一、听力练习
1.
A. To map every neuron in the fruit fly's body.
B. To gain insights that can apply to understanding all animal brains.
C. To determine the lifespan of the fruit fly.
D. To create new ways to study human emotions.
2.
A. Flying.
B. Eating.
C. Grooming.
D. Sleeping.
3.
A. They are responsible for the fly’s grooming habits.
B. They may help accelerate information processing.
C. They assist in the fly's ability to taste food.
D. They only appear in larval stages of the fly’s life.
二、听力文本
A group of international scientists recently announced they had made a map of the whole “brain” of an adult fruit fly. They said the milestone would provide new knowledge about the brains of all animals including humans. The research gives details of more than 50 million connections between 139,000 neurons, which are nerve cells in the brain of the fruit fly. The scientific name of the animal is Drosophila melanogaster. It is often used in scientific experiments, especially studies of nerve cells. The researchers wanted to find out exactly how the brain cells operate when they are healthy and normal. Sebastian Seung was one of the leaders of the research, which was published as a series of studies in Nature. Seung is a professor at Princeton University in New Jersey. He said, “You might be asking why we should care about the brain of a fruit fly. My simple answer is that if we can truly understand how any brain functions, it's bound to tell us something about all brains.” The brain of a fruit fly is small — less than one millimeter wide. But some scientists are very interested in them. “It's beautiful,” said Cambridge researcher Gregory Jefferis. The researchers created what they called a “wiring diagram” of an adult fruit fly. It is also called a “connectome” map. The goal was to create a map that shows how neurons connect to one another and how they operate. Similar research has been done with simpler forms of life. For example, scientists have mapped the “brain” of a worm called Caenorhabditis elegans. They have also mapped the neural material of the larval form of the fruit fly. But the adult fruit fly was more complex. The idea was to link the neural connections to the behavior of the animal. Mala Murthy was another co-leader of the research from Princeton. Murthy said, “One of the major questions we're addressing is how the wiring in the brain, its neurons and connections, can give rise to animal behavior.” One of the studies in the series examined the brain circuits involved in walking. It discovered how flies halt. Another studied the fly's network of neurons associated with tasting and also grooming circuits. These circuits are behind the behavior in which a fly uses its leg to remove dirt from antennae on its head. One of the studies examined how a fly processes motion and color information. And still another looked closely at how parts of the fly's brain were connected. That study discovered that a large group of neurons called “hub neurons” might help speed up the flow of information. The researchers created the map by following how both sides of the brain were organized and linked the circuits they identified to behaviors. They also identified classes of cells in the fly's brain and examined the chemical connections between neurons known as synapses.
Question 1: What is the primary goal of the scientists' research on the fruit fly’s brain?
Question 2: Which behavior did the scientists link to the neural circuits in the fruit fly’s brain?
Question 3: What discovery did the scientists make about “hub neurons” in the fruit fly’s brain?
三、重点词汇
1. neuron: a nerve cell that carries information between the brain and other parts of the body 神经元，神经细胞
四、背景知识
一个国际研究团队2日在知名科学期刊《自然》上发表一组共9篇论文，介绍他们绘制出的成年果蝇完整“脑图谱”，即包含脑部所有神经元及其连接状况的线路图。研究人员称这是迄今所有生物中最完整的“脑图谱”，堪称神经生物学研究的一个里程碑。研究牵头人之一、美国普林斯顿大学神经科学家玛拉·穆尔蒂说，果蝇是“神经科学的一个重要模型系统。它们的大脑解决了许多和人类一样的问题”，比如行走、记忆、导航、进食，甚至社会互动。因此，对果蝇大脑的研究具有重要意义。（背景知识来自于https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1811887189518140567&wfr=spider&for=pc）
五、参考答案
Question 1: B
Question 2: C
Question 3: B
六、网络翻译
一组国际科学家最近宣布，他们成功绘制了一只成年果蝇的完整“大脑”图谱。科学家们表示，这一里程碑将为包括人类在内的所有动物大脑提供新见解。研究详细描绘了果蝇大脑中139,000个神经元（大脑中的神经细胞）之间的5000多万个连接。果蝇的科学名称是黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster），这种昆虫常用于科学实验，尤其是在神经细胞的研究中。 研究人员希望深入了解健康、正常状态下大脑细胞是如何运作的。该研究的领导人之一，普林斯顿大学教授塞巴斯蒂安·成（Sebastian Seung）表示：“你可能会问，为什么我们要关心果蝇的大脑？我的简单答案是，如果我们能真正理解任何一个大脑的运作方式，这将必然为我们理解所有大脑带来启示。” 果蝇的大脑很小，不到一毫米宽，但一些科学家对其非常感兴趣。剑桥大学的研究员格雷戈里·杰弗里斯（Gregory Jefferis）称其为“美丽”。研究团队创建了一个称为“连线图”的果蝇成虫图谱，也被称为“连接体”图。目标是绘制一个展示神经元之间如何连接并运作的图谱。 类似的研究已在较为简单的生物中开展。例如，科学家绘制了秀丽隐杆线虫（Caenorhabditis elegans）的“大脑”图谱，也绘制了果蝇幼虫阶段的神经组织图谱，但成年果蝇更加复杂。研究的目的是将神经连接与动物行为关联起来。 普林斯顿大学的马拉·默西（Mala Murthy）是另一位研究的联合领导者。默西表示：“我们正在探讨的一个重要问题是，大脑的连线、神经元及其连接如何引发动物行为。” 系列研究之一研究了果蝇大脑中与行走相关的脑回路，发现了果蝇如何停止的机制。另一项研究则探究了果蝇与品尝及清洁回路有关的神经网络。这些回路驱动果蝇使用腿部清除触角上的灰尘的行为。还有一项研究分析了果蝇如何处理运动和颜色信息。而另一项研究详细探讨了果蝇大脑各个部分的连接，发现了一类称为“枢纽神经元”的神经元可能有助于加速信息流通。 研究团队通过追踪大脑两侧的组织方式创建了这一图谱，并将其识别的回路与行为关联起来。他们还识别了果蝇大脑中的细胞类别，并分析了称为突触的神经元间的化学连接。
七、版权说明
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