考研英语阅读篇章: 做外星人认识的第一个地球人

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考研英语阅读篇章：做外星人认识的第一个地球人

　　NASA wants to send your messages to aliens.

　　美国国家航空航天局想要将你的消息发给外星人。

　　Back in the 1970s the Voyager 1 probe was sent out into space containing a record of images and words selected by Carl Sagan and others. That craft has now almost certainly left our solar system, and the message in a bottle (or rather a golden record in a space craft) is heading merrily on its way through interstellar space.

　　上世纪70年代，携带了一张唱片的旅行者一号探测器被发射到太空，唱片中刻有由天文学家卡尔·萨根等人挑选的图片和留言。目前，该探测器已经几乎要飞离太阳系，瓶中信(其实是太空飞行器内的一张金质唱片)正轻快的飞向星际空间。

　　And now NASA wants to try it again - even though the craft on which it will place its messages is already 300 million miles from Earth.

　　现在，美国国家航空航天局想要再试一次——尽管信息的载体飞行器已经远离地球3亿英里。

　　That craft is New Horizons, a deep space probe heading to Pluto to study its moons and the dwarf planet itself.

　　这具飞行器叫新地平线号。这具深空探测器正飞往冥王星去研究这颗矮行星以及它的卫星。

　　Though it launched in 2006, New Horizons will not reach Pluto until the summer of 2015, at which point it will start to collect data on everything it sees.

　　尽管新地平线号于2006年发射，但它在2015年夏天前都不会到达冥王星。届时它将开始收集它见到的一切信息。

　　But after that - once the craft continues on its path away from the Sun - there's not much more it can do.

　　但那之后，当新地平线号继续它的飞离太阳之旅时，已经再没有太多的事情可做了。

　　Or is there? Space artist and journalist Jon Lomberg, who was also involved in putting together the Voyager 1 record, has argued that since the craft will still be contactable from Earth, Nasa should fill its memory banks with messages and data from our planet. Just as with Voyager 1, the idea is that in the (unlikely) situation in which an alien species finds the probe, it might be nice to say hello.

　　或许事实并非如此。由于届时新地平线号仍能够和地球保持联系，太空艺术家和记者乔恩·隆伯格主张美国国家航空航天局应该用来自地球的信息和数据装满飞行器的存储空间。乔恩本人曾参与制作旅行者一号的唱片。和旅行者一号一样，这个主意未必能让外星物种发现探测器，但和它们打个招呼倒是不错。

　　Last year he launched a petition to make it happen, and launched an independent group ('New Horizons Message Initiative') to collect the message.

　　去年他发起了一个请愿来实现这个主意，还组织了一个叫做“新地平线信息倡议”的团体来收集消息。

　　And now Nasa has agreed! Last month Nasa said that it would do exactly as the group asked, and is now working on ways for anyone to submit their messages in the form of audio, video or just words.

　　现在美国国家航空航天局同意了这一计划。他们表示完全同意该团体的请愿，并致力于让任何人都能够提交自己的信息——无论是声音，视频，或仅仅是文字。

　　"For almost 40 years, people have been inspired by the Voyager record, a portrait of the Earth in 1977," Lomberg told Space.com.

　　隆伯格告诉space.com，“差不多40年以来，人们都被旅行者号的唱片所鼓舞，那是地球在1977年的肖像。”

　　"The world is very different now, and this new message will reflect the hopes and dreams of the second decade in the 21st century. It will inspire young people's interest in science and ignite the imagination of all ages. We hope it will be an example of global creativity and cooperation."

　　“如今世界已经大不一样。这个新消息将反映21世纪第二个十年里的希望和梦想。它将激发年轻人对科学的兴趣，还能激起所有人的想象。我们希望它能成为全球创新与合作的一个范例。”

　　The message can be uploaded to http://www.oneearthmessage.org/after August 25.

　　8月25日之后，你可以将信息上传到http://www.oneearthmessage.org/。

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