Searching for alien lifeforms

Are you curious of looking up at the stars and wondering if there’s intelligent life out there? So is Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, China’s mega-science project and the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope.
仰望星空时你是否会感到好奇，想知道星星上是否也存在着智慧生命？我国重大科学工程、世界最大单口径射电望远镜500米口径球面射电望远镜（FAST）也想一探究竟。

On April 28, FAST, nicknamed “China’s Eye of Heaven”, embarked on its search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
4月28日，被誉为“中国天眼”的FAST正式开启地外文明搜索。

As the news went viral on social networking sites, someone commented saying: “Do not answer! Do not answer! Do not Answer!”
这一新闻随即在社交媒体上引爆，有人评论道：“不要回应！不要回应！不要回应！”

It seems that The Three-Body Problem, a science fiction novel by Chinese author Liu Cixin, has influenced minds so deeply that people are worried about the possibility of the Earth being invaded by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization.
看来中国作家刘慈欣所著的科幻小说《三体》相当深入人心，大家都担心地球有可能遭到先进的地外文明入侵。

That worry is, at least for now, unnecessary. Of the 1,800 planets that have been discovered, less than 20 are capable of supporting life, and the nearest among them, Gliese 581, is 20.4 light-years away.
至少从目前来看，这种担心是不必要的。在人类发现的1800颗行星中，只有不到20颗具备供生命存在的条件，其中离地球最近的格利泽581在20.4光年之外。

According to Robin Hanson’s Great Filter theory, there is less than a one in a million chance of any extraterrestrial life form evolving into higher intelligence or a civilization. And since their distance from China could even be millions or billions of light-years away, if they travel at the speed of light, it would take them at least millions of years to reach us.
罗宾·汉森提出的“大过滤器”理论认为，任何地外生命要进化到高智慧生命，甚至是一种地外文明，概率不到百万分之一。由于它们或许距离中国数百万乃至数十亿光年，纵使它们以光速旅行，也要花上至少数百万年才能到达地球。

However, that does not mean FAST’s job is meaningless. As mankind’s most sensitive radio telescope, FAST can best collect signals from the universe. Researchers can distinguish even a 4 Hz difference in the signals received, meaning it can best distinguish between manmade and ET-made signals. Even the signals from a non-ET civilization are useful, because they might contain some hidden information leading to the discovery of new stars or planets.
但这并不意味着FAST的工作毫无意义。作为人类最灵敏的射电望远镜，FAST能够最大限度地收集宇宙中的信号。研究人员甚至能够实现频率分辨率4赫兹，意味着FAST可以最大限度地分辨人类与外星生物所发出的信号。不是由地外文明发出的信号也有用处，因为它们或许含有一些能发现新恒星或者新行星的隐藏信息。

With FAST joining the cause, mankind can browse the universe more deeply than ever before and increase knowledge about the universe. And whatever it achieves is the best evidence of China’s advanced technology in astronomy and the study of the universe.
推动FAST地外文明搜索巡天，可以达到前所未有的深度，拓展人类对宇宙的认识。不论取得何种成果，这都是中国先进的天文学技术和宇宙研究的最佳体现。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高一792期