Sometimes life gets a little dull. What used to be fun and different becomes boring. That is the time to look for something new. It is the time for a big idea to get your mind off everyday life. So why not search for extraterrestrial (地球外的) intelligence? Or even better, why not get your computer to do it for you?
Over two million people have joined the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence（SETI）project. Based in California, the SETI project analyzes information taken from a giant radio telescope based in South America. Its task is to look for signals from outer space that might prove that life exists on other planets.
Processing this information is far too big a job for one computer. So the SETI project workers divide the work among volunteers who visit their website. Each computer gets some information to work out from the SETI network through the Internet. This process is often known as “meta-computing”.
It is a wonderful thought. You are sleeping, eating a meal or going out with friends. All this time, your computer is searching the stars for signs that might show something is out there trying to get in touch. Volunteers are proud of being involved in the SETI project. It shows that they understand the potential (潜能) of computing. They know that it is more than just a way of working or playing games.
Meta-computing may also be creating intelligence as well as looking for it. This idea is based on the theory that human intelligence is created by the way in which different parts of the brain communicate with each other. As the saying goes, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.” People who join the SETI project sometimes wonder whether their computer will become part of a huge network that has learned to think for itself.
小题1:According to the writer, meta-computing may be creating intelligence .
A．because human beings are intelligent
B．because a computer works as the brain does
C．because of a network of many computers
D．because of the number of computers小题2: Which of the following shows the order in which the SETI network works?
A．Radio telescope→SETI website→Volunteers’ computer→SETI base
B．Radio telescope→SETI base→SETI website→Volunteers’ computer
C．SETI base→SETI website→Volunteers’ computers→Radio telescope
D．SETI base→Radio telescope→SETI website→Volunteers’ computers小题3: The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to _____ .
A．extra-terrestrial intelligence
B．human intelligence
C．the SETI project
D．meta-computing小题4:The passage mainly tells us about _____.
A．a new way to work on the computer
B．a new way to work and play games
C．a new way to search for life outside the earth
D．a new way to make computers learn to think for itself