It's the galaxy . 我们知道大海有多大,它代表整个银河系
galaxy:n.银河;[天]星系;银河系;一群显赫的人;
But we're going through the haystack no longer with a teaspoon but with a skip loader , because of this increase in speed. 但是我们不再只用一个汤匙在捞 而是用一个翻斗车 这因为这样,我们的速度加快了
teaspoon:n.茶匙;一茶匙的量; loader:n.装货的人;载入程序;装货设备;装填器;
In fact, those of you who are still conscious and mathematically competent , will note that this is a semi-log plot. 事实上,你们其中有些仍然清醒 并有数学头脑的人 会注意到这是一个半对数图
conscious:adj.意识到的;故意的;神志清醒的; mathematically:adv.算术地,数学上地; competent:adj.胜任的;有能力的;能干的;足够的; semi-log:adj.半对数的;
In other words, the rate of increase is exponential . 换句话说,增长率是呈指数增长的
exponential:adj.指数的;n.指数;
It's exponentially improving . Now, exponential is an overworked word. You hear it on the media all the time. 它是呈指数增长的。指数是 一个被过度消费的词语。你总是能在媒体上听到
exponentially:adv.以指数方式; improving:v.改进;改善;(improve的现在分词) overworked:adj.工作过多的; v.(使)过度劳累,过分努力; (overwork的过去分词和过去式) media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉;
They don't really know what exponential means, but this is exponential. 他们根本不懂指数是什么意思 但这个的确是指数
In fact, it's doubling every 18 months, and, of course, every card-carrying member of the digerati knows that that's Moore's Law. 事实上,这个速度每18个月都会翻倍,当然 每个先知先觉的正牌会员都知道 这个正是摩尔定律
card-carrying:adj.持有正式成员证的;正式的;
So this means that over the course of the next two dozen years, we'll be able to look at a million star systems, a million star systems, looking for signals that would prove somebody's out there. 所以这代表着在接下来的 24年过程中,我们能看到一百万个星系 而在这一百万个星系里面,我们要寻找 能够证明有外星人存在的信号
Well, a million star systems, is that interesting? 一百万个星系,听起来很有趣吧？
I mean, how many of those star systems have planets? 我的意思是,在他们里面又有多少个星系有行星呢？
And the facts are, we didn't know the answer to that even as recently as 15 years ago, and in fact, we really didn't know it even as recently as six months ago. 事实是我们在过去的15年里不知道答案 事实上,我们 在过去的六个月内也还是不知道答案
But now we do. Recent results suggest that virtually every star has planets, and more than one. 但现在我们知道了。最新的结果显示 几乎每个恒星都有行星,而且不止一个
virtually:adv.事实上,几乎;实质上;
They're like, you know, kittens. You get a litter. 星球就像是,你知道,小猫咪
You don't get one kitten. You get a bunch . 一个窝里面可能没有小猫咪,也可能有一堆小猫咪
bunch:n.群;串;突出物;vi.隆起;打褶;形成一串;vt.使成一串;使打褶;
So in fact, this is a pretty accurate estimate of the number of planets in our galaxy, just in our galaxy, by the way , and I remind the non-astronomy majors among you that our galaxy is only one of 100 billion that we can see with our telescopes. 所以事实上,这个结果已经非常精确的估计了 银河系里行星的数量 顺便说一句,这个发现只限于我们的银河系 请允许我提醒在座的非天文专业听众 我们的银河系只是 我们能用望远镜看到的1000亿个星系之一
accurate:adj.精确的; estimate:v.估计;估算;估价;n.估价;(对大小、数量、成本等的)估计;估计的成本; by the way:顺便说一下; remind:v.提醒;使想起;
That's a lot of real estate , but of course, most of these planets are going to be kind of worthless , like, you know, Mercury , or Neptune . 这个数量很惊人,但是当然 大部分行星都是没有研究价值的 比如说像是水星,或是海王星
real estate:n.房地产;不动产; worthless:adj.无价值的;不值钱的;卑微的; Mercury:n.[化]汞,水银;[天]水星;温度表;精神,元气; Neptune:n.海王星;海神;
Neptune's probably not very big in your life. 你可能甚至没有听说过海王星
So the question is, what fraction of these planets are actually suitable for life? 所以现在问题是,这些星球中有多少 是适合生命存在的？
fraction:n.分数;小部分;小数;少量; suitable:adj.合适的;适宜的;适当的;适用的;
We don't know the answer to that either, but we will learn that answer this year, thanks to 我们也不知道这个问题的答案 但是我们今年将会有答案
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, and in fact, the smart money , which is to say the people who work on this project, the smart money is suggesting that the fraction of planets 这多亏美国航空航天局的开普勒太空望远镜 而事实上,精英们,也就是那些为这个项目工作的人们 他们认为可能有生命存在的星球比例
Kepler:na.Kepler; smart money:抚恤金;罚款;因掌握内情而下的赌注;(英)伤兵抚恤;
that might be suitable for life is maybe one in a thousand , one in a hundred, something like that. 可能是千分之一 或百分之一之类
one in a thousand:杰出的;稀有的;百里挑一;
Well, even taking the pessimistic estimate, that it's one in a thousand, that means that there are at least a billion cousins of the Earth just in our own galaxy. 那么,就算是采用最悲观的预测 千分之一的概率,这意味着 在我们的银河系中 至少有十亿和地球的兄弟姐妹
pessimistic:adj.悲观的,厌世的;悲观主义的;
Okay, now I've given you a lot of numbers here, but they're mostly big numbers, okay, so, you know, keep that in mind. There's plenty of real estate, plenty of real estate in the universe, 好的,现在我已经给了你们很多数据 但他们大部分都是大数据,好的 记住他们,宇宙中有很多很多房子 很多很多
and if we're the only bit of real estate in which there's some interesting occupants , that makes you a miracle , and I know you like to think you're a miracle , 如果我们是少数房子里的唯一 居住者的话,这算得上是一个奇迹 我也知道你很希望自己是个奇迹
occupants:n.居住者;购买者;租赁人(occupant的复数); miracle:n.奇迹,奇迹般的人或物;惊人的事例;
but if you do science, you learn rather quickly that every time you think you're a miracle, you're wrong, so probably not the case. 但是如果你懂科学,你就会迅速理解 每当你认为自己是个奇迹的时候,你都是错的 所以这应该不是事实
All right, so the bottom line is this: 好了,我们的底线就是:
the bottom line:底线;本质内容;最底线;
Because of the increase in speed, and because of the vast amount of habitable real estate in the cosmos , I figure we're going to pick up a signal within two dozen years. 由于速度的增长和 宇宙拥有的大量可生存的房子,我认为 我们会在24年内找出一个信号
habitable:adj.可居住的;适于居住的; cosmos:n.宇宙;和谐;秩序;大波斯菊;
And I feel strongly enough about that to make a bet with you: 而且我强烈认为我可以用它和你打个赌:
bet:n.打赌;赌注;预计;估计;v.下赌注(于);用…打赌;敢说;八成儿;
Either we're going to find E.T. in the next two dozen years, or I'll buy you a cup of coffee. 要么就是我们在接下来的24年内找到外星人 要么我就请你喝一杯咖啡
So that's not so bad. I mean, even with two dozen years, you open up your browser and there's news of a signal, or you get a cup of coffee. 所以这样对谁都不坏,我的意思是,就算是24年 你打开了你的浏览器,看到一则关于外星人信号的新闻 不然你免费喝到一杯咖啡
browser:n.[计]浏览器;吃嫩叶的动物;浏览书本的人;
Now, let me tell you about some aspect of this that people don't think about, and that is, what happens? Suppose that what I say is true. 现在,让我告诉你一些 人们还没想到的方面,就是发现外星人之后 会发生什么？假设我说的都是真的
aspect:n.方面;层面;外观;方位; Suppose:v.推断:假定:假设:设想:
I mean, who knows, but suppose it happens. 谁知道呢？但请假设它会发生
Suppose some time in the next two dozen years we pick up a faint line that tells us we have some cosmic company. 假设在接下来的24年里的某个时间 我们接受到一个微弱的信号 它意味着我们在宇宙里找到了同类
faint:n.昏厥;v.昏厥;adj.昏眩;(光,声,味)微弱的;微小的;可能性不大的; cosmic:adj.宇宙的;
What is the effect? What's the consequence ? 这会带来什么影响？会有什么后果？
consequence:n.结果;重要性;推论;
Now, I might be at ground zero for this. 我可能对这些一无所知
ground zero:"爆心投影点"组织;着地点;
I happen to know what the consequence for me would be, because we've had false alarms. This is 1997, and this is a photo I made at about 3 o'clock in the morning in Mountain View here, when we were watching 但我知道对于我来说后果是什么 因为我们曾经有过一场虚惊。那是1997年 这是我在凌晨三点拍下的一张照片 在这儿,山景城 （加州城市）,我们正在看
the computer monitors because we had picked up a signal that we thought, "This is the real deal." All right? 电脑屏幕,因为我们刚刚接收到了一个信号 我们在想:“这是另一座房子。”明白了吗？
And I kept waiting for the Men in Black to show up. Right? 而我一直在等待黑衣人的出现
I kept waiting for -- I kept waiting for my mom to call, somebody to call, the government to call. Nobody called. 我一直等一直等 - 等我妈打电话来 其他人打电话来,政府打电话来。但没有人打来
Nobody called. I was so nervous that I couldn't sit down. I just wandered around taking photos like this one, just for something to do. 没有人。我非常紧张 坐立不安。我只是走来走去 拍些相似的照片,纯粹为了找些事情干
Well, at 9:30 in the morning, with my head down on my desk because I obviously hadn't slept all night, the phone rings and it's The New York Times. 到了早上9:30,我的头撞在了书桌上 因为显然我整晚都没睡 电话响了,是纽约时报
And I think there's a lesson in that, and that lesson is that if we pick up a signal, the media, the media will be on it faster than a weasel on ball bearings . It's going to be fast. 我认为我学到了一课,就是 如果我们接收到了一个信号,媒体一定会收到风 媒体的速度是任何其他事物都无法比拟的
weasel:vi.逃避;含糊其辞;n.鼬鼠;狡猾的人; bearings:n.关系;影响;姿态;举止;方位;(bearing的复数)
You can be sure of that. No secrecy . 相信我,这已经不是一个秘密了
secrecy:n.保密;秘密;隐蔽;
That's what happens to me. It kind of ruins my whole week, because whatever I've got planned that week is kind of out the window. 它就发生在我身上。这件事几乎毁了我整整一周 因为我所有的计划都泡汤了
ruins:n.遗迹(ruin的复数形式);废墟;v.毁灭(ruin的三单形式);
But what about you? What's it going to do to you? 但是你呢？在你身上会发生什么？
And the answer is that we don't know the answer. 答案就是我们也不知道会发生什么
We don't know what that's going to do to you, not in the long term, and not even very much in the short term. 我们不知道在你身上会发生什么 长期来说不知道,短期来说也不知道
I mean, that would be a bit like asking Chris Columbus in 1491, "Hey Chris, you know, what happens if it turns out that there's a continent between here and Japan, where you're sailing to, what will be the consequences for humanity if that turns out to be the case?" 这就像是 在1491年问克里斯.哥伦布:“嘿,克里斯 如果你发现这儿和日本之间 还有一块大陆,就在你航行的方向 如果是真的,那你觉得这对整个人类来说 究竟意味着什么？
continent:n.大陆,洲,陆地;adj.自制的,克制的; consequences:n.后果,结果;影响(consequence的复数); humanity:n.人类;人道;仁慈;人文学科;
And I think Chris would probably offer you some answer that you might not have understood, but it probably wouldn't have been right, and I think that to predict what finding E.T.'s going to mean, we can't predict that either. 我想克里斯估计会以 你不会理解的方式回答你,但是 答案不一定正确,所以我认为去预测 找到外星人意味着什么 是我们也无法猜测的
predict:v.预报;预言;预告;
But here are a couple things I can say. 但是有些事情我能猜测到
To begin with, it's going to be a society that's way in advance of our own. 首先,一定存在一个比我们的社会先进很多的另一个社会
in advance of:超过;在…前面;
You're not going to hear from alien Neanderthals . 你不会收到外星人的祖先的来信
Neanderthals:n.穴居人(Neanderthal的复数);尼安德塔人;
They're not building transmitters . 他们不会有发报机
transmitters:n.信号传送器;传送者(transmitter的复数形式);
They're going to be ahead of us, maybe by a few thousand years, maybe by a few millions years, but substantially ahead of us, and that means, if you can understand 他们比我们先进很多,也许几千年 也许几百万年,但总之是 比我们先进,这就意味着如果你能理解
substantially:adv.实质上;大体上;充分地;
anything that they're going to say, then you might be able to short-circuit history by getting information from a society that's way beyond our own. 他们说的任何事情,你就可能有能力 缩短历史进程,因为你从一个先进得多的社会 获取了信息
short-circuit:vt.使短路;缩短;使…不工作;使简短;vi.发生短路;
Now, you might find that a bit hyperbolic , and maybe it is, but nonetheless , it's conceivable that this will happen, and, you know, you could consider this like, I don't know, giving Julius Caesar English lessons and the key to the library of Congress . 好吧,你也许觉得有些夸张,也是的确是夸张了一点 但是无论如何,我们可以想象这是有可能发生的 而且你知道,你可以认为就如同 给朱利叶斯·凯撒上英文课,给他 议会图书馆的钥匙
hyperbolic:adj.双曲线的;夸张的; nonetheless:adv.尽管如此,但是; conceivable:adj.可能的;想得到的,可想像的; Caesar:n.凯撒(罗马皇帝);暴君;人间的主宰;剖腹产手术; library of Congress:n.(美国)国会图书馆;
It would change his day, all right? 这会改变他的时代,对吗？
That's one thing. Another thing that's for sure going to happen is that it will calibrate us. 这是一方面。另一方面肯定会发生的就是 这件事会重新校正我们的认知
calibrate:vt.校正;调整;测定口径;
We will know that we're not that miracle, right, that we're just another duck in a row, we're not the only kids on the block , and I think that that's philosophically a very profound thing to learn. 我们会知道我们不是奇迹,是的 我们只是队列里的另一只鸭子 我们不是小区里仅有的小孩,而我认为 这是哲学上一个非常深刻的问题
on the block:出售中;在拍卖中; philosophically:adv.哲学上;贤明地; profound:adj.深厚的;意义深远的;渊博的;
We're not a miracle, okay? 我们不是奇迹,好吗？
The third thing that it might tell you is somewhat vague , but I think interesting and important, and that is, if you find a signal coming from a more advanced society, because they will be, 第三点有些模糊 但我认识很有趣也很重要 那就是如果你找到一个信号,它来自 一个更为先进的社会,因为他们一定是
vague:adj.模糊的;含糊的;不明确的;暧昧的; advanced:adj.先进的; v.前进; (advance的过去式和过去分词形式)
that will tell you something about our own possibilities, that we're not inevitably doomed to self-destruction . 你可能会被告知一些我们自己社会发展的可能性 我们并不是不可避免的走向自我毁灭
inevitably:adv.不可避免地;必然地; doomed:adj.注定的;命定的;v.使…注定失败(doom的过去分词和过去式) self-destruction:n.自毁;自杀;
Because they survived their technology, we could do it too. 因为他们在自己的技术中存活了下来 我们一定也可以做到
Normally when you look out into the universe, you're looking back in time. All right? 通常当你仰望星空 你是在看向过去,对吗？
Normally:adv.正常地;通常地,一般地;
That's interesting to cosmologists . 这对于宇宙学家来说非常有意思
cosmologists:n.宇宙论者,宇宙学家;
But in this sense, you actually can look into the future, hazily, but you can look into the future. 但如果你找到外星人,你会看见未来 或许有些朦胧,但是会看见未来
So those are all the sorts of things that would come from a detection . 所以这些所有的事情都会因为你的发现接踵而来
detection:n.侦查,探测;发觉,发现;察觉;
Now, let me talk a little bit about something that happens even in the meantime , and that is, 现在,让我告诉你们一些 正在发生的事情,那就是
in the meantime:在此期间;于此际;
SETI, I think, is important, because it's exploration , and it's not only exploration , it's comprehensible exploration. SETI,我认为它很重要,因为它在探险 而且不仅仅是探索,它是在合理的探险
exploration:n.探索;勘探;探险;[医]探查术; comprehensible:adj.可理解的;
Now, I gotta tell you, I'm always reading books about explorers . I find exploration very interesting, 好了,我必须告诉你们,我总是在读一些 关于探险者的书籍,我认为探险非常有趣
explorers:n.探险者;勘探者;考察者;(explorer的复数)
Arctic exploration, you know, people like Magellan, 北极探险,或者是探险家麦哲伦
Arctic:adj.北极的;北极地区的;极冷的;严寒的;n.北极;北极地区;
Amundsen, Shackleton, you see Franklin down there, 阿蒙森,沙克尔顿,还有富兰克林
Scott, all these guys. It's really nifty , exploration. 斯科特,所有的这些人都在探险,探险是件很俏皮的事情
nifty:adj.俏皮的;漂亮的;n.俏皮话;
And they're just doing it because they want to explore, and you might say, "Oh, that's kind of a frivolous opportunity," 他们探险只是因为他们想要做这件事 你可能会说:”哦,这是一个疯狂的机遇。“
frivolous:adj.无聊的;轻佻的;琐碎的;
but that's not frivolous. That's not a frivolous activity, because, I mean, think of ants. 但它不是,探险不是一个疯狂的行为 想想蚂蚁
You know, most ants are programmed to follow one another along in a long line, but there are a couple of ants, maybe one percent of those ants, that are what they call pioneer ants, and they're the ones that wander off. 大部分蚂蚁都是老老实实跟着前一只 排成一条长队,但是总有一些蚂蚁 可能只是百分之一的蚂蚁,就是那些 被称为先锋蚁的那些,它们到处游荡
They're the ones you find on the kitchen countertop . 你会在厨房的台面上发现它们
countertop:n.工作台面;
You gotta get them with your thumb before they find the sugar or something. 你必须要用你的大拇指拦住它们 以防它们找到糖之类的东西
thumb:v.翻阅;以拇指拨弄;作搭车手势;笨拙地摆弄;n.拇指;
But those ants, even though most of them get wiped out, those ants are the ones that are essential to the survival of the hive . So exploration is important. 但是正是这些蚂蚁,虽然它们大部分都被消灭了 但是它们对于整个蚁群的生存有巨大的作用 所以探险也是同样重要
essential:n.要点;要素;实质;必需品;adj.完全必要的;必不可少的;极其重要的;本质的; survival:n.幸存,残存;幸存者,残存物; hive:vi.群居; n.蜂房,蜂巢; vt.入蜂箱;
I also think that exploration is important in terms of being able to address what I think is a critical lack in our society, and that is the lack of science literacy , the lack of the ability to even understand science. 我认为探险重要还因为 它能够阐述一个我认为社会上普遍存在的 科学素养缺失问题 就是说人们缺乏理解科学的能力
critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的; literacy:n.读写能力;精通文学;
Now, look, a lot has been written about the deplorable state of science literacy in this country. 好的,让我们看看 许多关于我们国家可悲的科学素养的文章
deplorable:adj.可叹的;凄惨的;
You've heard about it. 相信你一定听说过
Well, here's one example, in fact. 这儿就有一个例子,事实上
Polls taken, this poll was taken 10 years ago. 是一个投票,这个投票是10年前做的
Polls:n.民意调查; v.对…进行民意测验,使投票(poll的单三形式);
It shows like roughly one third of the public thinks that aliens are not only out there, we're looking for them out there, but they're here, right? 它大致说明了三分之一的人们认为 外星人不是只存在于外太空的 有可能我们在外太空寻找他们,但是他们却在这里,对吗？
roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地;
Sailing the skies in their saucers and occasionally abducting people for experiments their parents wouldn't approve of. 乘坐他们的小飞碟在太空遨游,时不时的 绑架一些地球人去做即使是外星人的父母也不会赞同的实验
saucers:(放茶杯的)浅碟;茶托;茶碟(saucer的复数); occasionally:adv.偶尔;有时候;偶然; abducting:v.诱拐;劫持;绑架;(abduct的现在分词) approve:v.批准;赞成;同意;核准;
Well, that would be interesting if it was true, and job security for me, but I don't think the evidence is very good. That's more, you know, sad than significant . 如果这都是真的,那实在很有趣 即使我会担心我的职业安全, 但我不认为它们会是事实 这固然令人沮丧,但是并不重要
evidence:n.证据,证明;迹象;明显;v.证明; significant:adj.重大的;有效的;有意义的;值得注意的;意味深长的;n.象征;有意义的事物;
But there are other things that people believe that are significant, like the efficacy of homeopathy , or that evolution is just, you know, sort of a crazy idea 然而有些事情是人们确信不疑而且 很重要的,比如说顺势疗法的疗效 或是进化论可能只是失去双腿的科学家
efficacy:n.功效,效力; homeopathy:n.[临床]顺势疗法;同种疗法; evolution:n.演变;进化;发展;渐进;
by scientists without any legs, or, you know, evolution, all that sort of thing, or global warming . 的一个疯狂的念头,或者说进化论 那一类东西,例如全球变暖之类
global warming:n.全球(气候)变暖;地球大气层变暖;
These sorts of ideas don't really have any validity , that you can't trust the scientists. 这类想法并没有事实根据 你不能轻易相信科学家们
validity:n.[计]有效性;正确;正确性;
Now, we've got to solve that problem, because that's a critically important problem, and you might say, "Well, okay, how are we gonna solve that problem with SETI?" 现在,我们就要解决这个问题,因为这是 一个至关重要的问题,你可能会说 “那好啊,我们怎样用SETI来解决这个问题呢？”
critically:adv.精密地;危急地;批评性地;用钻研眼光地;
Well, let me suggest to you that SETI obviously can't solve the problem, but it can address the problem. 让我告诉你,SETI显然是不能 解决这个问题的,但是它可以阐述这个问题
It can address the problem by getting young people interested in science. Look, science is hard, it has a reputation of being hard, and the facts are, it is hard, and that's the result of 400 years of science, right? 它可以通过唤起年轻人对科学的热情 来阐述这个问题。科学并不简单 它总是被描述的很难,事实上,它的确很困难 而且他们是400年来积累下来的,对吧？
I mean, in the 18th century, in the 18th century you could become an expert on any field of science in an afternoon by going to a library, if you could find the library, right? 在18世纪, 你可能下午去过一趟图书馆,就有可能 成为某一个领域的专家 如果你找得到图书馆的话
In the 19th century, if you had a basement lab, you could make major scientific discoveries in your own home. Right? Because there was all this science just lying around waiting for somebody to pick it up. 而在19世纪,如果你有一个地下实验室 你可能在家里就能 作出重大的科学发现。对吗？因为那时还有很多 科学观点就躺在那儿等待被人发觉
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的;
Now, that's not true anymore. 而现在,这些都不复存在
Today, you've got to spend years in grad school and post-doc positions just to figure out what the important questions are. 如今,你必须作为研究生或是博士后 在研究领域花上数年,只是为了找出 什么才是重要的研究课题
grad:n.毕业生;校友;
It's hard. There's no doubt about it. 这当然是毋庸置疑的困难
And in fact, here's an example: the Higgs boson , finding the Higgs boson. 事实上,这就有一个例子: 证明希格斯玻色子的存在
boson:n.[高能]玻色子;
Ask the next 10 people you see on the streets, "Hey, do you think it's worthwhile to spend billions of Swiss francs looking for the Higgs boson?" 如果你去问在街上见到的10个人 “嘿,你觉得花费几十亿瑞士法郎去 研究希格斯玻色子值得吗？”
worthwhile:adj.值得做的,值得花时间的;
And I bet the answer you're going to get, is, "Well, I don't know what the Higgs boson is, and I don't know if it's important." 我打赌你会得到这样的回答 “呃,我不知道什么是希格斯玻色子 我也不知道它重不重要。”
And probably most of the people wouldn't even know the value of a Swiss franc, okay? 甚至可能大部分人们根本不知道 瑞士法郎值多少美元！
And yet we're spending billions of Swiss francs on this problem. 直到如今我们依然在花费数十亿瑞士法郎去研究它
Okay? So that doesn't get people interested in science because they can't comprehend what it's about. 明白了吗？这个课题不会引起人们对科学的兴趣 是因为他们根本不理解它在研究什么
comprehend:v.理解;包含;由…组成;
SETI, on the other hand , is really simple. SETI就不一样了,它的概念很简单
on the other hand:另一方面;
We're going to use these big antennas and we're going to try to eavesdrop on signals. Everybody can understand that. 我们会用到很大的天线,我们也会 尝试收听各种信号。每个人都能理解我们在做什么
Yes, technologically , it's very sophisticated , but everybody gets the idea. 没错,技术上来说它还是很复杂 但是每个人都能明白
technologically:adv.科技地;技术上地; sophisticated:adj.复杂的;老练的;见多识广的;水平高的;
So that's one thing. The other thing is, it's exciting science. 这是一方面,另一方面则是因为它的研究方向令人兴奋
It's exciting because we're naturally interested in other intelligent beings, and I think that's part of our hardwiring. 我说它令人兴奋是因为我们天生就对 其他智能生物感兴趣,而且我认为这正是 我们人类的天性
naturally:adv.自然地;自然而然地;轻而易举;天生地;大方地; intelligent:adj.有才智的;悟性强的;聪明的;有智力的
I mean, we're hardwired to be interested in beings that might be, if you will, competitors, or if you're the romantic sort, possibly even mates . Okay? 我是说,我们天生会对 那些你也许会说是对手 浪漫一点也可以说是伙伴感兴趣
hardwired:adj.电路的; mates:n.朋友; v.交配;
I mean, this is analogous to our interest in things that have big teeth. Right? 我是说这和我们对有巨大牙齿的生物 感兴趣是类似的,对吗？
analogous:adj.类似的;[昆]同功的;可比拟的;
We're interested in things that have big teeth, and you can see the evolutionary value of that, and you can also see the practical consequences by watching Animal Planet. 我们对有着巨大牙齿的生物感兴趣,而你 能看得到进化的价值,你还能通过 观看动物星球节目了解进化的结果
evolutionary:adj.进化的;发展的;渐进的; practical:adj.实际的;真实的;客观存在的;n.实习课;实践课;
You notice they make very few programs about gerbils . 你发现了吗？他们可没有为长爪沙鼠做多少节目
gerbils:n.[脊椎]沙鼠(gerbil的复数形式);
It's mostly about things that have big teeth. 而节目中更多的是有巨大牙齿的动物
Okay, so we're interested in these sorts of things. 好了,所以说我们对这些东西感兴趣
And not just us. It's also kids. 而且不仅仅是我们,小孩也是一样
This allows you to pay it forward by using this subject as a hook to science, because SETI involves all kinds of science, obviously biology , obviously astronomy , 我们可以利用这个话题来 与科学挂钩,因为SETI显然和 生物学和天文学密切相关
hook:n.钩;挂钩;鱼钩;钓钩;v.挂住;箍住;钓(鱼);打曲线球; involves:v.包含;需要;牵涉;牵连;影响;(使)参加,加入(involve的第三人称单数) biology:n.(一个地区全部的)生物;生物学; astronomy:n.天文学;
but also geology , also chemistry, various scientific disciplines all can be presented in the guise of, "We're looking for E.T." 还有地理学,化学,各种科学学科 都能被用于这个课题 “我们在寻找外星人。”
geology:n.地质学;地质情况; disciplines:n.[管理]纪律(discipline的复数); v.训导; guise:n.伪装;装束;外观;vt.使化装;vi.伪装;
So to me this is interesting and important, and in fact, it's my policy , even though I give a lot of talks to adults, you give talks to adults, and two days later they're back where they were. 因此对于我来说,这既有趣又重要,而事实上 我的原则就是即使我对成年人演讲比较多 如果给成年人演讲,两天之后他们就恢复原样
policy:n.政策,方针;保险单;
But if you give talks to kids, you know, one in 50 of them, some light bulb goes off, and they think, "Gee, I'd never thought of that," and then they go, you know, read a book or a magazine or whatever. 但如果是对孩子们,那么 50个中会有那么一个会在结束之后想 “天啊,我从没想过这个问题。”然后他们就 去读一本书或杂志或其他东西作进一步了解
light bulb:n.灯泡;
They get interested in something. 他们会开始对某些事情感兴趣
Now it's my theory, supported only by anecdotal , personal anecdotal evidence, but nonetheless, that kids get interested in something between the ages of eight and 11. You've got to get them there. 这只是我的理论,只有一些传闻 能够证明,但尽管如此 孩子们在8到11岁的时候的确很容易对事物感兴趣 你一定要把握这一点
anecdotal:adj.轶事的;轶事一样的;多轶事的; personal:adj.个人的;身体的;亲自的;n.人事消息栏;人称代名词;
So, all right, I give talks to adults, that's fine, but I try and make 10 percent of the talks that I give, 好了,我举办成人讲座,这也很好,但是我有试着 把百分之十的讲座
I try and make those for kids. 留给孩子们
I remember when a guy came to our high school, actually, it was actually my junior high school . I was in sixth grade. 我还记得某天一个人来到我们的高中 那时我还没上高中,我在上六年级
junior high school:初中;
And he gave some talk. All I remember from it was one word: electronics. 然后他给我们演讲。我唯一记得的内容 就只有一个词:电子
It was like Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate," right, when he said "plastics," whatever that means, plastics. 就和达斯汀.霍夫曼在电影“毕业生”里一样 当他说“塑料”,无论这个词还有什么别的意思都不重要
All right, so the guy said electronics. I don't remember anything else. In fact, I don't remember anything that my sixth grade teacher said all year, but I remember electronics. 说回来,那个人说了电子,我不记得 其他的了,事实上,我也不记得 我六年级老师一整年说了什么 但我记得电子这个词
And so I got interested in electronics, and you know, 所以我开始对电子感兴趣
I studied to get my ham license . I was wiring up stuff . 我甚至努力学习拿到了业余执照。看,我在连接电路
license:v.许可;批准; stuff:n.东西:物品:基本特征:v.填满:装满:标本:
Here I am at about 15 or something, doing that sort of stuff. 那时我15岁左右,一直在做这些事情
Okay? That had a big effect on me. 那次演讲对我影响非常大
So that's my point, that you can have a big effect on these kids. 我的重点是说,你们也同样可以对 这些孩子产生重大影响
In fact, this reminds me, I don't know, a couple years ago 事实上,说到这里我想起几年前
reminds:v.提醒;使想起;(remind的第三人称单数)
I gave a talk at a school in Palo Alto where there were about a dozen 11-year-olds that had come to this talk. 我去帕洛阿尔托（加州城市）一所学校演讲 来听演讲的是一群11岁左右 的孩子们
Alto:n.女低音;男声最高音;中音乐器;adj.中音部的;
I had been brought in to talk to these kids for an hour. 我准备对他们做一小时的演讲
Eleven-year-olds, they're all sitting in a little semi-circle looking up at me with big eyes, and I started, there was a white board behind me, and I started off 这群11岁的孩子们坐在一起围成一个半圆 睁大眼睛看着我,然后我就开始演讲 我身后以一张白板,我在上面
semi-circle:n.半圆;
by writing a one with 22 zeroes after it, and I said, "All right, now look, this is the number of stars in the visible universe, and this number is so big there's not even a name for it." 写下一个1和22个0,我说 “看吧,这就是我们能在宇宙里看见 的星星数量,这个数字太大了 我们都不知道怎样表达它。”
visible:adj.明显的;看得见的;现有的;可得到的;n.可见物;进出口贸易中的有形项目;
And one of these kids shot up his hand, and he said, "Well, actually there is a name for it. 然后其中一个孩子举起手来,说 “事实上他是有名字的,
It's a sextra-quadra-hexa-something or other." Right? 他是十的6次方加4次方加16次方。”对吗？
Now, that kid was wrong by four orders of magnitude , but there was no doubt about it, these kids were smart. 虽然这个孩子多说了4个数量级 但是毫无疑问,这些孩子们非常聪明
magnitude:n.大小;量级;[地震]震级;重要;光度;
Okay? So I stopped giving the lecture . 所以我停止了我的演讲
lecture:n.演讲;讲座;讲课;谴责;v.开讲座;讲授;讲课;指责;告诫
All they wanted to do was ask questions. 因为他们真正想做的是提问
In fact, my last comments to these kids, at the end I said, "You know, you kids are smarter than the people I work with." Now — (Laughter) 事实上,我最后对这些孩子们有些评价,我说 “你知道吗,你们这些孩子甚至 比和我一起工作的人们还要聪明。”但是 — （笑声）
They didn't even care about that. 他们根本不在乎这个评价
What they wanted was my email address so they could ask me more questions. (Laughter) 他们只想要知道我的邮箱地址 来问我更多问题。（笑声）
Let me just say, look, my job is a privilege because we're in a special time. 我们只能说,我的工作算是一种特权 因为我们生活在一个特殊的时代
Previous generations couldn't do this experiment at all. 以前的人们根本不能做这种实验
Previous:adj.以前的;早先的;过早的;adv.在先;在…以前;
In another generation down the line, 但是在我们的下一代中
I think we will have succeeded. 我想我们会成功的
So to me, it is a privilege, and when I look in the mirror, the facts are that I really don't see myself. 所以对我来说,我的工作是个特权,而当我照镜子的时候 我根本看不到我自己
What I see is the generation behind me. 我只看得到我身后的这一代人
These are some kids from the Huff School, fourth graders . 这是一些来自于Huff小学4年级的学生
Huff:v.把…吹胀;激怒;蔑视;n.发怒; graders:分级机;分类机;…年级学生;[建]平地机(grader的复数);
I talked there, what, two weeks ago, something like that. 大概两周之前我在那里演讲
I think that if you can instill some interest in science and how it works, well, that's a payoff beyond easy measure. Thank you very much. 我认为如果你能喜爱科学 以及它的运作方式,那么它带来的回报 是无法简单估量的。谢谢大家
instill:vt.徐徐滴入;逐渐灌输; payoff:n.报酬;结果;发工资;结算;adj.支付的;决定性的;产生结果的;
(Applause) （鼓掌）