For decades we've been sending signals into space and listening out for out of this world broadcasts. But what's the plan if signs of intelligent alien life are detected?

Those likely to be at the receiving end of a cosmic signal are the scientists at the Seti Institute in California. And its principal astronomer, Seth Shostak, says that if we do get an unusual deep space message confirmed by other telescopes around the world "the protocol would be simply to announce it".

The possibility of extraterrestrial life has always fascinated mankind. Last year, two petitions with more than 17,000 signatures were sent to the US government enquiring if ET had ever been in touch. The White House replied that there was "no evidence that any life exists outside our planet".

But many in different parts of the world are not convinced. They insist that we are not alone in the Universe and go as far as believing that alien abduction is not the stuff of science fiction. According to a report released by the British government in 1995, two boys told the police that a figure with a lemon-shaped head showed up in a spaceship in Staffordshire and told them to follow it. They said they ran away.

The police recorded that the boys appeared "distressed" after gazing at the alleged UFO (unidentified flying object). Some attributed their account to a vivid imagination rather than a prank or a real experience.

Meanwhile scientists continue to be on the look out for Earth-like planets in other solar systems that could support life. We might just find little green men or even end up playing aliens ourselves by colonising other worlds.


经典词汇掌握
out of this world
不属于这个世界的，也有不同凡响的意思
intelligent alien life
外星智慧生命
at the receiving end
接受信号点
a cosmic signal
外星信号
an astronomer
天文学家
deep space
外太空 （太阳系以外的空间）
a telescope
望远镜
a protocol
规则，协议
extraterrestrial life
外星生命
mankind
人类
ET
外星人
to be in touch
联系
evidence
证据
the Universe
宇宙
alien abduction
被外星人绑架
science fiction
科幻片
a spaceship
太空船
UFO (unidentified flying object)
不明飞行物
a vivid imagination
生动的想象
a prank
一个恶作剧，玩笑
to be on the look out for (something)
在寻找…
an Earth-like planet
像地球一样的行星
solar system
太阳系
to colonise (somewhere)
殖民(某地)