A computer program that could help catch and even translate messages from aliens in outer space has been developed by a British scientist.

If aliens are discovered one day, scientists fear their language may make it impossible to understand them. But John Elliott of Leeds Metropolitan University in Britain has come up with a program that can figure out the structure(结构) of their language. He thinks that’s the first step in understanding what they are saying.

Dr Elliott’s program would compare an alien language to a database(数据库) of 60 different languages in the world to look for a similar structure. He believes that even an alien language will have its won structure. “Language has to be structured in a certain way, or it will be hard to use,” he told New Scientist Magazine.

Research has shown that it is possible to know if a signal(信号) carries a language rather than a picture or music. Dr Elliott has gone a step further by finding a way to pick out what might be words and sentences. Because languages have different word orders, Dr Elliott has set up a library of the sentence structures of 60 human languages.

If a message is received from outer space, it could be compared against this database. Scientists would then be able to see if it’s similar to any human language, or a mix of the languages.

However, Dr Elliott also said that in order to translate what the aliens are actually saying, it may still be necessary to have a “code(密码) book”.

1.Why did Dr Elliott come up with the program?

A.To learn more about outer space. B.To develop a new language.

C.To help translate messages from aliens. D.To compare an alien language to human languages.

2.According to Dr Elliott, what’s the first step of understanding an alien language?

A.Coming up with a program B.Knowing its structure

C.Understanding aliens D.Discovering aliens

3.What does Paragraph 4 mainly tell us?

A.A way to make the program work.

B.Dr Elliott’s findings about different kinds of languages.

C.Three important functions of the program.

D.The number of sentence structures of human languages.

4.How does the program work when it receives a message from aliens?

A.Mix the message with 60 human languages.

B.Translate the message and send it to the database.

C.Pick out the sentence structure and translate it.

D.Compare the message to the database of 60 human languages.

5.What can we infer from the story?

A.Not all languages have their own structures.

B.To translate alien languages, there is much work to do.

C.The structure of alien languages is similar to that of human languages.

D.Alien languages are signals carrying pictures and music.

完形填空(共10小题; 阅读下面短文,掌握其大意,然后从1~10各题所给的A、B、C和D项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

Kierman was born in Sydney, Australia, and grew up near the sea. For more than 40 years, he raced in international sailing competitions.

In 1987, Kierman was competing in an around-the-world race when he began to_______the huge amount of rubbish in the world’s oceans. When he returned to Australia, he_______to do something about it.

He organized a community_______called “Clean Up Sydney Harbour.” On Sunday, January 8, 1989, more than 40,000 volunteers came out to_______away rubbish. The next year, Kierman made the clean-up a national event. It was a huge_______. Across Australia, about 300,000 people spent the day improving their local_______

Since then, “Clean Up Australia” has got_______every year. In 2002, for example,800,000 people cleaned up almost 15,000 tons of rubbish from Australia’s beaches, parks and streets.

Kierman was_______with the success of his project. In 2003, he started an even bigger program. With the_______of the United Nations Environment Program, he introduced “Clean Up the World”, an international program that supports communities around the world in cleaning up and protecting the environment. “Clean Up the World” has grown________and his wonderful idea has now spread from one city to the whole world.

1.A.save B.collect C.notice D.produce

2.A.refused B.decided C.pretended D.stopped

3.A.law B.party C.company D.event

4.A.clear B.send C.turn D.give

5.A.problem B.success C.surprise D.failure

6.A.culture B.project C.government D.environment

7.A.older B.smaller C.bigger D.faster

8.A.happy B.angry C.disappointed D.concerned

9.A.need B.help C.hope D.action

10.A.loudly B.gently C.rapidly D.busily

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