telescopes has allowed astronomers to attempt to
answer a question that has long intrigued scientists,
philosophers, and laypersons alike: Do other forms
of intelligent life exist elsewhere in the universe?
Although the legends of many ancient cultures
hold that divine beings created the heavens and
controlled such cosmic events as eclipses, the idea
that other planets harbor life similar in development
and intelligence to our own did not become popular
until the nineteenth century, when a few scientists
considered ways in which earthlings might contact
other beings. One plan envisioned the building of huge
canals in the desert in the shape of easily
recognizable geometric symbols; when filled with
gasoline and ignited, the canals would signal the
presence of life on Earth to neighboring worlds.
Since then, many astronomers have become
seriously interested in the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence, or SETI. They assume that alien beings
elsewhere in the galaxy will probably try to contact
earthlings, using flashes of light to carry their
messages. In 1960 one astronomer performed
one of the first serious searches for extraterrestrial
life, called Project Ozma. The astronomer turned
a sensitive radio telescope in the direction of
nearby stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani but
found no transmissions that might be beacons
from extraterrestrial civilizations. Since Project
Ozma, about four dozen other searches have
been conducted. No one has yet received an
unambiguous signal from an extraterrestrial civilization,
and numerous false alarms have
been caused by interference from radio-wave
sources here on Earth.
The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, NASA, has also been involved
in SETI and sought funding from the United States
Congress to build a complete receiver and to
undertake a ten-year search program. One half of this
search plan calls for using radio telescopes in its
Deep-Space Network to repeatedly scan the entire
sky. The other half involves using its 1,000-foot
telescope to listen to nearby stars similar to the Sun
that may have Earthlike planets orbiting around them.
Although scientists realize their survey will be far from
complete, they believe the search must begin with
small efforts. Said one scientist: “We're new at this
business, and when you walk into a dark, unfamiliar
forest, you should probably listen before you shout.”
11. Paragraph 3 answers which of the
following questions?
A. How might a search for extraterrestrial life be
conducted?
B.When will extraterrestrial life probably be discovered?
C.Why should a search for extraterrestrial life be
implemented?
D.On which planets will extraterrestrial life most likely be
found?
答案是A，我選C，為什麼不是C呢？
Paragraph3最後一句不是說“We're new at this
business, and when you walk into a dark, unfamiliar
forest, you should probably listen before you shout.”，這不是在解釋為什麼要做這個研究？
