評論
打印
Professor: OK. We’ve been discussing the planets in our solar system and how some of the ones farthest from the sun were discovered.
教授：我們一直在討論我們太陽系中的星球，以及一些離太陽最遠的是如何被發(fā)現(xiàn)的。
Well, today I’d like to turn to what are called exoplanets and how researchers detect them. Maria?
那么，今天我想把話題轉(zhuǎn)向外星星球，以及研究人員是如何探測到它們的。Maria？
Student: Exoplanets are planets that orbit around a star other than our Sun, right?
學生：外星星球就是那些環(huán)繞著一顆不同于我們的太陽的恒星運行的星球，對吧？
They are not in our solar system.
它們不在我們的太陽系中。
Professor: Right. They have different...what are called host stars.
教授：沒錯，它們有不同的寄主星。
And the study of exoplanets have been getting more and more exciting, hundreds of them have been discovered so far.
對外星星球的研究正變得越來越令人興奮，目前為止已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)好幾百個了。
This is quite remarkable in view of the fact that the discovery of the first exoplanet was confirmed only in the mid-1990s.
鑒于二十世紀九十年代中期才確定發(fā)現(xiàn)了第一顆外星星球，這相當值得一提。
Now we’re finding new ones every few weeks or so.
現(xiàn)在我們大約每幾個星期就能發(fā)現(xiàn)新的。
Student: So, uh, exactly why are we interested in these exoplanets anyway? Is it to see if there’s life on them?
學生：那么我們究竟為何對這些外星星球這么感興趣呢？是為了看看上面是否存在生命嗎？
Because it seems to me like the only exoplanets we ever hear about are gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn that couldn’t possibly support carbon-based life.
因為在我看來，我們聽說過的唯一幾個外星星球比如木星和土星都是滿是氣體的龐然大物，根本不可能支持以碳為基礎的生命。
Professor: OK.Well, let’s talk about that. First, as for discovering life. Well, I think that sort of discovery is pretty far in the future, but it is an eventual goal.
教授：好的，我們來講一下。首先關于發(fā)現(xiàn)生命。我想那種發(fā)現(xiàn)還要在很久之后的未來進行，不過它是一個最終目標。
For now, the focus is on locating planets within a host star’s so-called habitable zone, a zone that’s a certain distance from its star because only planets within this zone could conceivably support carbon-based life.
就目前而言，焦點是在一個寄主星的所謂的適居帶內(nèi)定位星球，這個適居帶離恒星有一段距離，因為只有在這個適居帶內(nèi)的星球才有可能支持以碳為基礎的生命。
