"Life Form Found" on Saturn"s Titan

Scientists say they have discovered hints of alien life1 on the Saturn"s moon2. The discovery of a sort of life was announced after researchers at the US space agency,NASA3,analyzed data from spacecraft Cassini4,which pointed to,the existence of methane-based form of life on Saturn"s biggest moon.

Scientists have reportedly discovered clues showing primitive alien beings are"breathing" in

Titan"s dense atmosphere filled with hydrogen.

They argue that hydrogen gets absorbed before hitting Titan"s planet-like surface covered with methane lakes and rivers. This,they say,points to the existence of some"bugs"5 consuming the hydrogen at the surface of the moon less than half the size of the Earth.

"We suggested hydrogen consumption because it"s the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan,similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth,"says NASA scientist Chris McKay."If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life,it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth."

To date,scientists have not yet detected this form of life anywhere,though there are liquid-

water-based microorganisms on Earth that grow well on methane or produce it as a waste product. On Titan, where temperatures are around 90 Kelvin6(minus 290 degrees Farenheit),a methanebased organism would have to use a substance that is liquid as its medium for living processes, but not water itself. Water is frozen solid on Titan"s surface and much too cold to support life as we know it.

Scientists had expected the Sun"s interactions with chemicals in the atmosphere to produce a coating of acetylene on Titan"s surface. But Cassini detected no acetylene on the surface.

The absence of detectable acetylene on the Titan"s surface can very well have a non-biological explanation,said Mark Allen,a principal investigator7 of the NASA Titan team.

"Scientific conservatism suggests that a biological explanation should be the last choice after all non-biological explanations are addressed,"Allen said. "We have a lot of work to do to rule out8 possible non-biological explanations. It is more likely that a chemical process,without biology,can explain these results."

词汇：

Saturn /"sætən/ n．土星        

methane/"mi:θein/ n．甲烷，沼气

Titan/"taitən/ n．土卫六       

acetylene/ə"setili:n/ n．乙炔

alien/"eiljən/ n．外星人；adj．外星球的；相异的 

conservatism/kən"sʒ:vətizəm/ n．保守主义,守旧

注释：

1.hints of alien life：外星生命迹象。

2.the Saturn"s moon：指土卫六（Titan) 。土卫六又称泰坦星，是土星卫星中最大的一颗。

3.NASA：美国国家航空航天局的缩写，全称是： National Aeronautics and Space

Administration。

4.spacecraft Cassini：卡西尼号探测器，以出生于意大利的法国天文学家卡西尼的名字命名，其任务是环绕土星飞行，对土星及其大气、光环、卫星和磁场进行深人考察。1997 年10 月15日，重六吨的“卡西尼”号星际探测器被发射飞往土星的轨道。这是上世纪发射的最后一艘行星际探测的大飞船。“卡西尼”号用了将近七年时间，在2004 年7月1日飞达土星轨道。

5.bugs：微生物。非正式口语表达，所以使用了引号。

6.Kelvin：可翻译成“绝对温度”。Kelvin Scale ，绝对温标，开氏温标，是由Kelvin 勋爵于19世纪中叶发明的温度计量方法，其零度相当于摄氏一273. 15" C ，被认为是宇宙中最低温度。这种温度计量方法多为科学家使用。

7.principal investigator：研究项目负责人

8.rule out：排除……的可能性

To date,scientists have not yet detected this form of life...(paragraph 5)What does"this form of life" refer to?

A:Water-based life. B:Methane-based life. C:Liquid-water-based microorganisms. D:Gas-based life.

Citizen Scientists

      Understanding how nature responds to climate change will require monitoring key life cycle¹  events-flowering, the appearance of leaves, the first frog calls of the spring - all around the world. But ecologists can"t be everywhere so they"re turning to non-scientists, sometimes called citizen scientists, for help.
　　Climate scientists are not present everywhere. Because there are so many places in the world and not enough scientists to observe all of them, they"re asking for your help in observing signs of climate change across the world. The citizen scientist movement encourages ordinary people to observe a very specific research interest - birds, trees, flowers budding, etc. - and send their observations to a  giant database to  be observed by professional scientists. This helps a small number of scientists track a large amount of data that they would never be able to gather on their own. Much like citizen journalists helping large publications cover a hyper-local beat², citizen scientists are ready for the conditions where they live. All that"s needed to become one is a few minutes each day or each week to gather data and send it³ in.
　　A group of scientists and educators launched an organization last year called the National Pheonology⁴  Network. "Phenology" is what scientists call the study of the timing of events in nature.
　　One of the group"s first efforts relies on scientists and non-scientists alike to collect data about plant flowering and leafing every year. The program, called Project BudBurst, collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States. People participating in the project - which is open to everyone - record their observations on the Project BudBurst website.
　　"People don"t have to be plant experts -they just have to look around and see what"s in their neighborhood," says Jennifer Schwartz, an education consultant with the project. "As we collect this data, we"ll be able to make an estimate of how plants and eommunities⁵ of plants and animals will respond as the climate changes."

词汇：

Frog / frɒɡ/n. 蛙 

Ecologist / iˈkɒlədʒɪst /n .生态学家 

Phenology / fə"nɒlədʒɪ /n..物候学 

Bud/ bʌd /v.发芽，萌芽；n.芽，花蕾

Neighborhood / ˈnebɚˌhʊd /n.近邻；邻近地区 

Database / "deɪtəbeɪs/ n..数据库

Professional/ prə(ʊ)ˈfɛʃənəl / adj.专业的，职业的；n.职业选手，专业人员

注释：

1. life cycle：生命周期，即生物发展过程的系列变化。

2. hyper-local beat: beat 在此做名词用，意思是：某类新闻报道，如，a business beat；商业专题报道。这是近年来出现的新词。Hyper-local beat 即hyper-local news，指的是被传统新闻报道方式所忽略的小型社区或居民居住区里发生的相关信息报道。在美国由此而诞生了hyper-local news website，专门对主流媒体所没有覆盖的地区所发生的事件进行报道，其形式多以网民，即短文中所提及的citizen journalists，上传所在社区发生的事件报道、照片或视频为主。这是网络时代产生的又一新生事物。

3. data 是复数形式，但常用做单数，所以这里的代词是it。另参见最后一段“As we collect this data, ...”。这里的data 也用作单数。

4. phenology：物候学或生物气候学，是气候学和生态学的边缘学科，主要研究气候环境对生物的影响。

5. communities：生态学词汇：生物群落，记载比较相似的环境条件下在特定自然区域或环境中生活和互相影响的一群植物和动物。

Ecologists turn to non-scientist citizens for help because they need them

A:to provide their personal life cycles. B:to observe the life cycle of plants. C:to collect data of the life cycle of living things. D:to teach children knowledge about climate change.

Citizen Scientists

      Understanding how nature responds to climate change will require monitoring key life cycle¹  events-flowering, the appearance of leaves, the first frog calls of the spring - all around the world. But ecologists can"t be everywhere so they"re turning to non-scientists, sometimes called citizen scientists, for help.
　　Climate scientists are not present everywhere. Because there are so many places in the world and not enough scientists to observe all of them, they"re asking for your help in observing signs of climate change across the world. The citizen scientist movement encourages ordinary people to observe a very specific research interest - birds, trees, flowers budding, etc. - and send their observations to a  giant database to  be observed by professional scientists. This helps a small number of scientists track a large amount of data that they would never be able to gather on their own. Much like citizen journalists helping large publications cover a hyper-local beat², citizen scientists are ready for the conditions where they live. All that"s needed to become one is a few minutes each day or each week to gather data and send it³ in.
　　A group of scientists and educators launched an organization last year called the National Pheonology⁴  Network. "Phenology" is what scientists call the study of the timing of events in nature.
　　One of the group"s first efforts relies on scientists and non-scientists alike to collect data about plant flowering and leafing every year. The program, called Project BudBurst, collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants from across the United States. People participating in the project - which is open to everyone - record their observations on the Project BudBurst website.
　　"People don"t have to be plant experts -they just have to look around and see what"s in their neighborhood," says Jennifer Schwartz, an education consultant with the project. "As we collect this data, we"ll be able to make an estimate of how plants and eommunities⁵ of plants and animals will respond as the climate changes."

词汇：

Frog / frɒɡ/n. 蛙 

Ecologist / iˈkɒlədʒɪst /n .生态学家 

Phenology / fə"nɒlədʒɪ /n..物候学 

Bud/ bʌd /v.发芽，萌芽；n.芽，花蕾

Neighborhood / ˈnebɚˌhʊd /n.近邻；邻近地区 

Database / "deɪtəbeɪs/ n..数据库

Professional/ prə(ʊ)ˈfɛʃənəl / adj.专业的，职业的；n.职业选手，专业人员

注释：

1. life cycle：生命周期，即生物发展过程的系列变化。

2. hyper-local beat: beat 在此做名词用，意思是：某类新闻报道，如，a business beat；商业专题报道。这是近年来出现的新词。Hyper-local beat 即hyper-local news，指的是被传统新闻报道方式所忽略的小型社区或居民居住区里发生的相关信息报道。在美国由此而诞生了hyper-local news website，专门对主流媒体所没有覆盖的地区所发生的事件进行报道，其形式多以网民，即短文中所提及的citizen journalists，上传所在社区发生的事件报道、照片或视频为主。这是网络时代产生的又一新生事物。

3. data 是复数形式，但常用做单数，所以这里的代词是it。另参见最后一段“As we collect this data, ...”。这里的data 也用作单数。

4. phenology：物候学或生物气候学，是气候学和生态学的边缘学科，主要研究气候环境对生物的影响。

5. communities：生态学词汇：生物群落，记载比较相似的环境条件下在特定自然区域或环境中生活和互相影响的一群植物和动物。

What is NOT true of Project BudBurst?

A:Only experts can participate in it. B:Everybody can participate in it. C:It collects life cycle data on a variety of common plants. D:It has its own website.

Who Want to Live Forever?

    If your doctor could give you a drug that would let you live a healthy life for twice as long，would you take it?

    The good news is that we may be drawing near to that date,Scientists have already extended the lives of flies,worms and mice in laboratories. Many now think that using genetic treatments we will soon be able to extend human life to at least 140 years.

    This seems a great idea.Think of how much more time we could spend chasing our dreams，spending time with our loved ones，watching our families grow and have families of their own.

    "Longer life would give us a chance to recover from our mistakes and promote long term thinking," says Dr Gregory Stock of the UniversityOfCalifornia School Of Public Health. "It would also raise productivity by adding to the year we can work."

    Longer lives don"t just affect the people who live them. They also affect society as a whole. "We have war，poverty，all sorts of issues around，and I don"t think any of them would be at all helped by having people live longer,"says US bioethicist Daniel Callahan."The question is "What will we get as a society?"I suspect it won"t be a better society."

    It would certainly be a very different society.People are already finding it more difficult to stay married.Divorce rates are rising.What would happen to marriage in a society where people lived for 140 years?And what would happen to family life if nine or 10 generations of the same family were all alive at the same time?

    Research into ageing may enable women to remain fertile for longer. And that raises the prospect of having 100-year-old parents，or brothers and sisters born 50 years apart¹. We think of an elder sibling as someone who can protect us and offer help and advice. That would be hard to do if that sibling came from a completely different generation.

    Working life would also be affected，especially if the retirement age was lifted. More people would stay in work for longer. That would give  us the benefits of age-skill，wisdom and good judgment.

    On the other hand，more people working for longer would create greater competition for jobs. It would make it more difficult for younger people to find a job.Top posts would be dominated by the same few individuals，making career progress more difficult. And how easily would a 25-year-old employee be able to communicate with a 125-year-old boss?

    Young people would be a smaller part of a society in which people lived to 140. It may be that such a society would place less importance on guiding and educating young people，and more on making life comfortable for the old.

    And society would feel very different if more of its members were older. There would be more wisdom,but less energy. Young people like to move about. Old people like to sit still. Young people tend to act without thinking.Old people tend to think without acting.Young people are curious and like to experience different things.Old people are less enthusiastic about change. In fact,they are less enthusiastic about everything.

    The effect of anti-ageing technology is deeper than we might think. But as the science advances，we need to think about these changes now.

    " If this could ever happen，then we"d better ask what kind of society we want to get，" says Daniel Callahan. "We had better not go anywhere near it² until we have figure those problems out."

词汇:

mice/ maɪs/n.老鼠(复数)
sibling / "sɪblɪŋ/n.兄弟姐妹
bioethicist/,baiəu"eθisist /n. 生物伦理学家

注释:

All of the following are possible effects living longer might have on working life EXCEPT      .

A:Communication between employers and employees would be more difficult. B:More money would be used by employees in payment of their employees. C:The job market would be more competitive. D:It would be more difficult for young people to be promoted to top positions.

Who Want to Live Forever?

    If your doctor could give you a drug that would let you live a healthy life for twice as long，would you take it?

    The good news is that we may be drawing near to that date,Scientists have already extended the lives of flies,worms and mice in laboratories. Many now think that using genetic treatments we will soon be able to extend human life to at least 140 years.

    This seems a great idea.Think of how much more time we could spend chasing our dreams，spending time with our loved ones，watching our families grow and have families of their own.

    "Longer life would give us a chance to recover from our mistakes and promote long term thinking," says Dr Gregory Stock of the UniversityOfCalifornia School Of Public Health. "It would also raise productivity by adding to the year we can work."

    Longer lives don"t just affect the people who live them. They also affect society as a whole. "We have war，poverty，all sorts of issues around，and I don"t think any of them would be at all helped by having people live longer,"says US bioethicist Daniel Callahan."The question is "What will we get as a society?"I suspect it won"t be a better society."

    It would certainly be a very different society.People are already finding it more difficult to stay married.Divorce rates are rising.What would happen to marriage in a society where people lived for 140 years?And what would happen to family life if nine or 10 generations of the same family were all alive at the same time?

    Research into ageing may enable women to remain fertile for longer. And that raises the prospect of having 100-year-old parents，or brothers and sisters born 50 years apart¹. We think of an elder sibling as someone who can protect us and offer help and advice. That would be hard to do if that sibling came from a completely different generation.

    Working life would also be affected，especially if the retirement age was lifted. More people would stay in work for longer. That would give  us the benefits of age-skill，wisdom and good judgment.

    On the other hand，more people working for longer would create greater competition for jobs. It would make it more difficult for younger people to find a job.Top posts would be dominated by the same few individuals，making career progress more difficult. And how easily would a 25-year-old employee be able to communicate with a 125-year-old boss?

    Young people would be a smaller part of a society in which people lived to 140. It may be that such a society would place less importance on guiding and educating young people，and more on making life comfortable for the old.

    And society would feel very different if more of its members were older. There would be more wisdom,but less energy. Young people like to move about. Old people like to sit still. Young people tend to act without thinking.Old people tend to think without acting.Young people are curious and like to experience different things.Old people are less enthusiastic about change. In fact,they are less enthusiastic about everything.

    The effect of anti-ageing technology is deeper than we might think. But as the science advances，we need to think about these changes now.

    " If this could ever happen，then we"d better ask what kind of society we want to get，" says Daniel Callahan. "We had better not go anywhere near it² until we have figure those problems out."

词汇:

mice/ maɪs/n.老鼠(复数)
sibling / "sɪblɪŋ/n.兄弟姐妹
bioethicist/,baiəu"eθisist /n. 生物伦理学家

注释:

An important feature of a society in which people live a long life is that     .

A:it places more emphasis on educating the young. B:it is both wise and energetic. C:it lacks the curiosity to experiment what is new. D:it welcomes changes.

Pool Watch

    Swimmers can drown in busy swimming pools when lifeguards fail to notice that they are introuble. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that on average 15 people drown in British pools each year, but many more suffer major injury after getting into difficulties. Now a French company has developed an artificial intelligence system called Poseidon that sounds thealarm when it sees someone in danger of drowning.

    When a swimmer sinks towards the bottom of the pool, the new system sends an alarm signal to a poolside monitoring station and a lifeguard"s pager. In trials at a pool in Ancenis, it saved a life with in just a few months, says Alistair McQuade,a spokesman for its maker, Poseidon Technologies.

    Poseidon keeps watch through a network of underwater and overhead video cameras. AI software analyses the images to work out swimmers" trajectories. To do this reliably, it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool. "The underwater environment is a very dynamic one, with many shadows and reflections dancing around", says McQuade.

    The software does this by "projecting" a shape in its field of view onto an image of the far wall of the pool. It does the same with an image from another camera viewing the shape from a different angle. If the two projections are in the same position, the shape is identified as a shadow and is ignored. But if they are different, the shape is a swimmer and so the system follows its trajectory.

    To pick out potential drowning victims, anyone in the water who starts to descend slowly is added to the software"s "pre-alert" ¹list,says McQuade. Swimmers who then stay immobile on the pool bottom for 5 seconds or more are considered in danger of drowning. Poseidon double-checks that the image really is of a swimmer, not a shadow, by seeing whether it obscures the pool"s floor texture when viewed from overhead. If so, it alerts the lifeguard, showing the swimmer"s location ona poolside screen.

    The first full-scale Poseidon system will be officially opened next week at a pool in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. One man who is impressed with the idea is Travor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork radio. Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools - and he was once an underwater escapologist with a circus. “I say full marks to them if this works and can save lives", he says. But he adds that any local authority spending ~30,000 - plus on a Poseidon system ought to be investing similar amounts in teaching children to swim.

词汇：

pager [ˈpeɪdʒə(r)] 携带式电子呼叫机

trajectory [trə"dʒektərɪ]轨迹

descend [dɪ"send]下降

immobile [ɪ"məʊbaɪl] 不移动的

texture ["tekstʃə(r)]特征，质地

clockwork [ˈklɔkˌwɜ:k] 时钟机构

escapologist [ˌeskəˈpɒlədʒɪst] 擅长从捆扎的绳索中脱身的杂技演员

注释：

1 pre-alert：预先警戒的。the software"s“pre -alert”list：软件的“预警”名单。pre-：是前缀，意思是先于；预先。又如：preadult：成年前的；precancerous：癌症前期的。alert：警戒的，警觉的。

What is required of AI software to save a life?

A:It must be able to swim B:It must keep walking round the pool C:It can distinguish between a swimmer and a shadow D:It can save a life within a few months

Pool Watch

    Swimmers can drown in busy swimming pools when lifeguards fail to notice that they are introuble. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that on average 15 people drown in British pools each year, but many more suffer major injury after getting into difficulties. Now a French company has developed an artificial intelligence system called Poseidon that sounds thealarm when it sees someone in danger of drowning.

    When a swimmer sinks towards the bottom of the pool, the new system sends an alarm signal to a poolside monitoring station and a lifeguard"s pager. In trials at a pool in Ancenis, it saved a life with in just a few months, says Alistair McQuade,a spokesman for its maker, Poseidon Technologies.

    Poseidon keeps watch through a network of underwater and overhead video cameras. AI software analyses the images to work out swimmers" trajectories. To do this reliably, it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool. "The underwater environment is a very dynamic one, with many shadows and reflections dancing around", says McQuade.

    The software does this by "projecting" a shape in its field of view onto an image of the far wall of the pool. It does the same with an image from another camera viewing the shape from a different angle. If the two projections are in the same position, the shape is identified as a shadow and is ignored. But if they are different, the shape is a swimmer and so the system follows its trajectory.

    To pick out potential drowning victims, anyone in the water who starts to descend slowly is added to the software"s "pre-alert" ¹list,says McQuade. Swimmers who then stay immobile on the pool bottom for 5 seconds or more are considered in danger of drowning. Poseidon double-checks that the image really is of a swimmer, not a shadow, by seeing whether it obscures the pool"s floor texture when viewed from overhead. If so, it alerts the lifeguard, showing the swimmer"s location ona poolside screen.

    The first full-scale Poseidon system will be officially opened next week at a pool in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. One man who is impressed with the idea is Travor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork radio. Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools - and he was once an underwater escapologist with a circus. “I say full marks to them if this works and can save lives", he says. But he adds that any local authority spending ~30,000 - plus on a Poseidon system ought to be investing similar amounts in teaching children to swim.

词汇：

pager [ˈpeɪdʒə(r)] 携带式电子呼叫机

trajectory [trə"dʒektərɪ]轨迹

descend [dɪ"send]下降

immobile [ɪ"məʊbaɪl] 不移动的

texture ["tekstʃə(r)]特征，质地

clockwork [ˈklɔkˌwɜ:k] 时钟机构

escapologist [ˌeskəˈpɒlədʒɪst] 擅长从捆扎的绳索中脱身的杂技演员

注释：

1 pre-alert：预先警戒的。the software"s“pre -alert”list：软件的“预警”名单。pre-：是前缀，意思是先于；预先。又如：preadult：成年前的；precancerous：癌症前期的。alert：警戒的，警觉的。

What is required of AI software to save a life?

A:It must be able to swim B:It must keep walking round the pool C:It can distinguish between a swimmer and a shadow D:It can save a life within a few months