Seeking Our Outer Space Home

Seeking Our Outer Space Home

One hundred years ago, walking on the moon was only a dream -- it is almost impossible to imagine what might happen in the next 1)millennium 1. We know that one day we will have to leave planet earth or we will die. In the near future technological 2 discoveries will help us make our 2)exodus 3. So when will we be ready?

Michio Kaku (City College of New York): I would like to dream of the day when we can begin the process of building blueprints 4 by which we’ll make the first steps to the stars.

When we reach the stars we will create new human species who will spread out and explore the whole universe.

Scientist: I think the real destination for humans is Mars. I think there’s where the stuff that we’re made of—carbon, oxygen, 3)hydrogen, 4)nitrogen—exists. And I think it...that’s likely to be the place that we try to make habitable, or put some habitations anyway, for the future.

In two or three hundred years we will live on 5)outposts on Mars. But in a few thousand years we will terraform Mars into a planet with an atmosphere like earth—but this will only be a temporary solution. When our sun dies we will have to travel much further beyond the solar system.

Each year astronomers 5 discover more and more new planets orbiting around distant stars. Soon we hope to discover a planet like Earth.

Richard Terrile6)Jet Propulsion Lab): I think the chances of finding earth-like environments are very very high just because of the overwhelming number of potential places out there. You’re gonna have many many places over and over and over again which are gonna have environments like the Earth.

Even if we find a planet just like earth, we will have to travel an enormous distance to reach it.

Mark Millis (NASA Scientist): Space is huge. It takes up a lot of space. It’s 7)astronomically 6 big—that’s where the phrase comes from “astronomically big.” It’s really hard to 8)conceive how enormous these distances are.

Even the distance to our nearest star is difficult to imagine. Within a few thousand years we will build massive space 9)arks. Each ship will be several miles long, supporting thousands of people. Because the distances are so huge, these arks will take centuries, even millennia 7, to reach their destinations—whole generations of humans will live and die on board these massive ships! This is a one-way trip.

Lawrence Krauss (Scientist): I think it’s very clear that we are not gonna have round-trip space missions to nearby stars. I think if we’re going to travel outside our solar system, the only way to do it is one-way and not plan to come back.

We may have to redefine what it is to be human. Future space crews will be astronoids, astronauts who have bodies perfectly 8 adapted for weightless space flight. These 10)genetically 10 created space travelers will spend their entire lives in the weightless environment of 11)interstellar space. They will be small and light, and instead of legs will have an extra set of arms. This may seem like an extreme vision of the future but scientists can already create new versions of some creatures. One day genetic 9 engineers will be able to create new types of humans. Soon it will be possible to create humans who can live in space.  

注释：
1) millennium [mi5leniEm] n. 一千年，千周年
2) exodus [5eksEdEs] n. 大批的离去。Exodus一词来自《圣经》，指古代以色列人在摩西的率领下逃离迫害离开埃及一事，在这里指人类为避免与地球一起毁灭的命运，离开地球向外星的移民。
3) hydrogen [5haidrEudVEn] n. 氢
4) nitrogen [5naitrEdVEn] n. 氮
5) outpost [5autpEust] n. 空间站，前哨
6) Jet Propulsion Lab 喷气推进实验室，隶属美国国家航空航天局，主要负责美国国家航天局的深空探测飞行任务，包括旅行者、伽利略探测器和火星观测者等。
7) astronomically big 形容某物（事）大得无法形容
8) conceive [kEn5si:v] v. 想象，构想
9) ark [B:k] n. 方舟，大而笨重的车船。Ark一词的使用与《圣经》里的挪亚方舟（Noah’s Ark）有关，挪亚按上帝的旨意，造了一艘方舟逃避大洪水的到来。这里的ark既指人类离开地球工具，也指宇宙飞船的庞大体积。
10) genetically [dVi5netikEli] ad. 基因地，遗传地
11) interstellar space 星际空间

探索地球外的家

    一百年以前，在月球上行走还仅仅是一个梦想——人们几乎想象不到下一个千年会发生些什么。我们都知道，总有一天我们将不得不离开地球，否则就会灭亡。在不久的将来，科学技术的新发现会帮助我们向外星移民。那我们什么时候可以成行呢？

贺来道夫（纽约城市大学）: 我愿意去梦想有那么一天，我们可以着手制定计划，迈出前往外星球的第一步。

    一旦登上外星球，我们将创造出新的人种，他们将散居各处，探索整个宇宙。
科学家: 我认为人类真正目的地是火星。那里存在着构成生命的各种成分：碳、氧、氢和氮。我还认为……为将来打算，我们很可能会设法使这个星球适合人居住，或者说设置一些居住点等。
    两、三百年后，我们会居住在火星的空间站上。然而几千年后我们将把火星改造成一个与地球环境相似的星球，但这也只是一个暂时的解决办法。当太阳熄灭的时候，我们将被迫向太阳系以外的更远处进发。
    天文学家们每年都会发现越来越多的新星，它们围绕着与我们相距遥远的星球运行。因此，我们希望很快能发现一个像地球一样的星球。

理查德•特里尔（喷气推进实验室）：我认为在宇宙发现类似地球环境的可能性非常地高，因为在宇宙中，潜在而未被人类所知的星球数量惊人。我们会不断地发现许许多多与地球相似的星球。

    即使我们发现了一个像地球一样的星球，要到达这个目的地，我们也得走很长很长的路。

马克•米利斯（美国国家航空航天局科学家）：太空浩瀚无垠，范围广阔。在英语里，我们常用“像宇宙一样大”(astronomically big)形容事物之大或之多—— 而“像宇宙一样大”这个说法正是来自天文学。要凭空想象路程有多么地遥远是相当困难的。

    即使是要到离我们最近的星球，到那里的路程也难以想象。我们将在几千年之内建造庞大的宇宙飞船。每条飞船长达几英里，可以容纳数千人。因为太空旅程是如此的遥远，这些宇宙飞船将花上几个世纪，甚至几千年才能达到目的地——一代又一代的人将在这些巨大的飞船上繁衍生息。这，是一条不归路。

劳伦斯•克劳斯（科学家）: 我们不可能执行前往附近星球的往返飞行任务，这一点是显而易见的。我认为如果我们要飞出太阳系，唯一的可能就是一去不回。

    也许我们要对人类重新进行定义了。未来的太空飞行员将为太空而生，他们是身体能完美地适应失重状态的太空宇航员。这些利用基因技术培育的太空飞行员将会毕生在星际空间失重的环境中度过。他们个子小、体重轻，一对下肢会转为另一双手。对未来的这种想象也许看起来过于极端，但科学家们已经能创造出某些动物的新品种，总有一天基因工程师也能够创造出人的新品种。那么，很快，创造适应太空生活的人种将成为可能。