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  3. Mars has been much possessed by death. In the late 19th century Percival Lowell, an American astronomer, persuaded much of the p

Mars has been much possessed by death. In the late 19th century Percival Lowell, an American astronomer, persuaded much of the p

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问题    Mars has been much possessed by death. In the late 19th century Percival Lowell, an American astronomer, persuaded much of the public that the red planet was dying of desertification. H.6. Wells, in "The War of the Worlds", imagined Martian invaders bringing death to Earth. 【F1】Science was not much cheerier than science fiction: space probes revealed that having once been warmer and wetter, Mars is now cold, cratered and all-but-airless.
   Perhaps that is why the dream of taking new life to Mars is such a stirring one. Elon Musk, an entrepreneur, has built a rocket company, SpaceX, from scratch in order to make this dream come true.
   How odd, then, that Mr. Musk’s motivation is born in part of a fear as misplaced as it is striking. He portrays a Mars colony as a hedge against Earth-bound extinction. 【F2】Science-fiction fans have long been familiar with this sort of worry about existential risks—in the 1950s a science fiction writer and inventor told them that confined to Earth "humanity had too many eggs in one rather fragile basket." Others agree. Stephen Hawking, a noted physicist, is one of them. 【F3】If humans stick to a single planet, he warns, they will be sitting ducks for a super virus, a destructive artificial intelligence or a nuclear war that could finish off the whole lot of them at any time.
   It is true that, in the long run, Earth will become uninhabitable. But that long run is about a billion years. Yes, a natural or maliciously designed pandemic might kill billions. So might a nuclear war, at a pinch climate change might cause similar destruction. But extinction is more than just unprecedented mass mortality, it requires getting rid of everyone. Neither diseases nor wars do that.
   【F4】An asteroid as big as the one that dispatched the dinosaurs might take out the whole species, but humans have had the foresight to catalogue the asteroids up to the task and none is coming close in the foreseeable future. So the chance of earthly extinction from any known cause in the next few centuries is remarkably low. As for the unknown, why would they wipe humans from the face of one planet while leaving those on the rock next door in peace?
   If worrying about forthcoming extinction is unrealistic, trying to hide from it is ignoble. 【F5】At_the margins, it is better that the best and brightest share Earth’s risks than have a way to run away from them. Dream of Mars, by all means, but do so in a spirit of hope for new life, not fear of death.
【F3】
选项
答案他警告人类，如果继续固守在一个星球上生活，人类就犹如待宰的鸭子，随时会被超级病毒、具有破坏力的人工智能或是核战灭绝殆尽。
解析 ①本句是复合句。if引导的条件状语从句和主句之间的he warns可以理解为插入语，说明这句话的来源。②条件状语从句中的谓语是stick to sth．结构，意思是“坚持某事”。③主句的表语sitting ducks是现在分词sitting作定语，修饰ducks，指“坐着的鸭子”。④for引导的介词短语作原因状语，说明把人类比作“坐着的鸭子”的一系列原因。⑤句末that引导的定语从句修饰的先行词是三个并列的名词a super virus，a destructive artificial intelligence和a nuclear war，说明此三者的影响力。
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