---
url: https://gaojian.site/new-concept/book-3/55-from-the-earth-greetings.md
description: '新概念英语第三册：From the Earth: Greetings。精读、词块回忆、双向译练、句法、逻辑与FSRS复习。'
---

# 来自地球的问候

## 课文学习台 {#study}

### 第1段

Recent developments in astronomy have made it possible to detect planets in our own Milky Way and in other galaxies. This is a major achievement because, in relative terms, planets are very small and do not emit light. Finding planets is proving hard enough, but finding life on them will prove infinitely more difficult. The first question to answer is whether a planet can actually support life. In our own solar system, for example, Venus is far too hot and Mars is far too cold to support life. Only the Earth provides ideal conditions, and even here it has taken more than four billion years for plant and animal life to evolve.

中文理解：天文学方面的最新发展使得我们能够在银河系和其他星系发现行星。这是一个重要的成就，因为相对来说，行星很小，而且也不发光。事实证明，寻找行星相当困难，而要在行星上发现生命就更加艰难了。第一个需要解答的问题是一颗行星是否有能够维持生命的条件。举例来说，在我们生活的太阳系里，对于生命来说，金星的温度太高，而火星的温度太低。只有地球提供理想的条件，而即使在这里，植物和动物的进化也用了40多亿年的时间。

* **whether**：不仅 / 两者都不 / 是否；找齐成对结构的两端；不是看见 not only 就一律倒装。

* **for example**：例如；例子要证明前面的判断；可换内容，不必换这个常用表达。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①detect = discover, find。②in relative terms = relatively (speaking) , in relation to other things。③emit = send out。 ④ideal conditions = an environment which is perfect (for the development of life)。

### 第2段

Whether a planet can support life depends on the size and brightness of its star, that is its "sun". Imagine a star up to twenty times larger, brighter and hotter than our own sun. A planet would have to be a very long way from it to be capable of supporting life. Alternatively, if the star were small, the life-supporting planet would have to have a close orbit round it and also provide the perfect conditions for life forms to develop. But how would we find such a planet? At present, there is no telescope in existence that is capable of detecting the presence of life. The development of such a telescope will be one of the great astronomical projects of the twenty-first century.

中文理解：一颗行星是否能够维持生命取决于它的恒星 ——即它的“太阳”——的大小和亮度。设想一下，一颗恒星比我们的太阳还要大，还要亮，还要热20倍，那么一颗行星要能适合维持生命就要距离它的恒星非常远。反之，如果恒星很小，维持生命的行星就要在离恒星很近的轨道上运行，而且要有极好的条件才能使生命得以发展，但是，我们如何才能找到这样一颗行星呢？现在，没有一台现存的望远镜可以发现生命的存在。而开发这样一台望远镜将会是21世纪天文学的一个重要研究课题。

* **Whether**：不仅 / 两者都不 / 是否；找齐成对结构的两端；不是看见 not only 就一律倒装。

* **depends on**：取决于；依赖；说清依赖什么条件，不只记一个中文对应词。

* **long way**：形容词与名词一起理解；先结合这句确定是在评价位置、距离还是经历，不把 good 一律换成中文“好”。

* **At present**：目前 / 像往常一样 / 此刻；时间范围不同；这些词帮助交代背景，不单独决定时态。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①capable of = able to。②alternatively = on the other hand。③presence = existence。

### 第3段

It is impossible to look for life on another planet using earth-based telescopes. Our own warm atmosphere and the heat generated by the telescope would make it impossible to detect objects as small as planets. Even a telescope in orbit round the earth, like the very successful Hubble telescope, would not be suitable because of the dust particles in our solar system. A telescope would have to be as far away as the planet Jupiter to look for life in outer space, because the dust becomes thinner the further we travel towards the outer edges of our own solar system. Once we detected a planet, we would have to find a way of blotting out the light from its star, so that we would be able to "see" the planet properly and analyze its atmosphere. In the first instance, we would be looking for plant life, rather than "little green men". The life forms most likely to develop on a planet would be bacteria. It is bacteria that have generated the oxygen we breathe on earth. For most of the earth's history they have been the only form of life on our planet. As Earth-dwellers, we always cherish the hope that we will be visited by little green men and that we will be able to communicate with them. But this hope is always in the realms of science fiction. If we were able to discover lowly forms of life like bacteria on another planet, it would completely change our view of ourselves. As Daniel Goldin of NASA observed, "Finding life elsewhere would change everything. No human endeavour or thought would be unchanged by it."

中文理解：使用放置在地球上的望远镜无法观察到其他行星的生命。地球周围温暖的大气层和望远镜散发的热量使得我们根本不可能找到像行星这样小的物体。即使是一台放置在围绕地球的轨道上的望远镜 ——如非常成功的哈勃望远镜——也因为太阳系中的尘埃微粒而无法胜任。要在外太空寻找生命，望远镜就得放到像木星那么遥远的位置。因为我们越是接近太阳系的边缘，尘埃就越稀薄。一旦我们找到这样一颗行星，我们就要想办法将它的恒星射过来的光线遮暗，这样我们就能彻底“看见”这颗行星，并分析它的大气层。首先我们要寻找植物，而不是那种“小绿人”。行星上最有可能出现的生命形式是细菌。正是细菌生产出我们在地球上呼吸的氧气。在地球历史的大部分时间里，细菌一直是地球上唯一的生命形式。作为地球上的居民，我们总存有这样的希望：小绿人来拜访我们，而我们可以和他们交流。但是，这种希望总是只在科幻小说中存在。如果我们能够在另一颗行星上找到诸如细菌的那种低等生命，那么这个发现将彻底改变我们对我们自己的看法。正如美国国家航空航天局的丹尼尔·戈尔丁指出的“在其他地方发现生命会改变一切。任何人类的努力和想法都会改变。”

* **look for**：期待 / 照顾 / 寻找 / 看；介词一变意思就变；look forward to 的 to 后接名词或 -ing。

* **because of**：由于；先确认后面是名词性内容；because 后才可以直接接句子。

* **so that**：以便或以致 / 尽管 / 即使 / 仿佛；先判断两部分的关系；even though 说已知情况，even if 常说假设。

* **be able to**：能够 / 无法；结合时间判断是一般能力还是某次实际做到；unable 带否定。

* **rather than**：代替 / 而不是；两边尽量保持可比较的形式，并说明你真正选择了什么。

#### 这一段的读法与用法

注释：①在because 引导的原因状语从句中还有一个“the further…system”作比较状语从句。②小绿人这个单词本身在英语语境中就是指代外星人，是想象的外星小绿人。

#### Summary 摘要

Finding life on other planets with earth based telescopes is impossible because of the heat of our planet and the dust particles throughout the solar System. A telescope would need to be as far away as Jupiter. Even then, the problem will be how to blot out the light from a planet's sun to study it. The most likely forms of life will be plants and bacteria. Even the discovery of lowly life forms would change our view of ourselves. (80 words)

#### Composition 作文

\[1]Do you remember ET in the film ET, the Extraterrestrial(n.天外来客)? If you do, you will know that the common picture of extraterrestrials is that they will look rather strange-for instance, they might have big eyes and funny feet and be a strange colour-but they will still somehow look like living creatures from earth. At the same time, of course, we believe that they will probably have incredible powers-like ET's power to heal injuries and to come alive again. Many science-fiction stories and films have shown aliens or extraterrestrials like this. They may somehow look like strange earth creatures, therefore, but they are benevolent.

\[2]But what if extraterrestrials-beings from other planets-are creatures with incredible intelligence and with no form, that is, with no body form like earthly creatures? They might be almost "living thoughts". How would we greet them? How would we deal with them? And what if they are not benevolent? In other words, what if they really want to take over the earth?

\[3]There are stories that extraterrestrials or aliens have already crashed on earth in spacecraft (flying saucers) and that scientists have studied them. There are even more fantastic stories that scientists are already learning from extraterrestrials new knowledge which will help us build incredible spacecraft to fly to other planets and beyond. Stories like that must surely be just rumours.

\[4]Perhaps one day we will know if there really are extraterrestrials out there in space, and if there are, we will know what they look like and what they think of us. Will they really be little green men? Or will they begiants? Or Perhaps they will be so small that we can hardly see them? Will they be friendly? Or will they want to take over the earth? Who knows? One thing is certain. If we were ever to discover that there are extraterrestrials out there, the discovery would completely change our view of the universe and ourselves. (329 words)

## 学完这一课

保留原段的推进关系，换成自己的经历，写或说一段四五句的话。

[Nce · 本册复习台](/new-concept/book-3/review) · [三册选择地图](/new-concept/)

*译文与解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及本站首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第197—200页，2022年2月第3版。*