2016年6月大学英语四级听力VOA慢速英语练习(第十九套)

2016

年

6

月大学英 语四级听力

VOA

慢速英语练习（第十九套）

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2016

年

6

月大学英语四级听力

VOA

慢速英语练习（第十九套 ）

Hawking, Zuckerberg to Search for Life in the Universe

Investor Yuri Milner holds

a Starchip, a microelectronic component spacecraft,

during

an

announcement

of

the

Breakthrough

Starshot

initiative

with

physicist

Stephen

Hawking in New York, April 12, 2016.

It

is

one

of

the

oldest

questions

ever

asked:

Are

we

alone

or

is

there

other

life

out in the Universe?

Last

week,

an

international

team

of

scientists

and

businessmen

launched

a

project

they

hope

can

answer

that

question.

They

announced

plans

for

a

huge

space

exploration

program. Its goal is to find?alien?life in space.

The team includes British physicist Stephen Hawking, Russian-born billionaire

Yuri Milner and American Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facbook.

Their

project

is called

Breakthrough

Spaceshot.

It

will

develop

and

build

thousands of robotic vehicles that can speed through space.

Their first goal is to explore the near est star system, Alpha Centauri. It is

about

40

trillion

kilometers

—

or

4.37

light

years

–

away

from

Earth.

Once

launched

a spacecraft would have to travel 20 years to get there.

The

way

they

will

make

it

happen

is

like

something

from

a

science

fiction

story.

Crews on Earth would use powerful laser?beams?to power extremely small vehicles

through spacecraft would travel much farther than any other spacecraft

built to date.

Estimates say the project will cost from $$5- to 10-billion.

Yuri Milner is giving the project $$100 million to get started.

Last week, Milner showed a model of the spacecraft to reporters in New York.

“

This

is

a

starchip,

a?gram-scale

wafer?containing

cameras,?photon

thrusters,

power supply and navigation and communication equipment.

”

The starchip is a computer chip about the size of a large?postage stamp. Each

one will cost no more than an iPhone. The chip will have a light sail

—

very thin

material that can open in space and move the spacecraft forward. Together the chip

and the sail are called

“

nanocraft.

”

The team plans to launch a

“

mothership,

”

which then would be put in Earth

’

s orbit. The mother ship would release thousands of the nanocraft.

Their light sails would open and crews on Earth would fire laser beams on the

light sails. That would push the nanocraft. They will travel at about 20 percent of

light speed.

Today

’

s fastest spacecraft would take about 30,000 years to reach the Alpha

Centauri system. But once this new nanocraft technology is ready, supporters say,

it can shorten that time -- to just 20 years.

Stephen

Hawking

said

the

distance

between

Alpha

Centauri

and

Earth

can

be

crossed

within a generation. The British scientist speaks through a computerized voice:

“

I

believe

what

makes

us

unique

is?transcending?our

limits.

Gravity

pins

us

to

the ground, but I just flew to America.

”

Hawking added,

“

Today we?commit?to the

next great

leap

in the?cosmos, because

we are human and our nature is to fly.

”

Other scientists have signed on for the project. Freeman Dyson is with the

Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. He thinks scientists might find something

interesting before the nanocraft reach Alpha Centauri.

huge?void?which

you

have

to

cross

in

order

to

reach

something

interesting

on

the

other

side.?On the contrary, there are thousands of objects in between.

”

Dyson

believes

that

life

is

more

likely

to

be

found

on

an

asteroid,

or

space

rock,

rather than a planet.

The

project

is

just

now

taking

shape.

The

first

step

is

about

20

years

for

research

and

development.

There

are

still

many

details

to

work

out

about

how

this

project

will

work, technically.

Next

would

come

the

launch

of

the

mothership,

and

the

release

of

the

would be another 20 years to get to Alpha Centauri.

Then, people on Earth will have to be patient. It will take at least four more

years for any of the information collected to reach Earth.

Avi Loeb teaches astronomy at Harvard University. He explained the group wants

to interest young people in the project.

He

said,

“

our

goal

is

to

get

people

all

over

the

world

involved,

especially

young

people that will be around when we get there.

”

Future improvements in technology could change the?timeline?and help speed up

the

project.

But

for

now,

a

person

born

this

year

may

be

in

his

or

her

50s

when

those

nanocraft reach their target.

Words in This Story

alien?

–

n. a creature from somewhere other than Earth

ambitious?

–

adj. something that will take a lot of time and effort and is

difficult to achieve

gram-scale wafer?

–

n. a small object that weighs about a gram

photon thrusters?

–

n. a device that helps move a spacecraft forward

transcend?

–

v. going beyond or rising above normal limits

void?

–

adj. empty

on the contrary?

–

phrase. the opposite

beam?-n. a line of light

postage stamp?

–

n. a small square on a letter for payment to mail

commit?

–

v. to say you will definitely do something

cosmos?

–

n. the system that is the universe

timeline?- n. a schedule of events

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