Book 3   Unit 9

                            Text B  Message To the Unknown 

In 1977, two spacecraft named Voyager I and II were launched toward Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. After collecting and sending back to us precious information about those giant planets, they left the Solar System in 1989. No one knows how long their wanderings will last; distances in space are so enormous that the ships may float there for a billion years without hitting any object that could destroy them. According to scientists, the Voyagers may approach the nearest star on their path in forty thousand years or so; in another four hundred thousand years, one of the Voyagers may pass near a second star. In either case the ships will be at a distance of one or two light years from the star.There won't be any crash: a light year is the distance that light, traveling at 186,000 miles per second, can cover in 365 of our days. 　

There are countless stars in the universe. It is believed that some of them are, like our sun, circled by a number of planets and that some planets may carry intelligent beings, perhaps more advanced than we are. It is therefore possible that, in a million years or so, some creatures, flying through space in their own ships, will find one of the Voyagers. The stars are so far apart that the chances of such a meeting are very small, but it is not totally impossible. The scientists who prepared the spacecraft for their journey decided to put a message on each of them.“We may never have another opportunity” they explained, “to communicate with our distant neighbors -- to let someone know, sometime, somewhere, that our blue planet was once the home of fairly intelligent people, more or less civilized.”

　The first difficulty was to decide what form the message should take. How can you communicate with beings that you can't even imagine? Since the laws of physics are believed to be the same throughout the universe, all beings must perceive light and sound in some way, even if they don't have eyes and ears like ours. After considering the problem carefully, the scientists and their chief, Dr. Carl Sagan, concluded that the best way to deliver the message was to put it on a special record capable of reproducing images and sounds, packed with a needle and a drawing showing how the equipment should be used.

A small committee of scientists, writers, artists and musicians was given the task of preparing the message itself. Despite some differences of opinion about the choice of material, the members of the committee agreed on the main points.They all said that it was essential to indicate the location of Earth in the universe, to show what it looked like, and to give an idea of the richness and variety of its cultures.　

The message lasts two hours. It starts with 116 pictures without sound, beginning with a drawing of the solar system and photos of Earth taken from space. Life is described first with representations of a man, a woman, a mother feeding a baby, a group of older children, and a family. To show that Earthlings live in societies,there are also pictures of people eating, working, cooking, and playing together. Then come all sorts of people: dancers, fishermen, members of different races and cultures. There are trees, beaches and islands, leaves and snow, an active volcano, even an earthquake. There are animals, from the bee to the elephant. Human achievements are represented by some of our most impressive buildings and bridges, along with ordinary houses from various parts of the world. Pictures of tools and machines have been included, medical and scientific instruments, a supermarket, a busy airport, and the launching of a spaceship. And a flock of birds flying across a gorgeous sunset.

After this silent representation of our world, the record provides the Earth's sounds. This section of the message begins with brief speeches in fifty-five languages (including languages that have not been used in thousands of years), plus a special greeting from a group of *whales. The speeches are followed by the sounds of nature (waves, wind, rain, animal calls, and bird songs) and human noises such as footsteps, heartbeats, the crying of a baby, men sawing wood, trucks and automobiles, and -- the most difficult to record -- the sound of a kiss.

Three quarters of the record consists of music. This selection was the most difficult to decide on, for each member of the committee had his or her favorite composer. But they finally agreed that the aliens should have a chance to hear from as many cultures, past and present, as possible. If the finders of a Voyager can hear at all, they will have a wide choice: Bach, Beethoven, jazz, a Navajo chant, folk songs, European music of the fifteenth century, a wedding song from Peru, melodies from Japan and India, and a very old tune from New Guinea. The aliens will also hear a Mexican band, some rock and roll, and an ancient Chinese melody, “Flowing Streams,” performed on a four-thousand-year-old instrument.

The gold-covered record and its equipment, wrapped in aluminum for extra protection, are expected to survive in space for at least a billion years. What sort of beings, if any, will find them? And how will they react? Will they be curious and excited? Or will they be so used to picking up spaceships that they'll be bored to find one more? Will their own history and experiences help them understand what Dr. Sagan's team was trying to show? Will they be impressed by our achievements? Or will they laugh at our clumsy efforts to communicate -- if they can laugh? Will they try to locate the blue planet?

The sad fact is: We'll never know.

                         发往未知世界的信息 

    1977年，两艘名叫“旅行者”一号和二号的宇宙飞船向木星、土星和海王星发射。两艘飞船收集并向我们发回了关于那几颗巨大行星的珍贵信息，随后于1989年离开了太阳系。没有人知道它们的漫游将持续多久；宇宙万物之间的距离非常之大，飞船也许会在其间漂泊十亿年而不会撞上任何摧毁它们的物体。据科学家们说，“旅行者”号飞船也许要过四万多年才会接近它们飞行途中相距最近的一颗星；再过40万年，其中的一艘飞船可能会飞过另一颗星。在两种情况下，飞船同星球间的距离都将是一至二个光年。不会发生任何碰撞：一光年等于光线以每秒186，000英里的速度运行365个地球日内所经过的距离。　 

    宇宙中有无数颗星。人们认为其中的有些像我们的太阳一样有多颗行星环绕，有些行星上可能存在着有理智的生物，也许比我们更先进。所以很可能一百多万年之后，有些生物在乘坐他们自己的飞船穿越太空时会发现某艘“旅行者”号飞船。星球之间相距十分遥远，这样的一次相聚可能性极小，但这并不是完全不可能的。为宇宙飞船的航行作准备的科学家们决定在每一艘飞船上都放入一些信息。他们解释说，“我们也许永远不会再有别的机会同我们遥远的邻居联系---我们要有人在某时某地知道，我们的蓝色星球曾经是具有相当智力和初步文明的人类的家园。”　

    第一个困难是决定这些信息应该采用什么形式。如何才能同你甚至无法想象的生物进行交流呢？既然人们认为物理定律在整个宇宙中是一样的，那么所有的生物就一定能以某种方式感知光和声音，即使他们没有和我们一样的眼睛和耳朵。在仔细考虑了这个问题之后，科学家们和他们的负责人卡尔-萨根博士得出结论，传递这一信息的最佳方式是将它录在一张能够重现图象和声音的特制唱片上，连同一根唱针和一幅说明如何使用这一设备的图画装在一起。　

    一个由科学家、作家、艺术家和音乐家组成的人数不多的委员会接受了准备这一信息的任务。尽管在选材上有一些意见分歧，委员会成员们在主要问题上达成了共识。他们都说必须表明地球在宇宙中的位置，显示它的外观，让人了解其文化的丰富多彩。

    这些信息持续2个小时。一开始是116幅无声的画面，先是一张太阳系的图画和从太空拍摄的一些地球的照片。对生活的描绘先是几个画面：一个男人，一个女人，一个正在给婴儿喂奶的母亲，一群较大的孩子和一个家庭。为了表现地球上的人们生活在社会中，所以还有人们吃饭、工作、做饭和一起玩耍的照片。然后出现各种各样的人：跳舞者、渔夫、不同种族和文化的成员。还有树木、沙滩和岛屿，树叶和白雪，一座活火山，甚至一场地震。还有动物，从蜜蜂一直到大象。我们的一些最宏伟的建筑和桥梁，以及世界各地的普通房屋，这些都代表了人类的成就。还包括了各种工具和机器的照片，医疗器械和科学仪器，一家超市，一座繁忙的机场，以及一艘宇宙飞船的发射。还有一群鸟在绚丽的晚霞中飞翔。

    在无声地展示了我们的世界之后，唱片播出了地球上的各种声音。这一部分的信息一开始是55种语言的简短发言（包括已经几千年不用的语言），加上来自一群鲸的特别问候。这些发言之后是大自然的声音（海浪、风、雨、动物叫声和鸟的歌唱）以及人们的声响，如脚步声，心跳声，婴儿的啼哭声，男人们的锯木声，卡车和汽车声，还有一种最难录制的声音---接吻声。

    这张唱片的四分之三由音乐构成。这项选择最难决定，因为委员会的每个成员都有其最喜爱的作曲家。但是他们最终一致同意外星人应该有机会聆听来自尽可能多种文化的、过去的和现代的音乐。如果“旅行者”号的发现者真的能够听到，他们将会有很大的选择余地：巴赫、贝多芬、爵士乐、纳瓦霍乐曲、民歌、15世纪的欧洲音乐、秘鲁的婚礼歌曲、日本歌曲、印度歌曲、新几内亚古曲。外星人还会听到墨西哥乐队的演奏、摇滚乐和在有四千年历史的乐器上演奏的中国古曲《流水》。

    这张镀金唱片和它的播放设备包裹在铝中加以特别保护，可望在宇宙中保存至少10亿年。如果有生物的话，哪一种生物会发现它们呢？他们的反应将会如何？他们会好奇激动吗？或者他们对于发现宇宙飞船已经习以为常，所以又发现一艘会使他们感到厌烦？他们自己的历史和经历会帮助他们理解萨根博士的小组所试图展示的东西吗？他们会对我们的成就留下深刻的印象吗？或者，如果他们会笑的话，他们会嘲笑我们为进行联系所作的笨拙努力吗？他们会设法找到这颗蓝色的星球吗？

    可惜的是：我们永远不得而知。