1、1Unit 1 Tales of the unexplainedThere are many people who often discuss whether aliens(外星人) are real or not.There are also some different stories about aliens.Do aliens really exist in space？When you think of aliens，what comes to your mind？Whatever pictures we have of aliens in our mind is due to th
2、e influence from newspapers，the Internet and the TV.There could be life forms as tiny(极小的) as some microorganisms or as large as giant dinosaurs.Scientists argue that the universe is far too huge and it is very unlikely that only our planet can support life.There must be other planets which support
3、life but are unknown to us.One of the organizations working on outer space life is SETI.Astrophysicist(天体物理学家) Carl Sagan believes the presence of life outside the Earth.Frank Drake，founder of SETI，is another scientist who has devoted his life to providing the presence of life outside the Earth.Many
4、 other research projects have been and are still being carried out to collect evidence of life outside the Earth.In fact，Bruno DArgenio and Giuseppe Geraci have found evidence of life in 4.5 billionyearold meteorites(陨石)Just as there are people who support the existence of life outside the Earth，the
5、re are others who think of it as a farfetched idea.They argue，if there is life outside the Earth，why have we not been able to get any hard evidence till today?2根据上文判断正(T)误(F)1The scientists are sure that there are some aliens outside the Earth.(F)2People have different opinions on whether there is l
6、ife outside the Earth.(T)Period One Welcome to the unit their strong immune systems that can defend against Ebola，a deadly virus; and their relatively long lifespans.“The genomes of all these other species，like birds and mice，are wellunderstood， ” says an expert at the Max Planck Institute for Psych
7、olinguistics in Nijmegen，the Netherlands.“But we dont know anything about bat genes yet.”“Some bats show babbling behavior，including barks，chatter，screeches，whistles and trills， ”says Mirjam Knrnschild，a behavioral ecologist at the Free University of Berlin.“Young bats learn the songs and other soun
8、ds from older male tutors.They use these sounds during courtship and mating，when they seek food and as they defend their territory against rivals.”“Scientists have studied the vocal sounds of only about 50 bat species so far， ” Knrnschild says， “and they know much less about bats communication than
9、birds ”Four species of bat have so far been found to learn vocal sounds 30from each other，their fathers and other adult males，just as a child gradually learns how to speak from its parents.Genetic studies have discovered at least one gene in bats that is linked to speech and language，called FOXP2.Th
10、e gene is also known to have a role in how people learn language，and in vocal learning in songbirds.Researchers working on the Bat 1K project expect to find that other genes are also involved in communication，and that many more bat species have the ability to learn songs，calls and other sounds.“Its
11、not a rare trait， ” Knrnschild says.“Im becoming convinced that all bats are more or less the same in vocal learning.”“Bats echolocation ability has been studied for many years，partly because of its applications to sonar and radar.But scientists know very little about the vocal communication and soc
12、ial behaviour that drive how bats learn their songs and sounds， ”says Michael Yartsev，a neurobiologist at University of California，Berkeley.The study of vocal learning in bats is “nearly completely untapped”，he sayscomparing it to the state of research into birdsong 60 years ago.语 篇 解 读 文 章 介 绍 了 科
13、学 家 们 研 究 蝙 蝠 学 习 叫 声 和 歌 声 方 式 的 项 目 和 研 究 成 果 。31The project，Bat 1K is carried out mainly to .Ado research on the genes of more bat speciesBresearch bats ability to find directions in the darkCstudy the way bats learn their calls and songsDlearn more secrets about bats longer lifespans答案 C解析 推理判断题
14、。根据第一段中的“Some bats sing just as birds and humans do.But how they learn their calls and melodies is a mystery”和第二段第一句可知，Bat 1K项目是为了研究蝙蝠学习叫声和歌声的方式，故选 C。32From Paras.5 and 6，we can infer that .Ascientists have studied only approximately 50 bat species so farBof all bats，only four species learn vocal sounds from each otherCmore than one gene linked to speech and language has been discoveredDthe gene FOXP2 has something to do with human language learning答案 D解析 推理判断题。根据第六段中的“.one gene in bats that is linked to speech
