托福閱讀機經(jīng)背景：移民到外星球

其它星球可能存在著生命一直以來都是科幻電影的主題�，F(xiàn)在，這種可能性有可能變成現(xiàn)實。據(jù)天文學(xué)家說，他們已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個適合人類居住的星球。這個星球圍繞著臨近恒星運轉(zhuǎn)且距地球只有20光年。

The possibility of life on other planets has been a staple of science fiction for decades. Now that possibility has taken a step closer to reality as astronomers say they have found a planet orbiting a star a mere 20 light-years away that has the right conditions for life to exist.
　　Scientists are calling it the first "Goldilocks" planet, as its temperature seems to be just right to harbor life.

由于這個行星可能具備適合生命居住的條件，于是科學(xué)家便把這個新發(fā)現(xiàn)的行星叫做“Goldilocks”。

"The planet has to be the right distance from the star so it's not too hot and not too cold that liquid water can exist," says Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "And then the planet has to have the right surface gravity."

來自華盛頓卡內(nèi)基學(xué)院的保羅•巴特勒說：“由于這顆行星距臨近恒星的距離恰好合適，所以這個星球上的溫度既不太熱也不太冷。這正好使液態(tài)水能很好的保存下來。如此以來，這個星球表面就有一定的重力存在。”

Butler spoke Wednesday afternoon at a news conference organized by the National Science Foundation, the organization that funded Butler's research. Astronomers have found hundreds of planets orbiting other stars in the past decade, but they have all been so far from their suns that any water would be solid ice or so close that liquid water would boil away.

星期三下午，巴特勒在由美國國家科學(xué)基金會組織的新聞?wù)写龝�上發(fā)表了上述演講。這個組織給他的項目研究提供了一定資金上的支持。其實在過去的幾十年里，科學(xué)家已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了成百上千圍繞其它恒星運轉(zhuǎn)的行星，但它們都因距離太陽太遠而致使其星球上的液態(tài)水都凝固成了固態(tài)水，或蒸發(fā)不見了。

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The new planet, called Gliese 581-g, is different. But Butler has no direct evidence that Gliese 581-g actually has water.

這個叫做Gliese 581g的行星很特別。但巴特勒目前還沒有獲得任何證明這個行星上存在水的直接證據(jù)。

"What we know is that this planet exists at the right distance for liquid water, and that it has the right amount of mass to hold onto an atmosphere and to protect its liquid water on the surface," he says. "And of course, any subsequent discussion about life is purely speculative."

巴特勒說：“據(jù)我們所知，現(xiàn)在這個行星所處的位置正好位于保留住液態(tài)水存在的最好位置。這樣，這個行星就具備合適的質(zhì)量以支撐大氣層并維持其地面上液態(tài)水的存在。當然，任何關(guān)于這個星球上存在生命這類的后續(xù)話題都純屬人們的推測罷了。”

But then he couldn't resist speculating: "That being said, on the Earth, anywhere you find liquid water you find life in abundance."

但隨后，他也不禁預(yù)測道：“人們都說，在地球上，只要有水的地方，就有生生不息的生命體存在。”

A Solar System Like Our Own

跟我們的太陽系類似的星系

There are six planets orbiting around star Gliese 581. And even if planet 581-g doesn't have life, Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, says the solar system around Gliese 581 has an eerie resemblance to the one around our sun.

在Gliese 581星系中一共有六顆行星在圍繞臨近的恒星轉(zhuǎn)動。來自美國加州圣克魯茲大學(xué)研究天文和天體物理學(xué)的教授斯蒂芬•沃格特說，即使Gliese 581行星里尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)有生命的跡象，但是這個行星周圍的太陽系卻跟我們地球所在的太陽系有著驚人的相似。

"It has an inner clutch of rocky, sort of terrestrial-like planets," he says. Those are planets like Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. "And then this sort of loner that's sitting on the outside, kind of like our Jupiter. But it's scaled down. This entire solar system would fit within our own Earth's orbit."

巴特勒說：“這個星系中有一些里面多巖石的，有點像陸地的行星。這些行星跟水星，金星，地球和火星類似。這些行星跟其它行星孤立開來，就像木星一樣。但如果讓這個星系按比例縮小，那么這整個星系就可以被容納進地球旋轉(zhuǎn)的軌道中。”

That's because Gliese 581 is a red dwarf — a pipsqueak of a star compared to our sun.

這是由于Gliese 581行星屬于紅矮星——跟我們的太陽相比，它就算得上是微不足道了。

"If you think of the sun as a 100-watt light bulb, this is a 1-watt light bulb. It's like a Christmas tree light," says David Charbonneau, a planet hunter at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "So to have the same temperature, a planet needs to be much closer to that star than it would be from the sun, where you'd have a temperature where you might have light and liquid water."

哈佛—史密森天體物理學(xué)研究中心的天體探測者大衛(wèi)•夏博諾說：“如果你把太陽比作100瓦的電燈泡，那么Gliese 581行星則等同于是一只只有一瓦的電燈泡，就跟懸掛在圣誕樹上的燈泡差不多。所以一個行星上要有足夠的溫度，那么這個行星距恒星的距離就得比它距離太陽的距離近，這樣，這個行星上才能具備合適的溫度，維持一定的光照和液態(tài)水。”

Charbonneau says the next step will be to try to analyze the atmosphere of this planet and other Goldilocks planets that are probably out there to see if they contain oxygen, another key chemical for life. Those findings are probably some years off, but Charbonneau predicts they will come.

夏博諾還說：“接下來要做的是對這個行星及其他Goldilocks行星的大氣層進行分析，以檢測其中是否含有氧氣，或其他維持生命存在的關(guān)鍵的化學(xué)物質(zhì)。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)可能要等上幾年后了，但一定會有所發(fā)現(xiàn)。”

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