1、,Life Beyond Earth,Introduction to the author,Joel Achenbach :/:knb:k/ 乔尔阿肯巴克 -born December 31, 1960-an American staff writer for The Washington Post -graduate from Princeton University in 1982 with an A.B. degree in politics. -is known for his versatility and deft humor -live in Washington, D.C.,
2、with his wife and three daughters.,His works,Why Things Are : Three compilations of his syndicated newspaper column (1991) It Looks Like a President Only Smaller: Trailing Campaign 2000 (2001) Captured by Aliens: The Search for Life and Truth in a Very Large Universe (2003) The Grand Idea: George Wa
3、shingtons Potomac and the Race to the West (2005) A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea: The Race to Kill the BP Oil Gusher (2011) National Geographic magazine National Public Radios Morning Edition,Meanings of the Title,Life beyond Earth contains two meanings: A. there might be live organisms in the univ
4、erse. B. there might be intelligence or alien civilizations out in the universe.,Purpose of the article,Joel Achembach,Life Beyond Earth,Life beyond Earth contains two meanings: A. there might be live organisms in the universe. B. there might be intelligence or alien civilizations out in the univers
5、e, e.g. UFO.,Life Beyond Earth,Organization of the textPart I Para3 Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI,Life Beyond Earth,Pay attention to the following: Subjunctive mood If microbes can live in the pores of rock deep beneath the earth, then they might find a place like Mars not so shabby.(-9) H
6、umans could theoretically colonize the galaxy in a million years or so, and if they could, astronauts from older civilizations could do the same.(-21) If life sprang up through natural processes on the Earth, then the same thing could presumably happen on other worlds.(-36) if you rewound the tape o
7、f terrestrial evolution and played it again, youd wind up with the second time around.(-41),Life Beyond Earth,The use of modal verbs Even if we convince ourselves that there must be life out there(-7) We now know that the universe may be as warm with planets.(-9) That icy world could conceivably har
8、bor a dark, cold biosphere.(-10) Even more complex life can adapt to hostile places.(-16) Vocabulary expressing less assertive affirmations Verbs: think, figure, argue, convince Nouns: supposition, estimate, idea, unknown, hunch Adverbs: presumably, conceivably,something astonishing had happened in
9、the universe.”,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 1),Para. 1 1.What do you think of the opening paragraph? Does the author begin the article in a forceful way?,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 1),2.What does the author mean by “life” in the first paragraph? Life in the first paragraph means “that property of plants a
10、nd animals which makes it possible for them to take in food, get energy from it, grow, adapt themselves to their surroundings, and reproduce their kind. 3.Does the word “life” mean the same thing throughout the article? No, on most occasions it means extraterrestrial life or alien life. 4.In what wa
11、y is “life” qualitatively different from rock? Life is a living thing while rock is inorganic matter. 无机物,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 2),PARA 2 5.Life has a wayand yetin absolute terms. 1.What is the grammatical function of “and yet“? It introdeces a contrast.(more examples in para.4) Paraphrase: it is
12、 not difficult to determine whether a thing has a life or not, but when it comes to giving “life” a clear, complete, satisfactory definition, people find it extremely difficult.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 2),Para 2 6.In at least one instance, life has become profoundly self-aware. 1)What sort of life
13、can become self-aware? Only human life can be conscious of its own identity. That is because only human being can think. So here life means human life. 2)Why does the author say “ in at least one instance”? So far we only know of the one particular case of human life. But, maybe there is life elsewh
14、ere in the universe. So “at least” is used here.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 3),Para. 3 This is a one-sentence paragraph for -. It serves as a-, leading to life beyond earth. 7. What else is alive out there? Is there anything similar to human life in other parts of the universe? Out there: in space bey
15、ond the earth.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 4),8.There may be to an answer. At the turn of the new millennium of a thousand years, one may not find anything which is scientifically unknown to human beings so intriguing and yet so difficult to answer as the issue of extraterrestrial life. 9.With instrume
16、ntsa single inhabited world. With the help of advanced technology such as a Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have discovered a very large amount of cosmic material and yet they have not discovered any life on any other planet.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 5),10.The late astronomerin our galaxy alone.
17、1)What is meant by “technological civilizations?”The author may mean civilizations with high technology. That is, he tries to differentiate such development from intellectual and cultural development. 2)Carl Sagan, the astronomer who is now dead, predicted that there are a million societies with adv
18、anced technology in our galaxy, without taking into account other galaxies.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 5),11who thinks we may well be alone in this galaxy if not in the universe. who thinks that most probably we are the only life form in this galaxy, even though we may not be able to say we are the on
19、ly one in the universe. 12.The fact is beyond earth.The fact is there is no decisive (or final) evidence proving that there is life beyond this world.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 6),13.Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. 1)The fact that we do not have evidence showing there is life beyond E
20、arth does not mean that we can come to the conclusion that there is actually no life beyond Earth. 2)Please pay attention to the framing of ideas. The succinctness of statements lies in the way the idea is formulated. It is difficult to imitate by non-native speakers and yet this is what they should
21、 aim at learning. This is another example of chiasmus.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 6),14.But stillstarship. “But” is used here to link this sentence up with the previous one. The meaning is: in spite of the fact that we cannot prove there is no life beyond Earth, we still do not have evidence to prove
22、there is. So far we dont know firmly and dependably that there exists a single microscopic用显微镜可见的organism in another world, to say nothing of a starship coming from another world in the universe passing the Earth.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 7),15.Our ideasought-to-be. 1)What is meant by “plausible arg
23、uments”?It means reasons offered which appeared to be convincing but which may not be true. 2)random ought-to-bePossible things which are chosen without specific aim 16. Even ifabout that life.Note the choice of words: “convince ourselves” “must be”, all indicating subjective wishing without clear,
24、definite evidence. 17.We dont know how truly alien it is.We dont know whether it is entirely different or not.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 7),18.We dont knowwe dont know 1)The last two sentences are questions raised on the basis of what we know about life on earth. In other words, the question is wheth
25、er it has the same elements or develops in the same way as life on earth. Medium: any surrounding or pervading substance in which bodies exist or move. 2)We dont know if this life depends on water in liquid form for existence or if it lives in the water like fish or in the air like birds or under th
26、e earth like gophers囊地鼠. 我们不知道这种生命是否建立在碳原子基础上，是否需要液体形态的水作为中介，是游呢、飞呢、还是生活在地下。,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 8),19.What role does this paragraph play?20.What is meant by “the enveloping nebula of uncertainties”? What is the contrast involved as introduced by “despite”? The enveloping nebula of uncertaintie
27、s introduces two ideas: the first is the cloud of gas and dust obscures things; the second is, as a result, it is unclear what has been wrapped up in the cloud of gas and dust, what is inside the enveloping nebula. The contrast is: though there are a lot of uncertainties, scientists will not give up
28、 their efforts at scientific inquiry.,Interstellar Dust -A Source of Non-Organic Life?,Nebula nebjl 星云；角膜云翳,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 9),21examining them for the atmospheric signatures of a living world. examining these planets to see if the surrounding atmosphere can be identified as fitting for lif
29、e. 22.In the past decade organisms have been found thrivingin bizarre, hostile environments. What has this discovery to do with the search for extraterrestrial life? If organisms could thrive in conditions in this world similar to hostility conditions in other planets, then the possibility of the ex
30、istence of alien life increases.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 9),23.If microbes can livenot so shabby. 1)What are the two conditions given in this statement? They refer to places without water or air or sunlight, and places where the temperature is extremely high. 2)Then they would not find Mars a place
31、 so unsuitable for existence; in other words, if microbes can survive in places in this world without air or sunlight or in places extremely hot, then they might exist in other planets with similar conditions, such as Mars.,Yellowstone Spring,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 10),24.Mars is in the midstfor f
32、ossils. Why is “full-scale invasion” used here? How can Mars be invaded? The author is using this phrase in a humorous way, comparing the full-scale investigation and study of Mars to full-scale invasion.With one scientific instrument after another landing on Mars, it is like the landing of an invas
33、ion army.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 10),25.A canistercarefully sealed lab. Why should the rock the examined in a carefully sealed lab? For fear of alien germs or other harmful substances hidden in the rock which might escape from the lab and bring damage to humanity. Hence the lab should be carefully
34、 sealed so that nothing might leak or escape.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 10),26.That icy worldcold biosphere. 1)Is Europa cold or hot? Does it have an ocean? Europa is extremely cold. Many signs show there might be an ocean below the surface of the planet. 2)and could conceivablybiosphere. and it is p
35、ossible and imaginable that you will find a large variety of living organisms in this underground and cold place.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 10),Did you know that Jupiters moon, Europa木卫二, has a global ocean of liquid water with greater volume than Earths oceans, and that astrobiologists 天体生物学家 consid
36、er it to be an excellent place to look for forms. The closest similar environment on Earth is probably the hot springs in the deep ocean, which support a rich biota bat 生物区.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 11),27.The quest for an alien microbe is supplementedcommunicative. Parallel with the search for a mi
37、crobe on other planets, efforts have been made to look for alien intelligence as a sign of civilization.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 11),28.SETIeach year. 1)How long has the research been going on? 40 years. 2)Has it produced any result? No, so far, the scientists have not reviewed any message or detec
38、ted any signal from a civilization in other parts of the universe. 3)What is implied in the second half of the statement beginning with “but”? The implication is that with the development and progress of signal-processing technology, the time is more likely to come when we get a confirmed signal.,Li
39、fe Beyond Earth (Para. 11-12),29.The optimists figure its only a matter of time before we tune in the right channel. 1)Those who are optimistic think that as time goes on, they will some day get the signal sent out by an alien civilization. 2)Note the pattern: it isbefore. Para12 30.No one knows whe
40、nor if “When” indicates time, showing the speaker might believe it is possible; “if” shows the speaker doubts whether it is possible.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 12),31but Id bet the breakthrough is many years, if not decades, away. 1)Pay attention to the “if not” pattern: The breakthrough is many year
41、s, if not decades, away. We may well be alone in this galaxy if not in the universe. 2)But I am sure that a strikingly important advance will not come in a few years time, not even in tens of years. 32.The simple truthis not conveniently located. The simple fact is: alien life, since it refers to li
42、fe on other planets in the universe, cannot be found easily.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 13),33.What are the reasons, according to the author, which sustain the search for alien organisms? The reasons are: 1)the universe looks to be a place suitable for the existence of life; 2)if that is the case, lif
43、e will give out signs of its existence and these can be detected. 34.Life radiates information about itself Life sends out signals of its existence, the signal being light or heat or electromagnetic waves or other manifestations.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 13),35that life is not likely to remain in th
44、e realm of the unknown. 1)that life (referring to the life in the universe) will be discovered by human effort in the end. 2)to remain forever in the realm of the unknown: not being able to be found or confirmed, remain hidden from human knowledge forever.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 14),36.Why would c
45、ontact with an alien civilization be an epochal and culturally challenging event? It would be epochal, that is to say, it ushers in an entirely new period in human history because that would be the first time for human beings to have direct communication with a civilization on another planet in the
46、universe. It would be culturally challenging because the alien civilization might be totally different from anything in human history and might be much superior to our civilization.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 14),37.Why would exobiologists 外空生物学研究者，宇宙生物学家 settle gladly for the discovery of a tiny foss
47、il? Since we have no present prospect of finding an alien civilization, scientists would be happy to find even miniscule remains of life elsewhere in the universe because that would suggest that life could exist somewhere else in the universe.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 14),38. That is what we need to
48、 begin the long process of putting human existence in its true cosmic context. The long process of regarding this human inhabited world as only one example of the universe humming with life. Originally we regard our world as the only one in the universe which is inhabited by intelligent humans, but
49、we need to change our view and regard this world as one of many in the universe.,Life Beyond Earth (Para. 14),39.Why do exobiologists 外空生物学研究者 go to the worst places on Earth? What sort of places are considered the worst places? What are they looking for? The worst places are places with the worst c
50、onditions, places which are most unsuitable for the survival of life organisms, places which are extremely dry without a drop of water, places which are extremely cold or hot. They go to these places because they think if they can find life organisms in these places, then it is probable that life also exists in similar conditions out in the universe. They will have all the more reason to search for alien life.,
