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当科幻电影遭遇科学 The Science & the Fiction(3)

>  Like 2001, which came out 18 years later, Destination Moon is an accurate depiction of space travel—at least accurate for its time. While other 1950s movies had their rockets zooming to Venus or Mars without a care for time elapsed, fuel, or other matters of basic physics, the fundamental science of space travel is critical to this movie’s plot.
  When the rocket lands on our nearest astronomical neighbor, the astronauts realize they don’t have enough fuel for the trip home. They try to lighten their load but conclude that they have to leave one person behind. Other finer points of space travel are there as well: the depiction of acceleration, the need for air locks when entering and exiting the ship, and more. The rocket uses a nuclear engine, a technology that was under serious investigation for a long time.
  Interestingly, the movie’s premise is that private industry would build the first rockets to the moon with the government leasing them for use. That’s not too far off from NASA’s current plans. While it’s not the most riveting movie, Destination Moon was a big departure from the giant insect movies and tales of alien rocket ships that followed it for years. And again, like 2001, it had a towering science fiction writer as its adviser: Robert Heinlein, one of the fathers of modern sci-fi.
  
  与18年后上映的《2001》一样,影片《奔向月球》对太空旅行进行了准确的描绘——至少在它所处的那个时代是准确的。20世纪50年代,当其他影片中的火箭都呼啸着飞速奔向金星或者火星,而根本不考虑航行时间、燃料或其他物理学的基本问题时,本片在情节上却十分重视太空旅行所涉及的基本科学原则。
  当火箭降落在那个离我们最近的天体上时,宇航员们意识到他们没有足够的燃料返程了。他们试图减轻负载,但最终的结论是有一个人不得不留下来。影片中关于太空旅行的可取之处还有不少,比如对加速度的描写、进出飞船时需要通过空气密封舱等等。火箭采用的则是人们长期以来一直认真研究的核动力引擎技术。
  有意思的是,本片假设第一批登月火箭由私营企业建造,由政府租用。而这差不多就是美国国家航空航天局当前的计划。虽然《奔向月球》并不是最精彩的影片,但相比其后数年间那些描写巨型昆虫和讲述外星火箭船的电影,它却是独具特色的。而同《2001》一样,该片的顾问是赫赫有名的科幻小说作家、现代科幻小说的开山鼻祖之一 ——罗伯特·海因莱恩。
  
  GoodScience: Contact《超时空接触》
  
超时空接触  It is impossible to determine just how much science misinformation audiences retain, but it’s safe to say the minuscule2) amount of good science in the movies is entirely outgunned3). After combing through a vast library of science fiction flicks4) both sublime and ridiculous, your intrepid5) Bad Astronomer6) sat down to explain the best and worst of movie science. So grab some popcorn, relax, and be glad that when the lights go back up, the real universe will still be out there for us to enjoy.
  我们无法确定电影到底给观众灌输了多少错误的科学信息,但可以肯定的是,就算有那么一丁点真正的科学信息包含其中,也常常被大量的错误信息淹没得无影无踪。现在,在对鱼龙混杂的科幻电影大世界进行了梳理分析之后,我,无畏的“蹩脚天文学家”先生,要坐下来好好盘点一下这些电影,看看其中哪些是最讲科学的,哪些又是最不讲科学的。所以,请抓点爆米花,放松一下,待到曲终人散之时,你们将很庆幸那个真实的宇宙依然存在,而我们依然乐居其中。
  
  In this movie, a signal from deep space is discovered, and when decoded it is found to include blueprints for a machine. That machine, when constructed, creates an artificial wormhole that allows Jodie
  Foster43)’s character to travel to the center of our galaxy and talk to advanced aliens—who tell her that they didn’t build the wormhole tunnels; an ancient race did.
  Given that Carl Sagan44) helped to write the screenplay, it’s no surprise that it is well grounded in real ideas. The galaxy is old, far older than Earth by 8 or 9 billion years, so if there are alien civilizations out there, it’s likely they are millions or even billions of years ahead of us. Look how far we’ve gotten in just a few millennia! Any intelligent aliens we meet could be so far advanced we might have a hard time even recognizing them as being life-forms at all.
  And the traveling through wormholes? While that’s all theoretical, it was based on actual physics done by Albert Einstein and his colleague Nathan Rosen45). Along with 2001, Contact is considered one of the most scientifically accurate science fiction movies ever made.
  
  在这部影片中,人们收到了来自外太空的信号,破译后发现信号中包含的是一台机器的设计蓝图。这台机器在建成后制造了一个人工虫洞,朱迪·福斯特饰演的人物就是通过这一虫洞来到了银河系的中心,与外星高等生物对话——这些外星生物告诉她,建造虫洞通道的并不是他们,而是一个古老的族类。
  鉴于此部电影的剧本是在卡尔·萨根的协助下完成的,影片能立足于真实的科学理念也就不足为奇了。银河系很古老,比地球要早形成80或90亿年,所以,假如那里真有外星文明,它们很可能要领先我们数百万甚至数十亿年之久。试想一下我们在这区区几千年里所发生的变化吧!我们遇见的任何外星人都可能极其先进,这可能会导致我们压根就难以辨认出它们是一种生命形式。
  那么,穿过虫洞的旅行又靠不靠谱呢?虽然这纯属假设,但它依据的却是阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦及其同事内森·罗森实打实的物理学研究成果。与《2001》一样,《超时空接触》也被认为是有史以来最讲科学的科幻电影之一。
  
  1. Phil Plait:菲尔·普莱特,美国著名的天文学家、作家和讲师。他曾为哈勃空间望远镜工作十年,而且从事过天文学教学工作。菲尔还创建了个人博客网站“Bad Astronomy”,博文以杂文为主,嬉笑怒骂中体现了他的睿智和对科学的理解。“Bad Astronomer”也因此成为菲尔的昵称。
  2. minuscule [mI5nQskju:l] adj. 极小的
  3. outgun [7aut5^Qn] vt. 压倒或击败
  4. flick [flIk] n.〈俚〉电影
  5. intrepid [In5trepId] adj. 无畏的
  6. Bad Astronomer:请参见注释1
  7. magnetosphere [mA^5ni:tEusfIE] n. 磁层
  8. subatomic particle:亚原子粒子;亚原子微粒
  9. Golden Gate Bridge:金门大桥,世界十大名桥之一,被誉为近代桥梁工程的奇迹,屹立于美国加利福尼亚州1996米宽的金门海峡上,是旧金山的象征。
  10. feeble [5fi:bl] adj. 微弱的,薄弱的
  11. strip off:剥夺,夺去
  12. Geonosis:吉奥诺西斯星球,《星球大战》系列电影中的虚构星球,带有土星般美丽光环的一颗行星。
  13. seismic [5saIzmIk] adj. [地] 地震的
  14. charge [tFB:dV] n. (一定量的)炸药
  15. George Lucas:乔治·卢卡斯(1944~),美国著名电影导演、制片人和编剧,代表作为著名的《星球大战》和《夺宝奇兵》三部曲。
  16. gambit [5^AmbIt] n. 策略
  17. that said:然而;话虽如此
  18. acoustically [E5ku:stIk(E)lI] adv. 听觉上,声学上
  19. battle it out:决一雌雄,决一死战
  20. mix it up:〈美口〉激战,大打出手
  21. snap [snAp] vi. 敏捷地动作,迅速地行动
  22. Red Planet:〈口〉火星
  23. orifice [5CrIfIs] n. 孔,口
  24. anoxia [A5nCksIE] n. 缺氧
  25. suffocate [5sQfEkeIt] vi. 被闷死,窒息
  26. blockbuster [5blCk7bQstE] n. 一鸣惊人者
  27. wisecrack [5waIzkrAk] vi. 说俏皮话,说妙语
  28. asteroid belt:小行星带,太阳系内介于火星和木星轨道之间的小行星密集区域
  29. megaton [5me^E7tQn] n. 百万吨级(原子武器爆炸力计算单位)
  30. yield [ji:ld] n. 当量(由爆炸、尤其是核爆炸所释放出的能量)
  31. detonate [5detEneIt] v. 引爆
  32. bomb [bCm] vt.〈美口〉大败,惨败
  33. agonizingly [5A^EnaIzINlI] adv. 使人烦恼地,苦闷地
  34. get around:克服(困难、障碍)等
  35. warp drive:曲速引擎,一种超光速推进装置
  36. suspended animation:(因窒息造成的)生活暂停,假死,休眠状态
  37. centrifuge [5sentrIfju:dV] n. 离心机
  38. s

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