科学家向外星文明发送维基百科

Wikipedia is becoming Wookiepedia as boffins hope the informative website will help us reach out to intelligent life forms.

维基百科（Wikipedia）真的要变身星战维基（Wookiepedia）了。加州研究人员希望这个百科式网站能帮助地外文明了解地球。

Astronomers would like to beam the entire contents of Wikipedia into space in the hope of contacting aliens.

天文学家希望能将整个维基百科送入太空，以联系外星人。

They want to send messages to hundreds of star systems and planets 20 light years away using radio telescopes.

运用无线电波望远镜，他们想把信息发送到距离地球20光年外的行星和星系。

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, in California, wants to use powerful radio telescopes to try to reachChewbacca and his mates in a galaxy far far away.

加州搜寻地外文明研究所（SETI）还希望用这种强大的无线电望远镜在遥远的河外星系寻找楚巴卡（Chewbacca，《星球大战》中的人物）和他的伙伴们。

The plans will be discussed by astronomers at the weekend as some scientists fear a reply from ET might not turn out to be friendly.

研究人员将在本周末对计划展开研讨，有科学家则担心外星人会回复不友好的信息。

Institute astrophysicist David Black said: “One question is if there are predators we might be drawing attention to ourselves. Another is if we go ahead, what message should be sent?

研究所的天体物理学家大卫·布莱克（David Black）表示：“一方面，我们要想想这样的行为是否会引狼入室。另一方面，一旦计划更进一步，我们应该发些什么呢？

“There could be many civilisations out there but if they are all listening and no one is broadcasting then nothing will happen.”

“地外文明成千上万，但是如果他们全都只听不回，这一切都将石沉大海。”

Professor Stephen Hawking is among those who has warned that although intelligent aliens probably exist we should give them a wide berth.

包括斯蒂芬·霍金（Stephen Hawking）教授在内的另一些科学家也警告称，虽然高智能生物可能真的存在，我们还是应该与他们保持安全距离。

“If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America which didn’t turn out well for the native Americans,” he said.

“一旦外星人造访，所带来的后果无异于哥伦布发现新大陆，要知道这对美洲土著来说不是好事。”霍金表示。

Signals from Earth’s radio and TV transmissions have been heading out in space for around 60 years reaching around 5,000 stars.

此外，60年来地球一直在向宇宙发送电视广播讯号，覆盖了大约5000多颗行星。

Vocabulary

boffin：科学家（尤指从事研究工作的人）

galaxy：星系

astronomers：天文学家

astrophysicist：天体物理学家

predators：捕食者

give sb/sth a wide berth：与……保持安全距离