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Present day engineers have
目前，工程师们
begun thinking about the principals of building such a ship.
已开始苦心研究如何建造出这样的飞船
This is what it might look like.
它看上去可能是这样的
It could use atomic energy
它可能会用到核能
or perhaps more exotic fuel such as antimatter
或更高能的燃料，如反物质
supplying it with enormous amounts of power,
用其产生的巨大能量供给机器加速
yet I think the main challenges won't be technical.
但我认为，真正的挑战并非科技
The first will be financial.
首要难题是资金
The cost of constructing an interstellar spacecraft would be huge
构建这样一艘宇宙飞船耗资巨大
and for the society that made it, there would be little pay back.
而筹建它的社会几乎没有任何回报
They would never see it again.
他们永不会再见到它
So constructing such a machine will
因此，建造这样一台机器
either be the greatest act of generosity in history
或成为人类历史上最无私的奉献
or will have to be funded by the travelers themselves.
或只能留给探索者自己去筹资
And that raises the second problem.
如此一来，第二个难题又来了
Even if it could travel mind numbingly fast,
即使它能以让人头晕目眩的速度航行
say 1,000 times faster than Voyager,
比如千倍于旅行者号
11,000 miles a second,
即秒速11000英里
a journey to the nearest star system would still take
这样到达最近的星系依然需要
73 years.
73年
Such a long trip means that at least one whole generation of humans
如此长距离的航行意味着至少一代人
would have to live their entire lives in space.
需要在宇宙中度过他们的一生
We couldn't exactly say they volunteered for the mission.
而我们还不能肯定，他们是否情愿
The ethics of sending a human cargo on such a voyage
从伦理角度讲，把人送上这样一艘飞船
would have to be carefully considered.
必须经过周密的考虑
Unless we could extend human lifespans to long enough to
除非我们能够延长人类的寿命
make such massive journeys.
来完成这项重大的使命
And that I think is what we will ultimately end up doing.
我想，这很可能是我们最后的解决途径
The process has already begun as I know from personal experience.
据我的个人经验，这一工程已经启动
My muscles no longer function,
我的肌肉已经萎缩
although my eyes and my brain are still working pretty well.
只有眼睛和大脑还能正常运作
But technology helps me to move and communicate.
但现代科技让我能够移动和与人交流
In the future,
在未来
technology will do much more than that for all of us.
科技将带给我们的远不止于此
