Are there extraterrestrials?
2016/09/06 08:41:17 網誌分類: 生活
An extraterrestrial is a living thing from outside Earth and its atmosphere. The word “alien” has the same meaning. A telescope is an instrument that is used to look at things that are far away. They make distant things appear nearer. A light year is the distance that light travels in one year. Light travels 5.88 trillion miles in a year. As I have said before, I do not believe that we are alone. The universe is so big, with so many other planets, that it is impossible that we are alone. There must be living things on other planets light years away from Earth.
Famous physicist Stephen Hawking and famous movie director Steven Spielberg both believe we are not alone. I agree with them. Does it scare you if we are not alone, or does it make you excited? It excites me but I know the possibility is slim that I will ever be able to see an extraterrestrial in my lifetime. The word “slim” means thin but used this way it means unlikely or improbable. The word “lifetime” means the time a person lives. Even though Hawking believes we are not alone, he thinks we should avoid looking for extraterrestrials. He is worried that extraterrestrials will be more advanced than us and will conquer us. To conquer us means to take control of us by force.
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我們於整個宇宙（universe）中，是否單獨存在，抑或還有其他外星生物（extraterrestrials）？我上星期讀過一則新聞報道後，不禁思忖此事。報道指，俄羅斯一個查探宇宙外星生物（extraterrestrials）的射電望遠鏡（telescope），探測到（detected）一個強烈訊號。科學家都振奮莫名，但承認要斷定訊號是來自另一個行星的外太空生物（extraterrestrials），還言之尚早。一年前美國科學家用強大的望遠鏡（telescope）發現1,400光年（light years）以外，有個差不多跟地球一樣的行星時，我就在專欄中寫過外星生物（extraterrestrials）的可能性。我亦在該篇文章中解釋過，universe就是包含恒星和行星等一切一切的宇宙。
An extraterrestrial就是外星生物，alien也有同樣意思。A telescope就是望遠鏡，a light year就是光年。光一年行走5.88萬億里。正如我從前說過，我不相信我們是獨自存在的。宇宙（universe）這麼大，又有這麼多其他星體，怎麼可能我們是單獨存在的呢。距離地球的許多光年（light years）以外，在其他行星上必有生物吧。
知名的物理學家史蒂芬霍金和知名的電影導演史蒂芬史匹堡同樣相信，我們不是獨自存在的，我也認同。若說我們不是孤單的，這會嚇怕你還是令你興奮？這令我感到興奮，但我也知道我平生（lifetime）能見到一個外星生物（extraterrestrials）的可能性微乎其微（slim）。Slim 解作纖細，但在這裏的意思是不太可能發生的。Lifetime 就是一生。即使霍金相信我們不是孤獨的，但他認為我們應避免主動尋找外星生物（extraterrestrials）。他擔心外星生物（extraterrestrials）會比我們更先進，會征服（conquer）我們。To conquer us意思就是以武力征服我們。
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
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