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I think it is exciting. Because it would imply that if life arose independently on Mars. The implication is that life is pervasive1 throughout the universe.
This is why Mars has so obsessed2 scientists. If life has arisen independently on the planet just next to us, then the chances / must be that life be everywhere, in which case, we are not alone.
The idea of life on Mars was first popularized by an American astronomer3 called Percival Lowell in the 1890s. He claimed he could see evidence of a civilization on Mars. The lines crisscrossing its surface he believed were not geological accidents, but canals linking Martian cities.
Lowell's vision inspired a global obsession5 with aliens, and spawned6 thousands of movies about little green men.
But in July 1965, reality intruded7. Mariner8 4 became the first probe to fly by Mars and photographe it. At last, the world would see what the land of the little green men really look like.
"When Mariner 4 flew by Mars, it just took a few pictures with a very coarse-grained television camera. And what it showed was a surface that could've been the moon. Clearly there was no civilizations, no canals, probably not even trees and insects. It was really a bleak9 landscape that was being photographed there. It really gave the impression that Mars was dead, and has always been dead since its early history. And they really dashed the hopes of dreamers thinking that maybe there was life there.
crisscross: to move back and forth10 through or over
Percival Lowel: American astronomer. He founded the Lowell Observatory in Arizona (1894), where his studies of Mars led him to believe that the planet was inhabited
dash: To destroy or wreck
1 pervasive | |
adj.普遍的;遍布的,(到处)弥漫的;渗透性的 | |
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2 obsessed | |
adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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3 astronomer | |
n.天文学家 | |
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4 gee | |
n.马;int.向右!前进!,惊讶时所发声音;v.向右转 | |
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5 obsession | |
n.困扰,无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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6 spawned | |
(鱼、蛙等)大量产(卵)( spawn的过去式和过去分词 ); 大量生产 | |
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7 intruded | |
n.侵入的,推进的v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 );把…强加于 | |
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8 mariner | |
n.水手号不载人航天探测器,海员,航海者 | |
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9 bleak | |
adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的 | |
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10 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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