| 1. | Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated, over-industrialized planet . |
| 污染就是我们为这个人口过密，过度工业化的星球所付出的代价。
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| 2. | Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet . |
| 然而，垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。
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| 3. | The first question to answer is whether a planet can actually support life. |
| 第一个需要解答的问题是一颗行星是否有能够维持生命的条件。
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| 4. | Whether a planet can support life depends on the size and brightness of its star, that is its 'sun'. |
| 一颗行星是否能够维持生命取决于它的恒星——即它的“太阳”——的大小和亮度。
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| 5. | A planet would have to be a very long way from it to be capable of supporting life. |
| 那么一颗行星为了维持生命就要离开的它的恒星非常远。
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| 6. | Alternatively, if the star were small, the life-supporting planet would have to have a close orbit round it and also provide the perfect conditions for life forms to develop. |
| 反之，如果恒星很小，维持生命的行星就要在离恒星很近的轨道上运行，而且要有极好的条件才能使生命得以发展，
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| 7. | But how would we find such a planet ? |
| 但是，我们如何才能找到这样一颗行星呢？
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| 8. | It is impossible to look for life on another planet using earth-based telescopes. |
| 使用放置在地球上的望远镜是无法观察到其他行星的生命的。
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| 9. | A telescope would have to be as far away as the planet Jupiter to look for life in outer space, because the dust becomes thinner the further we travel towards the outer edges of our own solar system. |
| 望远镜要放置在木星那样遥远的行星上才有可能在外层空间搜寻生命。因为我们越是接近太阳系的边缘，尘埃就越稀薄。
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| 10. | Once we detected a planet , we would have to find a way of blotting out the light from its star, so that we would be able to 'see' the planet properly and analyze its atmosphere. |
| 一旦我们找到这样一颗行星，我们就要想办法将它的恒星射过来的光线遮暗，这样我们就能彻底“看见”这颗行星，并分析它的大气层。
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