新奇事件簿 监听地球的神秘太空物体

Scientists believe there is a possibility that aliens are listening to us on Earth. Astronomers¹ from a program called Breakthrough Listen are excited about a giant, mysterious space object that has passed close to our planet. Breakthrough Listen scientists search for evidence of civilizations beyond Earth. The scientists work at the University of Hawaii. They described the object as an 800-meter-long, 80-meter-wide, cigar-shaped rock. Some scientists believe the rock has too many straight lines on it for it to be formed naturally. This suggests it could have been designed by some form of extra-terrestrial life. The scientists have dubbed² the rock Oumuamua, which means 'first messenger' in the Hawaiian language.

科学家认为外星人可能正在监听地球上的人类。突破聆听计划的天文学家对这个巨大而神秘的太空物体感到格外激动，因为它近距离的掠过了地球。突破聆听计划的科学家搜寻地球之外文明的证据。这些科学家们工作于夏威夷大学，他们将该物体描述成一个800米长，80米宽的雪茄状岩石。一些科学家认为这个岩石表面的直线过多，不可能是自然形成。这表明该岩石是经一些地外生命设计而成。科学家们将这块岩石称为奥陌陌（Oumuamua），夏威夷语是‘第一个信使’的意思。

The astronomers first spotted³ Oumuamua in October. It was travelling at great speed through the solar system and passed Earth at about 85 times the distance to the Moon. This is just a hair's breadth relative to the vast expanses of the universe. Oumuamua is the first object spotted in the solar system that appears to originate from another star system. The astronomers say its high speed of over 300,000 kph suggests it is outside the gravitational pull of the Sun and is instead travelling on its own path that originated in another galaxy⁴. The scientists said it was highly unlikely that Oumuamua was a sign that aliens exist, but the huge rock and its journey was a unique event that possibly offered new secrets.

天文学家们于10月第一次发现奥陌陌。奥陌陌极速略过太阳系且它和地球的距离大约是地球距离月球的85倍。这个距离恰好与广袤宇宙擦肩而过。奥陌陌是第一个发现于太阳系却来源于其他星系的物体。天文学家表示其超过30万千米每小时的高速度表明其不受太阳引力作用影响并且它没有在其发源星系轨道上运动。科学家称奥陌陌不大可能是外星人存在的迹象，但这块巨大的岩石及其运动轨道是一次独特事件，其可能蕴含了新的秘密。

1 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

4 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。