跟讀練習: Four Places We Might Find Aliens - 通過影片學習英語口語

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We don't actually know if aliens exist, but if they do, their cells probably have a special type of membrane.

And that knowledge alone tells us where we can look for them, and maybe even what they'll be like.

Hi, I'm David, and this is MinuteEarth.

There are lots of different ways scientists can search for life on other planets.

They can listen for radio signals from alien civilizations.

They can scan distant atmospheres for the chemical fingerprints life leaves behind.

And they can send spacecraft to sample places in our own solar system where life might be hiding.

Or they can search for places that have the right conditions for a particular type of membrane to form.

This last one is actually a pretty powerful tool for zeroing in on possible extraterrestrial life,

because virtually every cell on Earth is wrapped in a membrane that keeps its contents inside,

builds up a gradient by piling charged particles on one side, and then captures energy as those particles flow back through to the other.

These membranes, we can call them electrochemical membranes, are so fundamental to life that many experts think that extraterrestrial life will likely have them too.

On Earth, electrochemical membranes are formed from a specific set of elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus, which can form molecules that,

in the presence of liquid water, assemble into, well, membranes.

And those membranes in turn form the foundation of life on Earth.

So one way to find extraterrestrial life is to look for other worlds

that have those same elements and the liquid water

that would allow them to self -assemble and some sort of energy to power the life forms.

And there are two of those worlds relatively nearby.

Saturn's moon Enceladus has all of those elements and liquid water, though the ocean is buried under a thick shell of ice.

So the membranes crucial to life could potentially form on Enceladus.

But without direct sunlight, there's not much energy available.

Any life

that formed there would likely have to rely on the trickle of energy coming from hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.

So I imagine that any life there would be small and live right next to those vents.

Jupiter's moon Europa also has all five of those membrane -building elements and a liquid ocean under an icy shell.

But unlike energy -poor Enceladus, Europa is constantly being bombarded by radiation from Jupiter,

and experiences much more tidal heating as it gets pushed and pulled by the massive planet.

So if there is life on Europa, perhaps it's faster moving because it has more access to that energy.

And then there's K2 -18b, a planet about 120 light -years away from us.

From spectroscopy, we're pretty sure that it has at least three of the required elements to build

Earth -like electrochemical membranes, and it may even have liquid water.

But it's also surrounded by a thick layer of hydrogen gas, which for complicated chemistry reasons,

some scientists speculate would lead not to the development of lots of individual membranes, but instead one big one.

So that makes me envision alien life on K2 -18b that's not multiple organisms, but instead a single giant film that covers the entire world.

And life may not actually be limited to worlds with exact

Earth -like chemistry, because scientists think that in some cases, electrochemical membranes might be able to form from slightly different ingredients.

The clouds surrounding

Venus, for example, have no liquid water.

So Earth -like membranes couldn't form there.

And even if they did, the clouds are made of concentrated sulfuric acid, which would destroy those membranes on contact.

What scientists have discovered, though, is that electrochemical membranes built with sulfur can actually self -assemble and survive in strong acid.

So any life on Venus would probably have to form inside droplets of sulfuric acid.

And because those droplets would have access to plenty of energy from sunlight as they floated up and down in the clouds,

I picture excited aliens bopping around in their little acid bubbles.

Again, we still don't know whether aliens exist.

But focusing on the likelihood that they'll have electrochemical membranes doesn't just tell us where to look.

It also hints that whatever we find could be deeply weird.

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本課的詞彙與口語要點

這節口語課以影片“Four Places We Might Find Aliens”為素材。影片中反覆出現的詞有：membrane, energy, electrochemical, liquid, Earth。這段影片共有 48 個句子、718 個單詞可供跟讀。講話部分時長為 3:25。說話人語速較快，每分鐘約 210 個詞，會出現較多連讀和弱讀。只有 79% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，詞彙難度較高。

影片中的重點詞彙

影片中 15 個值得學習的單詞，附發音和釋義：

單詞	發音	釋義
liquid 名詞	/ˈlɪk.wɪd/	液體 /液體, 液態 /液態
element 名詞	/ˈɛləmənt/	要素
acid 名詞	/ˈæsɪd/	酸
scientist 名詞	/ˈsaɪəntəst/	科學家 /科學家
membrane 名詞	/ˈmɛm.bɹeɪn/	薄膜
cloud 名詞	/ˈklaʊ̯d/	йүн, 雲 /雲
assemble 動詞	/əˈsɛm.bəl/	收集, 組合 /組合
thick 形容詞	/θɪk/	ху, 厚
shell 名詞	/ʃɛl/	貝 /貝, 貝殼 /貝殼
chemistry 名詞	/ˈkɛm.ɪ.stɹi/	化學 /化學
hydrogen 名詞	/ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/	氫 /氫
particle 名詞	/ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/	粒子
sunlight 名詞	/ˈsʌnˌlaɪt/	陽光 /陽光, 日光
surround 動詞	/səˈɹaʊnd/	包圍 /包圍, 圍繞 /圍繞
complicated 形容詞	/ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/	複雜 /複雜

影片中出現的短語動詞

單詞	釋義
leave behind 動詞	遺棄 /遺棄

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 8 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 don't, they'll, couldn't。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: shell /ʃɛl/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/, radiation /ˌɹeɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən/
長單詞——注意重音位置: complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, fundamental /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/, radiation /ˌɹeɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən/, virtually /ˈvɚ.t͡ʃə.wə.li/

中文母語者容易讀錯的音：

/v/ — 不要讀成 /w/，上齒輕觸下唇: vent /vɛnt/, discover /dɪˈskʌvə/, virtually /ˈvɚ.t͡ʃə.wə.li/, civilization /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, envision /ɪnˈvɪʒn̩/
詞尾子音 — 要讀清楚，後面不要加母音: liquid /ˈlɪk.wɪd/, element /ˈɛləmənt/, acid /ˈæsɪd/, scientist /ˈsaɪəntəst/, cloud /ˈklaʊ̯d/
/r/ 和 /l/ 的區別: particle /ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/, rely /ɹɪˈlaɪ/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/, extraterrestrial /ˌɛk.stɹə.təˈɹɛs.tɹi.əl/, droplet /ˈdɹɑplət/

如何用這段影片練習

先完整聽一遍影片，不要開口，記下不認識的單詞。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟讀，熟練之後再回到正常速度。
錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 liquid, element, acid 這類單詞。

什麼是跟讀法？

跟讀法 (Shadowing) 是一種有科學依據的語言學習技巧，最初開發用於專業口譯員的培訓，並由多語言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。這個方法簡單而強大：您在聽英語母語原聲的同時立即大聲重複——就像是一個延遲1-2秒緊跟說話者的影子。與被動聽力或語法練習不同，跟讀法強迫您的大腦和口腔肌肉同時處理並模模擬實的講話模式。研究表明它能顯著提高發音準確性，語調，節奏，連讀，聽力理解和口語流利度——使其成為雅思口語備考和真實英語交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟讀法: 閱讀完整分步指南 →

跟讀練習: Four Places We Might Find Aliens - 通過影片學習英語口語

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