Transcript （雙語版）
Sophie:Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Sophie…
大家好，歡迎收聽英語六分鐘。我是索菲。
Neil:And I'm Neil. Sophie – did you see the beautiful sky last night?
我是尼爾。索菲，你看昨天晚上的天空了嗎？非常美！
Sophie:No, I went to bed early. Why?
沒有，我很早就睡了。為什麼問這個？
Neil:I was wondering if there was life out there.
我當時在想那裡有沒有生物？
Sophie:You mean life on other planets? That's just science fiction, Neil.
你是說其他星球上存在生物嗎？那是科幻，尼爾。
Neil:It isn't! People are fascinated by life on other planets for a good reason.
不是的！很多人相信其他星球上有生物，這是有原因的。
Sophie:You believe in little green men?
你相信有小綠人？
Neil:Not necessarily… but possibly.
不一定是小綠人……但是也有可能。
Sophie: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?
在太陽系當中火星是我們最近的鄰居。今天我們節目的主題就是火星。那麼照例我們今天的問題就來了。火星上一天是多長時間？是a)5 個小時？b) 25個小時？還是 c) 45 個小時？
Neil: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?
我想一定是45 個小時。其他星球上的事情都很奇怪。而且火星比地球離太陽遠……火星可能是地球最近的鄰居，但是它距離我們也沒有那麼近，不是嗎？
Sophie: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?
從天文學角度來說是這樣的，尼爾。我們肉眼可以看到它，即不借用任何儀器就可以看到它，而且太空飛船也可以到達那裡。好了，我們稍後揭曉你的選擇正確與否。現在你可以告訴我為什麼有一些像你這樣的人一說到火星上可能有生命就這麼興奮嗎？
Neil:Well, Mars is similar to the Earth in some important ways which means if life developed on our planet, why not Mars?
在很多方面，火星和地球很相似，這就意味著如果我們的星球上有生命，火星上為什麼不能有呢？
Sophie: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.
的確。火星上的氣溫在允許生命生存的範圍內，不是很熱也不是很冷。但是我們會覺得火星上很冷——平均氣溫可以達到零下63℃，而地球上是14℃。而且那裡還很乾燥。
Neil:And it needs to be wet for life to develop, doesn't it?
要想有生命就需要有水，不是嗎？
Sophie: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.
對。很多科學家說液態水對生命來說是必須的。但是過去火星的表面可能有過水。而且最近的研究表明火星上可能存在地下水。讓我們聽開放大學教航天科學的約翰·扎內奇教授為我們介紹更多這方面的知識。
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.
我們現在看到火星上或許真的有水存在——不是液態水——但是在地面以下存在著冰，最近甚至有迷惑性很高的證據表明這些地下水或許會有周期地流動。另外，我們還在地球上找到了生活在極端環境下的原始形態的生物，這些被稱為「極端微生物」的生命生活在海洋的底部……所以它們生存起來一定相當、相當艱難。
Neil:What does tantalizing mean, Sophie?
索菲，迷惑性高是什麼意思？
Sophie: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.
它的意思是非常接近，但並非完全可以確定的。也就是說科學家很樂意相信火星上有流動水，但是證據不夠充分。這位教授說到的另外有趣的一點是，在火星的惡劣環境中可能真正存在生物，因為有原始生物生存在地球上環境很惡劣的地方。
Neil: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?
極端微生物是一種生存在極端環境下的微生物，或者說微型生物，它們可以在其他生物無法存活的地方生存下來。但是在火星上它們可能生活在地下，因為太陽的輻射，或者說太陽的光和熱，會殺死火星表面的所有微生物。那麼為什麼太陽的輻射不會殺死我們呢，索菲？
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.
高溫地核內的熔融物質為地球創造了一個磁場，它可以幫我們避開有害的太陽風。
Neil:And what about Mars - why doesn't it have a magnetic field?
那火星呢？為什麼火星沒有磁場呢？
Sophie: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.
40億年前是有的。可能是火星與其他小行星發生了劇烈的碰撞使火星核溫度升高，擾亂了磁場。
Neil: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.
擾亂是指讓某事物變得不再正常。現在我們回到星球碰撞的問題，索菲。我有有趣的事情要告訴你。
Sophie:Yes?
是什麼？
Neil: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!
數百萬年前，一塊來自太空的隕石落在了地球上。這塊隕石上可能攜帶著火星上的生命。所以我們有可能是火星人的後裔！
Sophie:That's actually an interesting idea, Neil. But let's listen to Professor John Zarnecki talking about interplanetary life.
這的確是有趣的消息，尼爾。但是我們來聽聽約翰·扎內奇教授對星際生命的介紹吧。
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.
如果我們在火星上真的尋找到了生命的痕跡，我們無法知道這生命是自身進化而成還是地球生命繁衍而來的，不是嗎？被從地球攜帶到太空去的生物可能在那裡生存了下來，相反的情況也同樣有可能。
Neil: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!
那就是說火星上的生物可能是自我進化而成；也可能是被地球上的一塊巖石攜帶到了火星……或者情況相反！也就是火星人可能是人類，我們也可能是火星人。真是星際間一個快樂的大家族，索菲！
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?
呃，尼爾，希望你聽到今天問題的答案後還是這樣開心。我的問題是火星上一天是多長時間？是a)5 個小時？b) 25個小時？還是 c) 45 個小時？
Neil:And I said c) 45 hours – they must have a long day over there.
我選擇的是c) 45 個小時，那裡的一天一定很長。
Sophie: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?
你的回答是……錯誤的！真確答案是b，因為火星上的一天稍微比地球上長一點，也就是25個小時。不管怎麼樣，至少我們把今天學到的單詞複習一遍吧？
Neil:They are:
它們是：
the naked eye
肉眼
arid
乾旱的
tantalizing
迷惑性高的
extremophiles
極端微生物
organisms
生物
radiation
輻射
core
地核
disrupt
幹擾
meteorite
隕石
evolved
進化
Sophie:Well, that's the end of today's 6 Minute English. Join us again soon!
好了，今天的英語六分鐘到這裡就結束了。請收聽我們的下期節目！
Both:Bye.
再見。