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Good evening, in 1959, on the day that I was born, a headline in Life magazine proclaimed Target Venus, There May Be Life There.
晚上好，在1959年我出生的那一天，《生命》杂志的一个标题宣布，金星上可能会有生命。
It told of how scientists rode a balloon to an altitude of 80,000 feet to make telescope observations of Venus's atmosphere
该文讲述了科学家如何乘气球到达八万英尺高的地方用望远镜观测金星的大气，
and how their discovery of water raised hopes that there could be living things there.
以及他们发现水的这件事如何点燃金星上可能存在生命的希望。
As a kid, I thrilled to tales of adventure and Isaac as most juvenile science fiction novel, Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus.
小时候，我看少儿科幻小说《幸运之星和金星海洋》时非常激动。
For many of my peers, though, Venus quickly lost its romance.
但对于我的很多同伴而言，金星很快就失去了其浪漫色彩。
The very first thing that scientists discovered with a mission to another planet was that Venus was not at all the earthly paradise that fiction had portrayed.
科学家带着任务去另一个星球时所发现的第一件事就是，金星绝不是小说里描绘的那种世间天堂。
It is nearly identical to our own planet and bulk properties such as mass, density, and size.
金星和我们的地球有很多相似的特征，例如质量、密度和体积都差不多。
But its surface has been cooked and dried by an ocean of carbon dioxide, trapped in the burning death grip of a runaway greenhouse effect.
但其表面被二氧化碳海洋烤干了，温室效应的酷热笼罩着金星。
Venus has long been held up as a cautionary tale for everything that could go wrong on a planet like earth.
金星一直都在警告我们，像地球这样的星球如果出了问题，就会像金星那样。
As a possible home for alien life, it has been voted the planet least likely to succeed.
作为外星生命可能生活的家园，金星被认为是最不可能有生命的星球。
But I have refused to give up on Venus.
但是我拒绝放弃金星上存在生命的希望。
And over the years, my stubborn loyalty has been justified.
在过去的多年里，我固执的坚持得到了证明。
The rocky views glimpsed by the Nearer Nine and other Russian landers suggested a tortured volcanic history that was confirmed in the early 1990s by the American Magellan orbiter,
接近九号探测器以及其他俄罗斯着陆舱看到的岩石景象表明，美国麦哲伦轨道飞行器在90年代所确认的火山历史确实存在，
which used radar to peer through the planet's thick clouds and map out a rich, varied and dynamic surface.
该飞行器使用雷达来穿透金星厚厚的云层，绘出该星球丰富多样的动态表面。
The surface formed mostly in the last billion years, which makes it fresher and more recently active than any rocky planet other than earth.
金星表面主要是在过去十亿年形成，导致其表面比除了地球之外的其他岩石星球都更新、更活跃。
Russian and American spacecraft also found hints that its ancient climate might have been wetter, cooler, and possibly even friendly to life.
俄罗斯和美国宇宙飞船还发现了这些迹象：金星的古代气候可能更湿润、更冷，可能甚至对生命更适宜。
Measurements of density and composition imply that Venus originally formed out of basically the same stuff as earth that presumably included much more water than the tiny trace we find blowing in the thick air today.
密度和构成的测量表明，刚开始时形成金星的物质和地球是相同的，比那些我们现在发现厚大气层下飘动的小痕迹包含更多的水。
Thus, our picture of Venus at around that time life was getting started on earth is one of warm oceans, probably rich with organic molecules splashing around rocky shores and volcanic vents.
因此，金星在地球生命起源时应该是一个温暖的海洋，岩石边缘和火山口附近可能喷出大量有机分子。
The sun was considerably less bright back then.
当时的太阳远没有现在这么亮。
So, Venus was arguably a cozy, a habitat for life than earth.
所以，金星当时是一个比地球更舒适的生命栖息地。
19.What do we learn from the Life magazine article?
19.我们从《生命》杂志的文章中知道什么？
20.What are scientists' findings about Venus?
20.科学家围绕金星的发现是什么？
21.What information did Russian and American space probes provide about Venus?
21.俄罗斯和美国的空间探测提供了关于金星的什么信息？
