原文期刊：卫报
The Guardian view on alien life: what if it’s not there?
考研英语阅读话题-环境
Fermi paradox，费米悖论。理论上讲，人类能用100万年的时间飞往银河系各个星球，那么，外星人只要比人类早进化100万年，现在就应该来到地球了。换言之，“费米悖论”表明了这样的悖论：A.外星人是存在的——科学推论可以证明，外星人的进化要远早于人类，他们应该已经来到地球并存在于某处了。B.外星人是不存在的——迄今，人类并未发现任何有关外星人存在的蛛丝马迹。
本文选自《卫报》 2018年7月13日的一篇文章。文章对“宇宙中是否存在其它智慧生命”进行了探讨，通过介绍一项针对“费米悖论”的研究，指出我们有可能是宇宙中唯一的智慧生命，最后作者呼吁我们应该主宰自己的命运。
行文脉络：引出话题：我们是否是宇宙中唯一的智慧生命（第一段）——介绍费米悖论及相关解释（第二段）——根据一项研究说明费米悖论可能存在的问题，指出我们可能是宇宙中唯一的智慧生命（第三、四段）。
Part 1
原文
I ①Are we alone in the universe? ②Of all the billions of stars out there, is there none around which intelligent life has arisen, no other conscious beings who have looked at their sky and asked themselves whether there was anyone else out here? ③All we can know is that we don’t know of any others. ④But that has not stopped more or less well-informed speculation. ⑤The universe is so unthinkably enormous and old that it seems almost impossible that only one of the quintillion or so stars in the universe has actually developed intelligent life.
II ①So where are they? ②So asked the physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950. ③If other intelligent species are out there, why haven’t we seen them yet? ④The mismatch between what we’d expect from the numbers, which is a universe full of spacefaring civilisations, and what we observe – nothing – is known as the Fermi paradox. ⑤Few of the explanations proposed for it are cheering. ⑥Perhaps all civilisations advanced enough to develop space travel are also technologically capable of annihilating themselves as well, and perhaps they all do. ⑦Perhaps the first culture to develop interstellar travel has already snuffed out all its rival species as they emerge, and is at this moment watching our first tentative explorations of the solar system as a cat might watch a fledgling on the ground. ⑧Or perhaps we have simply got the numbers wrong.
III ①This last explanation comes from three Oxford philosophers, whose recently published paper examines the equations that make the Fermi paradox look real. ②These have to do partly with the number of stars with Earth-like planets in the universe, and, more crucially, with the probabilities of life evolving there, then becoming intelligent, and finally exploring space. ③None of these are known and we don’t yet know enough to make well-informed guesses. ④So the numbers that are plugged into all seven terms of the equations that estimate the likelihood of other life in the universe can vary by 12 or more orders of magnitude.
IV ①The Oxford paper shows that when you take these uncertainties into account and run hundreds of thousands of simulations exploring them, the probability that we are alone in our galaxy, and perhaps in the universe, rises to entirely reasonable levels. ②The Fermi paradox vanishes. ③There is quite probably no one out there to rescue or to care about us. ④What happens to our species is in our hands alone. ⑤We had better get on with it.
Part 2
词汇短语
1.well-informed a. 博识的；消息灵通的
2.*quintillion /kwɪn'tɪljən/ n. 百万的五次方
3.*spacefaring /'speɪsˌfɛərɪŋ/ a. 宇宙飞行的
4.*annihilate /ə'naɪɪleɪt/ v. 消灭
5.*interstellar /,ɪntə'stelə/ a. 星际的
6.*snuff out 扼杀；消灭
7.tentative /'tentətɪv/ a. 试探性的
8.*fledgling /'fledʒlɪŋ/ n. 刚会飞的鸟；无经验的人
9.equation /ɪ'kweɪʒ(ə)n/ n. 方程式
10.likelihood /'laɪklɪhʊd/ n. 可能性
11.order of magnitude 数量级
12.simulation /,sɪmjʊ'leɪʃən/ n. 仿真；模拟
13.vanish /'vænɪʃ/ v. 消失
（注:标*号为超纲词）
Part 3
长难句语法点拨
本句有两个并列分句，of all the billions of stars out there, is there none……；is there no other conscious beings……，前一个none 由which引导定语从句，around介词提前。后conscious beings由who引导定语从句，其中ask后接whether引导的宾语从句
Part 3
写作句型借鉴
The mismatch between what we’d expect from the AA and what we observe is known as XX.我们从AA中推断的，和我们观察到的，并不匹配，这就是著名的XX
原文例句：The mismatch between what we’d expect from the numbers, which is a universe full of spacefaring civilisations, and what we observe – nothing – is known as the Fermi paradox. 我们从那些数字中推断的——宇宙中充满外星文明，和我们观察到的——一无所有，并不匹配，这就是著名的费米悖论。
Few of the explanations proposed for it are cheering. 没有几个相关解释振奋人心。
原文例句：Few of the explanations proposed for it are cheering. 没有几个相关解释振奋人心。
These have to do partly with XX, and, more crucially, with YY. 这些部分与XX有关，更重要的是，与YY有关。
原文例句：These have to do partly with the number of stars with Earth-like planets in the universe, and, more crucially, with the probabilities of life evolving there, then becoming intelligent, and finally exploring space. 这些方程式中，部分与宇宙中拥有类地行星的恒星数量有关，更重要的是，与这些星球进化出生命、然后成为智慧生命、并最终探索太空的可能性有关。
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