Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Sophie…
您好，欢迎来到 6 Minute English。我是 Sophie...
Neil(尼尔)
And I'm Neil. Sophie, did you see the beautiful sky last night?
我是 Neil。Sophie，你昨晚看到美丽的天空了吗？
Sophie(苏菲)
No, I went to bed early. Why?
不，我早早就睡了。为什么？
Neil(尼尔)
I was wondering if there was life out there.
我在想外面是否有生命。
Sophie(苏菲)
You mean life on other planets? That's just science fiction, Neil.
你是说其他星球上的生命？那只是科幻小说，Neil。
Neil(尼尔)
It isn't! People are fascinated by life on other planets for a good reason.
不是的！人们对其他星球上的生命着迷是有充分理由的。
Sophie(苏菲)
You believe in little green men?
你相信小绿人吗？
Neil(尼尔)
Not necessarily… but possibly.
不一定。。。但有可能。
Sophie(苏菲)
Well, Mars is our closest neighbour in the solar system and the subject of today's show. And that brings me on to our usual quiz question. How long is a day on Mars? Is it about… a) 5 hours? b) 25 hours? Or c) 45 hours?
And I think it must be c) 45 hours. Things are weird on other planets. And Mars is further from the sun than us… Mars may be our closest neighbour, but it's hardly in our backyard, is it?
It is in astronomical terms, Neil, it's visible to the naked eye, meaning without using instruments, and it's reachable by spacecraft. Well, we’ll find out later on in the show whether you got the answer right or not. Now can you tell me Neil why people like you get excited about the possibility of life on Mars?
Well, Mars is similar to the Earth in some important ways which means if life developed on our planet, why not Mars?
嗯，火星在某些重要方面与地球相似，这意味着如果生命在我们的星球上发展起来，为什么火星不是呢？
Sophie(苏菲)
That's true. Its temperature is in the right zone, not too hot and not too cold. But actually we could find Mars pretty cold, an average temperature would be around minus 63 degrees Celsius compared to Earth's 14 degrees Celsius. It's also very arid, or dry.
And it needs to be wet for life to develop, doesn't it?
而且它需要潮湿才能发展生命，不是吗？
Sophie(苏菲)
That's right. Many scientists think that liquid water is essential for life! But there may have been water on the surface of Mars in the past. And recent research suggests that there may be water underground. Let's hear some more about this from Professor John Zarnecki, who teaches Space Science at The Open University.
没错。许多科学家认为液态水对生命来说是必不可少的！但过去火星表面可能有水。最近的研究表明，地下可能存在水。让我们从开放大学教授空间科学的 John Zarnecki 教授那里听到更多关于这一点的信息。
INSERT(插入)
John Zarnecki, Professor of Space Science, The Open University We are now seeing that in fact Mars probably does have water, not liquid water, that there is ice just below the surface and there's even just recently tantalizing evidence that perhaps water does flow periodically... Now, and also coupled with the fact that here on Earth we're finding that life in very primitive form exists in the most extreme environments, these are the so called 'extremophiles' that exist at the bottom of the oceans… So life is much, much tougher.
John Zarnecki，开放大学空间科学教授我们现在看到，事实上火星可能确实有水，而不是液态水，地表下有冰，甚至最近有诱人的证据表明，也许水确实会周期性流动......现在，再加上我们在地球上发现非常原始形式的生命存在于最极端的环境中，这些就是存在于海底的所谓“极端微生物”......所以生活要艰难得多。
Neil(尼尔)
What does tantalizing mean, Sophie?
诱人是什么意思，苏菲？
Sophie(苏菲)
It means something you want that's almost, but not quite, within reach. So, scientists would love to think water flows on Mars but the evidence isn't strong enough for this to be certain. The other interesting point the professor makes is that life may exist in the very harsh Martian environment, because primitive life exists in extreme places on Earth.
Extremophiles are organisms, or small creatures, that live in very extreme environments and can survive conditions that would kill most other organisms. But on Mars they would be living underground because the radiation, or light and heat, from the Sun would kill any organisms living on the surface of the planet. So why doesn’t the Sun's radiation kill us then, Sophie?
The Earth has a strong magnetic field created by its hot molten core, or centre, and this protects us from the Sun's harmful solar winds.
地球有一个由其热熔融核心或中心产生的强磁场，这保护我们免受太阳有害太阳风的伤害。
Neil(尼尔)
And what about Mars - why doesn't it have a magnetic field?
那么火星呢 - 为什么它没有磁场？
Sophie(苏菲)
It used to, 4 billion years ago. It’s possible that a massive collision with an asteroid might have heated up Mars's core, disrupting the magnetic fields.
40 亿年前就已经过去了。与小行星的大规模碰撞可能会使火星的核心升温，从而破坏磁场。
Neil(尼尔)
And if you disrupt a process you stop it from continuing normally. Now, to return to the subject of collisions, Sophie, I have something very interesting to tell you.
A meteorite, or a piece of rock from outer space, might've crashed into the Earth millions of years ago. That meteorite might have contained Martian life forms. So we might be descended from Martians!
That's actually an interesting idea, Neil. But let's listen to Professor John Zarnecki talking about interplanetary life.
这实际上是一个有趣的想法，Neil。但是，让我们听听 John Zarnecki 教授谈论行星际生命。
INSERT(插入)
John Zarnecki, Professor of Space Science, The Open University If we do find traces of life on Mars we don't know, do we - whether it evolved independently or was it perhaps seeded from Earth. It is possible that life forms from Earth travelled to Mars and perhaps existed there, or the other way round.
John Zarnecki，开放大学空间科学教授如果我们真的在火星上发现了我们不知道的生命痕迹，我们是否发现了 —— 它是独立进化的，还是可能来自地球的种子。来自地球的生命形式有可能来到火星，并可能在那里存在，或者相反。
Neil(尼尔)
So life on Mars may have evolved, or developed, on its own. Or it might have arrived from Earth in a lump of rock… Or the other way round! So Martians might be humans or we might be Martians! One big interplanetary happy family, Sophie!
Well Neil, let's hope you stay happy after you hear the answer to today's quiz question. I asked: How long is a day on Mars? Is it … a) 5 hours? b) 25 hours? Or c) 45 hours?
And I said c) 45 hours, they must have a long day over there.
我说 c） 45 小时，他们那边肯定有漫长的一天。
Sophie(苏菲)
And you were … wrong! The correct answer is b) because a day on Mars is slightly longer than here on Earth, it's 25 hours. Anyway, can we at least hear the words we learned today?
/1 
