跟读练习: Four Places We Might Find Aliens - 通过视频学习英语口语

选择练习模式

每种模式都会打开全屏练习室。

48 句

如果句子过短或过长，请点击 Edit 进行调整。

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.

下载应用

流利口语所需的一切

AI 发音评分逐句打分

音标练习掌握每个音

词汇学习建立你的词库

词汇游戏边玩边学

扫码

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

同频道

FOR YOU

本课的词汇与口语要点

这节口语课以视频“Four Places We Might Find Aliens”为素材。视频中反复出现的词有：membrane, energy, electrochemical, liquid, Earth。这段视频共有 48 个句子、718 个单词可供跟读。讲话部分时长为 3:25。说话人语速较快，每分钟约 210 个词，会出现较多连读和弱读。只有 79% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词，词汇难度较高。

视频中的重点词汇

视频中 15 个值得学习的单词，附发音和释义：

单词	发音	释义
liquid 名词	/ˈlɪk.wɪd/	液體 /液体, 液態 /液态
element 名词	/ˈɛləmənt/	要素
acid 名词	/ˈæsɪd/	酸
scientist 名词	/ˈsaɪəntəst/	科學家 /科学家
membrane 名词	/ˈmɛm.bɹeɪn/	薄膜
cloud 名词	/ˈklaʊ̯d/	йүн, 雲 /云
assemble 动词	/əˈsɛm.bəl/	收集, 組合 /组合
thick 形容词	/θɪk/	ху, 厚
shell 名词	/ʃɛl/	貝 /贝, 貝殼 /贝壳
chemistry 名词	/ˈkɛm.ɪ.stɹi/	化學 /化学
hydrogen 名词	/ˈhaɪdɹəd͡ʒ(ə)n/	氫 /氢
particle 名词	/ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/	粒子
sunlight 名词	/ˈsʌnˌlaɪt/	陽光 /阳光, 日光
surround 动词	/səˈɹaʊnd/	包圍 /包围, 圍繞 /围绕
complicated 形容词	/ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/	複雜 /复杂

视频中出现的短语动词

单词	释义
leave behind 动词	遺棄 /遗弃

需要注意的发音

说话人用了 8 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 don't, they'll, couldn't。请按听到的简短形式来说。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: shell /ʃɛl/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/, radiation /ˌɹeɪ.diˈeɪ.ʃən/
长单词——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/

中文母语者容易读错的音：

/v/ — 不要读成 /w/，上齿轻触下唇: vent /vɛnt/, discover /dɪˈskʌvə/, virtually /ˈvɚ.t͡ʃə.wə.li/, civilization /ˌsɪv.ɪ.laɪˈzeɪ.ʃən/, envision /ɪnˈvɪʒn̩/
词尾辅音 — 要读清楚，后面不要加元音: liquid /ˈlɪk.wɪd/, element /ˈɛləmənt/, acid /ˈæsɪd/, scientist /ˈsaɪəntəst/, cloud /ˈklaʊ̯d/
/r/ 和 /l/ 的区别: particle /ˈpɑɹtək(ə)l/, rely /ɹɪˈlaɪ/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/, extraterrestrial /ˌɛk.stɹə.təˈɹɛs.tɹi.əl/, droplet /ˈdɹɑplət/

如何用这段视频练习

先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 liquid, element, acid 这类单词。

什么是跟读法？

跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟读法: 阅读完整分步指南 →

跟读练习: Four Places We Might Find Aliens - 通过视频学习英语口语

选择练习模式

下载应用

Why Haven't We Domesticated Monkeys?

Why Do India And China Have So Many People?

Where Did Earth's Water Come From?

The Heaviest Part of a Forest Is NOT What You Think

Why Don't Blue Whales Eat Fish?

Why We Faint (When Other Animals Don't)

How To Kill A Volcano

Three Specific Ways AI Could Kill Us All

Why is it Hot Underground?

MinuteEarth Explains: Cats vs Dogs

Why Don't Snakes Poison Themselves?

The Best Dragon (According to Science)

Why Do Rivers Curve?

How High Can Birds Fly?

Why Do We Have More Boys Than Girls?

MinuteEarth Explains: Microbes

Why Don't Our Bones Keep Growing Forever?

Could This Thing *Really* Fly?

There’s Really Only One Way To Die

You've Been Misled About The Water Cycle

What NASA Found on Io

Would You Upload Your Mind?

We Found Galaxies Too Old for the Universe

Helge Ewers Seminar

What science can’t answer, according to physicist Jim Al-Khalili | Big Think

The Insane Biology of: The Octopus

Unit 6: Living on Mars

A Cosmic Coincidence

5 "Impossible" Things That Can Happen On Other Planets

When Antarctica Was a Jungle

Make AI Believe in God to Keep Humans Safe, Scientist Argues