---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-4/43-are-there-strangers-in-space.md
description: 新概念英语第四册：Are There Strangers in Space?。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。
---

# 43 · 宇宙中有外星人吗？

### 第1段

We must conclude from the work of those who have studied the origin of life, that given a planet only approximately like our own, life is almost certain to start. Of all the planets in our solar system, we are now pretty certain the Earth is the only one on which life can survive. Mars is too dry and poor in oxygen, Venus far too hot, and so is Mercury, and the outer planets have temperatures near absolute zero and hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. But other suns, stars as the astronomers call them, are bound to have planets like our own, and as the number of stars in the universe is so vast, this possibility becomes virtual certainty. There are one hundred thousand million stars in our own Milky Way alone, and then there are three thousand million other Milky Ways, or galaxies, in the universe.So the number of stars that we know exist is now estimated at about 300 million million million.
Although perhaps only 1 per cent of the life that has started somewhere will develop into highly complex and intelligent patterns, so vast is the number of planets, that intelligent life is bound to be a natural part of the universe.
If then we are so certain that other intelligent life exists in the universe, why have we had no visitors from outer space yet? First of all, they may have come to this planet of ours thousands or millions of years ago, and found our then prevailing primitive state completely uninteresting to their own advanced knowledge. Professor Ronald Bracewell, a leading American radio astronomer, argued in Nature that such a superior civilization, on a visit to our own solar system, may have left an automatic messenger behind to await the possible awakening of an advanced civilization. Such a messenger, receiving our radio and television signals, might well re-transmit them back to its home-planet, although what impression any other civilization would thus get from us is best left unsaid.
But here we come up against the most difficult of all obstacles to contact with people on other planets—the astronomical distances which separate us. As a reasonable guess, they might, on an average, be 100 light years away. A light year is the distance which light travels at 186,000 miles per second in one year, namely 6 million million miles. Radio waves also travel at the speed of light, and assuming such an automatic messenger picked up our first broadcasts of the 1920's, the message to its home planet is barely halfway there. Similarly, our own present primitive chemical rockets, though good enough to orbit men, have no chance of transporting us to the nearest other star, four light years away, let alone distances of tens or hundreds of light years.
Fortunately, there is a "uniquely rational way" for us to communicate with other intelligent beings, as Walter Sullivan has put it in his excellent book, We Are not Alone. This depends on the precise radio frequency of the 21-cm wavelength, or 1,420 megahertz. It is the natural frequency of emission of the hydrogen atoms in space and was discovered by us in 1951; it must be known to any kind of radio astronomer in the universe.
Once the existence of this wave-length had been discovered, it was not long before its use as the uniquely recognizable broadcasting frequency for interstellar communication was suggested. Without something of this kind, searching for intelligences on other planets would be like trying to meet a friend in London without a pre-arranged rendezvous and absurdly wandering the streets in the hope of a chance encounter.

中文理解：根据那些研究生命起源的学者所做的工作，我们必须得出这样的结论：只要一颗行星与地球大致相似，生命几乎肯定会在那里出现。在太阳系所有行星中，我们现在已相当确信，地球是唯一能让生命存活的行星。火星太干燥、氧气太少；金星太热，水星也一样；外层行星的温度则接近绝对零度，大气主要由氢构成。不过，其他太阳——也就是天文学家所说的恒星——必定也有类似地球的行星。宇宙中的恒星数量如此庞大，这种可能性实际上就成了近乎确定的事。仅我们所在的银河系，就有一千亿颗恒星；宇宙中另外还有三十亿个类似银河系的星系。因此，目前估计我们已知存在的恒星约有三万亿亿颗。
在某处已经出现的生命中，也许只有百分之一会发展成高度复杂、具有智慧的形态。但行星的数量实在太大，智慧生命必定会成为宇宙的自然组成部分。
那么，既然我们如此确信宇宙中存在其他智慧生命，为什么至今没有天外来客呢？首先，他们可能早在几千年或几百万年前就来过地球，只是以他们先进的知识来看，当时这里普遍存在的原始状态毫无吸引力。美国著名射电天文学家罗纳德·布雷斯韦尔教授曾在《自然》杂志上提出：这样的高级文明如果访问过太阳系，可能会留下一个自动信使，等待先进文明有朝一日在这里苏醒。这个信使收到我们的广播和电视信号后，很可能会把它们转发回自己的母星。至于其他文明会因此对我们形成什么印象，还是不说为妙。
不过，说到与其他行星上的生命联系，我们便遇到了最难克服的障碍：彼此相隔的距离实在太远，简直是天文数字。合理地猜测，他们与我们的平均距离可能是一百光年。一光年，就是光以每秒十八万六千英里的速度传播一年所走的距离，即六万亿英里。无线电波也以光速传播。假设这样一个自动信使接收到了我们在20世纪20年代最早发出的广播信号，那么，它传回母星的消息才勉强走到半途。同样，我们目前这种原始的化学火箭，虽然足以把人送上环绕地球的轨道，却根本无法把我们送到四光年外最近的另一颗恒星，更不用说几十乃至几百光年外的地方了。
幸运的是，我们有一种“独一无二的合理办法”，可以与其他智慧生命通信。沃尔特·沙利文在他的佳作《我们并不孤独》中就是这样说的。这种办法利用的是波长二十一厘米所对应的特定无线电频率，即一千四百二十兆赫。这是太空中氢原子发射辐射的自然频率，1951年为我们发现；宇宙中任何一位射电天文学家，都应该知道这个频率。
这种波长一经发现，没过多久，就有人建议把它作为星际通信中能够明确辨认的广播频率。如果没有这样的共同依据，寻找其他行星上的智慧生命，就像想在伦敦见一个朋友，却既未约好地点，又荒唐地在街头乱逛，指望碰巧遇上。

* **the origin of life**：生命起源；origin说起源，不等于当前位置。

* **approximately like**：大致类似；undefined

* **almost certain**：几乎确定；undefined

* **absolute zero**：绝对零度；undefined

* **virtual certainty**：近乎确定的事；virtual这里是实际上近乎，不是虚拟仿真。

* **is now estimated at**：如今被估算为；at接估计数值；now指作者成文时，并不随网站日期自动更新。不要把估计当作精确测量。

* **intelligent patterns**：智慧生命形态；undefined

* **prevailing primitive state**：当时普遍的原始状态；undefined

* **automatic messenger**：自动信使装置；undefined

* **might well**：很可能；well加强可能程度，但不等于已确定。

* **is best left unsaid**：最好不说；可带幽默或回避语气，不是无法说出。

* **come up against**：遇到难以回避的障碍；强调遭遇障碍，不是主动提出意见。

* **astronomical distances**：天文距离；undefined

* **on an average**：平均而言；undefined

* **picked up**：接收到信号；本课指设备接收信号，不是捡起物品或接人。

* **have no chance of**：毫无可能；of后接doing，范围只对本句任务有效。

* **let alone**：更不用说；后项通常更难或要求更高，方向不能反。

* **communicate with**：与……通信；with引出对方，communicate something to说传递内容。

* **depends on**：取决于；说清影响条件，不等于必然因果。

* **precise radio frequency**：特定精确频率；undefined

* **natural frequency**：自然频率；undefined

* **interstellar communication**：星际通信；作为学科概念理解，不需把推测技术当现成事实。

* **pre-arranged rendezvous**：事先约定的会面；rendezvous较正式，日常meeting即可。

* **in the hope of**：抱着……的希望；of 后接 doing，也可 in the hope that + 从句。

* **a chance encounter**：偶遇；chance形容偶然，不是给某人一次机会。

#### We must conclude from the work of those who have studied the origin of life, that given a planet only approximately like our own, life is almost certain to start.

复合句，主句为主谓结构，that 引导宾语从句，其中过去分词短语作条件状语.

研究生命起源的人，可翻译成从事相关研究的学者.

#### Of all the planets in our solar system, we are now pretty certain the Earth is the only one on which life can survive.

复合句，主谓+宾语从句结构，宾语从句为主系表结构.

#### Mars is too dry and poor in oxygen, Venus far too hot, and so is Mercury, and the outer planets have temperatures near absolute zero and hydrogen-dominated atmospheres.

并列句，前三句为主系表结构，中间 Venus 省略了 is，后句为主谓宾结构.

#### But other suns, stars as the astronomers call them, are bound to have planets like our own, and as the number of stars in the universe is so vast, this possibility becomes virtual certainty.

并列复合句，and 连接的复合句，前句为主谓宾结构，其中同位语 star 有一个 as 引导的定语从句修饰，为主谓宾结构；and 后句为主系表结构，这句包括 as 引导的原因状语从句，亦为主系表结构.

#### There are one hundred thousand million stars in our own Milky Way alone, and then there are three thousand million other Milky Ways, or galaxies, in the universe.

两个 there be 句型由 and 连接，不过这里面包含了一层递进的关系，先说银河系有多少颗恒星，再说像银河系这样的星系又有多少个，课本的翻译不准确，注意辨析.

#### There are one hundred thousand million stars in our own Milky Way alone, and then there are three thousand million other Milky Ways, or galaxies, in the universe.So the number of stars that we know exist is now estimated at about 300 million million million.

复合句，主句主谓宾结构，本句中包含一个 that 引导的定语从句，该定语从句中又包含一个小小的定语从句.

300 百万百万百万是多少？300 再加18 个0，这样的数字在翻译时完全可以用乘积来表达其数目之多.

#### Although perhaps only 1 per cent of the life that has started somewhere will develop into highly complex and intelligent patterns, so vast is the number of planets, that intelligent life is bound to be a natural part of the universe.

复合句，让步状语从句打头阵，里面包含 that 引导的定语从句修饰 life，后面是 so…that…结果结构；so vast 提到句首，引起系动词 is 位于主语 the number of planets 之前。主句可按 the number of planets is so vast 理解，that 引出的结果从句是主系表结构。它不是 It is…that…式强调句。

#### If then we are so certain that other intelligent life exists in the universe, why have we had no visitors from outer space yet?

复合句，条件状语从句在前，该从句为主系表结构，只不过里面包含 that 引导的宾语从句，该宾语从句为主谓结构.

主句原为 We have had no visitors, 文中改成 why 开头的疑问句，have 提前.

#### First of all, they may have come to this planet of ours thousands or millions of years ago, and found our then prevailing primitive state completely uninteresting to their own advanced knowledge.

复合句，后句的主语仍为 They，该句为主谓宾+宾语补足语. 宾语和宾补在逻辑上含有主谓关系.

#### Professor Ronald Bracewell, a leading American radio astronomer, argued in Nature that such a superior civilization, on a visit to our own solar system, may have left an automatic messenger behind to await the possible awakening of an advanced civilization.

复合句，本句看着复杂，其实主干就一句话，中间修饰成分太多了. 先是同位语介绍教授的行业地位，然后用 argue 带出宾语从句，该从句以 civilization 为主语，简单的主谓宾结构，带了一个动词不定式作目的状语，解释 messenger 的目的所在.

#### Such a messenger, receiving our radio and television signals, might well re-transmit them back to its home-planet, although what impression any other civilization would thus get from us is best left unsaid.

复合句，Receiving…signals 介词短语作伴随状语，在分析句子结构时，可以先忽略，这样主句就是主谓宾+宾补结构.

从句是 although 引导的让步状语从句，该从句的结构是主系表，该从句中包含一个定语从句 any other … get from us.

#### But here we come up against the most difficult of all obstacles to contact with people on other planets—the astronomical distances which separate us.

复合句，主谓宾结构，the astronomical distances 作 obstacles 的同位语，更进一步讲清楚这个困难是什么. 该同位语由一个定语从句作进一步的解释说明.

#### As a reasonable guess, they might, on an average, be 100 light years away.

简单句，主系表结构，on an average 插入语.

#### A light year is the distance which light travels at 186,000 miles per second in one year, namely 6 million million miles.

复合句，括号为对“光年”这个距离单位的解释说明，括号是原文就有的，文中我将其改小并用了斜体，以作区别. 句子很简单，主系表结构，外加一个 which 引导的定语从句，该从句为主谓结构. 实际上，1 光年为5.88 万亿英里，而非6 万亿英里，足足有1200 亿英里之遥，这种凑整类似于8800 万“四舍五入”就是一个亿，非常荒谬.

#### A light year is the distance which light travels at 186,000 miles per second in one year, namely 6 million million miles. Radio waves also travel at the speed of light, and assuming such an automatic messenger picked up our first broadcasts of the 1920's, the message to its home planet is barely halfway there.

复合句，该句为 and 所连接的两个句子所构成，第一句为主谓结构，而 and 后面， assuming…1920’s 是条件状语从句，假定从1920 年开始算，到撰写的1965 年，大概走了一半，不过现在再看，已经一百年了，我们可以把这一句改一下：

The message (to its home planet) has just arrived. 回传母星的信息也才刚刚送达.

#### Similarly, our own present primitive chemical rockets, though good enough to orbit men, have no chance of transporting us to the nearest other star, four light years away, let alone distances of tens or hundreds of light years.

主谓宾结构，最后有一个 let alone 所带的句子，不是完整的主谓句子结构，理解起来可以看作是比较状语，更别提更远的星球了. Let alone 词组隐含有否定意义. 句子成分可作插入语理解，2009 年考研英语真题中该结构即视作插入语.

例：\[While few craftsmen or farmers, ^let alone dependents and servants^, left literary compositions ,] it is obvious that their views were \[less] \[fully] intellectualized. 虽然几乎没有工匠或农民——更不用说随从或仆人了——留下可供分析的文章，但是他们的观点明显缺乏知识性.

It 为形式主语，that 引导的从句为真正主语.

#### Fortunately, there is a "uniquely rational way" for us to communicate with other intelligent beings, as Walter Sullivan has put it in his excellent book, We Are not Alone.

瓦尔特·沙利文(1918-1996)，美国科普作家，we are not alone 于1964 年出版.

For us…beings 为动词不定式复合结构作后置定语.

As 句一直到句尾，为方式状语从句，其中书名作为 book 的同位语，句中的 it 即为该唯一合理的方法.

#### This depends on the precise radio frequency of the 21-cm wavelength, or 1,420 megahertz.

本句中1,420 后面原文为 megacycles per second 每秒兆周，即兆赫兹，是已淘汰的 单位，科普文必须时常反映科学的发展，故文中已修改为 megahertz 兆赫. 这里的概念是21 厘米线，也称为氢线，是氢原子所发射或吸收的波长为21 厘米的电磁辐射.

Or 后面可以看作省略了 of，均为介词短语作后置定语修饰频率.

#### It is the natural frequency of emission of the hydrogen atoms in space and was discovered by us in 1951; it must be known to any kind of radio astronomer in the universe.

英语中两个独立的句子一般需要以 and 连接，不能用逗号连两个独立的句子，所以此处用了分号.

#### Once the existence of this wave-length had been discovered, it was not long before its use as the uniquely recognizable broadcasting frequency for interstellar communication was suggested.

前句为条件状语从句，为主谓结构，后句 before…suggested 为时间状语从句， as…communication 为介词短语作后置定语.

#### Without something of this kind, searching for intelligences on other planets would be like trying to meet a friend in London without a pre-arranged rendezvous and absurdly wandering the streets in the hope of a chance encounter.

Without something of this kind 是介词短语，表达假设条件，不是带谓语的条件状语从句；主句为主系表结构，主语由现在分词短语构成，而表语较长，由 and 连接了 trying to meet a friend 和 wandering the streets 两部分，直译起来比较拗口，我把 and 连接的两个现在分词结构位置对调作了翻译，更为符合表达习惯.

太空主题亦可参考 Lesson 35

## 学完这一课

把前提与从前提推出的确信程度分开。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-4/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第191—196页，2022年2月第2版。*