蒼蠅的大腦是由超過 13 萬個神經細胞和連接這些細胞的 5000 多萬對突觸組成的。近日，科學傢首次完整地繪制出瞭蒼蠅大腦中的全部細胞和突觸的位置、形狀和連接方式。
Fruit flies can walk, hover and the males can even sing love songs to woo females. All this, and these flies have a brain that’s tinier than a pinhead. Researchers have taken a closer look and found that it’s a tangle of more than 130,000 separate wires called neurons – all packed together, making more than 50 million separate connections to each other.
果蠅能行走和盤旋，雄性果蠅甚至能夠通過唱 “情歌” 來追求雌性的芳心。果蠅雖然具備這些能力，它們的大腦卻比針頭還小。研究人員通過更進一步的觀察發現，果蠅的大腦是一團纏結在一起的 13 萬個獨立 “導線”，即神經元。這些神經元之間形成瞭超過 5000 萬個獨立的連接。
It’s taken them ten years, using advanced artificial intelligence systems, to identify its detailed structure, composition and connections. In essence, a wiring diagram, scientifically called the fly connectome.
科學傢們花瞭十年的時間，使用先進的人工智能系統辨認出瞭果蠅大腦的詳細結構、組成部分和連接方式。從本質上說，科學傢們建立瞭一個接線圖，科學上稱之為蒼蠅腦連接組。
Even though human brains are a million times larger than a fly’s, Dr Gregory Jefferis of the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Biology in Cambridge says that the new connectome is the first step in truly understanding, not just how fly brains work, but ours, too. That’s because there are likely to be similarities in the way they’re both wired.
雖然人類大腦比蒼蠅大腦大 100 多萬倍，但位於劍橋的醫學研究委員會分子生物學實驗室的格雷戈裡·傑弗裡斯博士表示，這次研究建立的蒼蠅腦連接組是真正理解大腦運作機制的第一步，不論是對於蒼蠅大腦還是人類大腦來說。這是因為這兩種大腦的神經連接方式很可能有相似之處。
It will take decades to have a complete map of the human brain. But this analysis of fruit flies is the start of a new, deeper understanding of our own minds.
繪制人類大腦的完整圖譜還需要幾十年的時間。但對果蠅大腦的分析是一個起點：我們對自身的大腦也將有一個更新、更深刻的認識。
詞匯表
hover 盤旋
woo 追求
pinhead 針頭
tangle 纏結的一團
neurons 神經元
in essence 本質上
molecular biology 分子生物學
閱讀理解：請在讀完上文後，回答下列問題。
1. How big is a fruit fly’s brain?
2. How many different connections are there in a fruit fly’s brain?
3. How long have scientists spent identifying the structure of a fruit fly’s brain?
4. True or False? The fly connectome will help people understand how human brains work.
答案
1. How big is a fruit fly’s brain?
A fruit fly’s brain is tinier than a pinhead.
2. How many different connections are there in a fruit fly’s brain?
There are more than 50 million separate connections in a fruit fly’s brain.
3. How long have scientists spent identifying the structure of a fruit fly’s brain?
It has taken them 10 years.
4. True or False? The fly connectome will help people understand how human brains work.
True. Dr Gregory Jefferis says that the fly connectome is the first step in truly understanding, not just how fly brains work, but ours, too.
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