每日口說挑戰【經濟學人】外星人究竟是否存在？Do "They" Exist?

[Transcript]

Folks, CNN10 has entered a summer break. So, today we’ll be covering a piece from The Economist about our friends from outer space, the extraterrestrials. Are you a fan of the mystery channels on YouTube? From bizarre sightings to government cover-ups, people love a good story about aliens. I mean, we’re basically obsessed with the idea that there might be another form of intelligent-based life on other planets, just look at all the space expeditions and movies people dedicated their time to, we just can’t wait to solve the mystery.

Our home⏤Earth⏤is filled with life so far unmatched by anything we've found in space, however, we're only a tiny part of the universe, and there has to be life out there somewhere else, right? Well, it is said that truth always hurts. As soon as people sent satellites into orbit and beyond, they immediately discovered that these places didn't actually have life. The search for life was very prevalent in science fiction, but in science, it was seen as a little bit of a laughing stock. Why, you may ask, it’s because we don’t have enough technology to provide any proof for it at the moment.

But in the search for life beyond our own planet, we’re actually searching for signs that represent the possibility of life. Aside from water and other biosignatures, for decades, scientists have also been looking for something called "techno signatures". It’s actually not that tricky to find. All you have to do is watch for telltale signs of technology like radio signals or the bright flash of a laser. In 1977, astronomers received a strange signal coming from space with the code “6EQUJ5”, which was later known as the “Wow!” signal, the first signal from space till today. Some might claim it is proof of life beyond Earth, but no one can be sure and it hasn't been verified yet.

You might ask “Why not use a telescope?”. Well, here’s the thing, the Earth is lightyears away from other planets. So, if you’re looking at a planet that’s 200 lightyears away, that means you’re seeing that planet 200 years ago. Vice versa, if aliens from that planet look at us through a telescope, they’ll see people from 1822, 200 years ago, which means they’ll see the Qing Dynasty, the old American west, and Victorians walking on the streets in London, they won’t be able to connect with us. And, bear in mind that these extraterrestrial civilizations might be hundreds, if not millions of lightyears away. So, the communication is not exactly quick, which means we’ll have to wait hundreds of generations of people on Earth before we get responses.

If life exists within our corner of the galaxy, most scientists in this field are confident that we'll discover some sign of it in the next decade. If, however, we discover nothing in the next decade, that also tells us something profound. It tells us that life is much, much, much more rare than we thought it was.

So, folks, what do you think? Personally, I believe there are aliens out there and our technology is already advanced enough for us to communicate with them, but perhaps they travel through higher dimensions so it is impossible for human beings to see them with our naked eye, and that the aliens are also protecting themselves by avoiding direct contact, because what do we do when we see creatures beyond our imagination? Yes, we start wars and try to kill them, not quite a peace-loving civilization we have here on Earth. Anyways, leave a comment down below and it’s time for our sentence of the day.

[Sentence of the day]

Our home⏤Earth⏤is filled with life so far unmatched by anything we've found in space, but we're only a tiny part of the universe.

[Vocabulary]

1. unmatched
better than any other of the same type

i.e. Their proposal was unmatched by any other competitor.
他們的提案是其他競爭者無法匹敵的。

2. tiny
extremely small

i.e. Tiny items are easy to lose.
小物品很容易丟失。

3. universe
The outer space that all the stars, planets, and galaxies exist in.

i.e. Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?
宇宙中其他地方存在有智慧的生命嗎？


Alright, that’s all we have time for today.
I hope you enjoy today’s story.
Let me know in the comment section down below what you’ll like to listen to next time.
This is Ken Miao. I’ll see you again next week.

☺Our home⏤Earth⏤is filled with life so far unmatched by anything we've found in space, but we're only a tiny part of the universe.
地球是我們的家園，充滿了各種生命，迄今為止在太空中發現的任何東西都無法比擬，但我們只是宇宙的一小部分。
【心得】其實沒有在關心這個議題:p

Our home⏤Earth⏤is filled with life so far unmatched by anything we've found in space, but we're only a tiny part of the universe. There has to life out there somewhere else, right? 地球，我們的家園，充滿了各種生命。迄今在太空中發現的任何星球都無法比擬，但我們只是宇宙中的一小點。一定還有其他生物生存在其他地方，是吧？
◆ so far : 到目前為止
So far so good. 目前為止都還好！
◆ unmatched [ʌnˈmætʃt] (adj.) 無可匹敵的,無雙的,無與倫比的; (顏色等)不相配的
to be unmatched by sb./sth. 是某人／某事物無法比擬的
◆ tiny [ˋtaɪnɪ] (adj.) 極小的,微小的
◆ universe [ˈjunəˌvɚs] (n.)宇宙,天地萬物,萬象;全世界,全人類;世界,領域,範圍;(想像中的)人類世界以外的另一個世界

Folks, CNN10 has entered a summer break. So, today we’ll be covering a piece from The Economist about our friends from outer space, the extraterrestrials([͵ɛkstrətəˋrɛstrɪəl]地球之外的,外星人的). Are you a fan of the mystery(神秘的) channels on YouTube? From bizarre([bɪˋzɑr]奇異的) sightings([ˈsaɪtɪŋ]目擊n.) to government cover-ups(掩飾n.), people love a good story about aliens(外星人). I mean, we’re basically *obsessed(著迷的) with the idea that there might be another form of intelligent-based(有智能的) life(生物) on other planets, just look at all the space(太空) expeditions([͵ɛkspɪˋdɪʃən]探索) and movies people dedicated(致力於…的) their time to, we just can’t wait to solve the mystery(神秘事件).

Our home⏤Earth⏤is filled with life so far unmatched by anything we've found in space, but we're only a tiny part of the universe.
地球是我們的家園，充滿了各種生命，迄今為止在太空中發現的任何東西都無法比擬，但我們只是宇宙的一小部分。

Our home- Earth- is filled with life so far unmatched by anything we’re found in space, but we’re only a tiny part of the universe.