纪录片《火星任务》 第25期 只有地球有什么吗?

It's about searching for life in the universe,

这关乎在宇宙之中寻找其他的生命

it's about asking this profound question of whether we're alone,

关乎一个深刻的问题 我们是否孤独

whether we're all that there is.

是否是仅有的生命

And the only way we can do that,

而唯一的办法

even in this technological¹ age,

即便在科技发达的今天

is just by stepping out to our nearest neighbour planet,

就是向这个离我们最近的行星

the one next furthest out from the Sun,

太阳系中的第四颗行星迈进

and asking the question there.

并在那里寻求解答

But really,

但是

it's going to tell us this profound reality,

它将为我们揭示最深刻的事实

whether we're alone

我们是孤独的吗

or we're not.

或者不是

NASA's Viking mission was hugely ambitious.

美国宇航局的海盗号任务颇具雄心

It was their first ever attempt to land robotic probes

那是他们第一次尝试将机械火星车

on the surface of Mars.

降落到火星表面

And it was going to search for life itself.

让它自己寻找生命迹象

It has an arm, so it can extend out into the area around it

它有一只机械臂 所以能探索周围地面

and pick up sand to bring back to the other laboratories

收集土壤样本 送到火星车上的仪器中

which are on board the lander.

进行检测

The Viking landers were equipped with these

海盗号装备有

state-of-the-art biological laboratories

最为先进的生物检测设备

and they scooped² up soil and analysed it.

它们取出土壤样本 进行分析

They tried to feed any microbes that would be in the soil

试图培养土壤中任何可能存在的微生物

and do very sophisticated experiments to detect life.

并进行复杂的实验来检测是否有生命存在

1 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

2 scooped   

v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等）

参考例句：

• They scooped the other newspapers by revealing the matter. 他们抢先报道了这件事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》