1 . Scientists have long believed that Mars was wet around three billion years ago and then lost much of its water. But a new study presents evidence of water activity from about 700 million years ago, posing a new puzzle about Mars and its history for scientists to crack in their future studies.

The new study is based on data from China’s Zhurong rover (“祝融号”火星车), part of the Tianwen-1 mission that touched down on the surface of Mars in May 2021. In particular, the scientists used data the rover gathered during its first 92 Martian days, at its landing site in Utopia Planitia. Yang Liu, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), and his colleagues analyzed data from three different instruments on Zhurong. Those instruments studied minerals that suggest the presence of a large quantity of liquid water at the site about 700 million years ago, which scientists previously thought was dry.

“This is a very interesting result. We have very little recorded evidence of young liquid water systems on Mars. And for the ones we have, they were usually in the form of salt minerals,” says Dr. Scheller, a scientist at the California Institute of Technology. He explained Zhurong’s instruments spotted water molecules locked away in the rock, which was different from other young liquid water environments that have been observed.

“One of the major things we’ll have to find out and that I look forward to seeing from the Zhurong rover is how extensive these ‘young’ water-bearing minerals are,” Dr. Scheller said. “Are they common or uncommon in these ‘young’ rocks?” Zhurong has now covered about two kilometers during its more than 350 Martian days and has analyzed a range of features on its travels, meaning more new Martian insights are likely still to come from the rover.

NASA has so far sent its Mars rovers to ancient landing sites, dating back to more than 3.7 billion years ago. Zhurong is not just an extra set of wheels on Mars, but a powerful suite of instruments exploring a new, geologically young site to open new windows of opportunity for research on Mars.

1. What does the underlined word “crack” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Keep.

B．Doubt.

C．Solve.

D．Create.

2. What does the new study show according to paragraph 2?

A．The inaccuracy of data gathered on Mars.

B．Functional limitations of instruments on Mars.

C．Main reasons for the failure of the Tianwen-1 mission.

D．The misconception of past thinking about Martian water.

3. Which of the following does Dr. Scheller convey?

A．The result has been recorded by many scientists.

B．Zhurong’s wide analyses will bring more surprises.

C．Salt minerals are younger than water-bear ing minerals.

D．Young water-bearing minerals are common in young rocks.

4. Which word can best describe Zhurong?

A．Ancient.

B．Common.

C．Alarming.

D．Promising.

3 . ①Since the first Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei reached the space with Shenzhou V, we have continued the Chinese Flying Dream to new chapters. On the evening of November 29, Shenzhou XV was successfully launched (发射) from Jiuquan Center. Shenzhou XV is of great meaning for Chinese space work and made some great achievements (成就) that were never seen before.

②The first was the huge number of jobs Shenzhou XV’s astronauts will finish. They will do more than 40 science experiments in fields such as air medicine, and air technology, which is amazing in humans’ space history.

③With the arrival of Shenzhou XV, Tiangong Space Station has finally developed into its largest size weighing around 100,000 kg. It is one of the largest buildings that humans have ever built in space.

④The space station is made up of 5 different parts. The Tianhe module (舱) is working in the center of the station. The Wentian and Mengtian modules are on the left and right sides of Tianhe. The Shenzhou spaceships are on the top of the station. The last one, the Tianzhou V is under the Tianhe module.

⑤The astronauts of Shenzhou XV are also different from the past. Usually, the new groups of astronauts were sent into space after the early ones went back to the Earth. But this time, the two groups of astronauts met in the space. Worldwide, there are now a total of 13 astronauts in space. So, for the time being, China is the country with most people in the space.

⑥The other thing about them is the age of the Shenzhou XV’s astronauts-is the-oldest of history (over 53). Among them, 56-years-old Deng Qingming was one of the earliest 14 astronauts in China. He served as a backup astronaut four times and watched his teammates fly again and again, but he never gave up the dream to fly. Now he made it, although it takes some time.

⑦The launch of Shenzhou-15 is a historic moment for Chinese space-exploring plan. Chinese-people wilt always let imagination about the sky run wild.

1. The structure (结构) of Tiangong Space Station is                 .

A．	B．
C．	D．

2. The writer’s main purpose in writing the passage is to ____________.

A．share the exciting stories of Shenzhou astronauts

B．show how great and meaningful Shenzhou XV is

C．ask teenagers to work hard and become astronauts

D．tell it is difficult to build such a great space station

3. According to the passage, Shenzhou XV is meaningful because ___________.

A．it makes up Tiangong Space Station as the largest building ever in space

B．all the astronauts in the world are now living in Shenzhou XV spaceship

C．the astronauts in it are the youngest of the history of Chinese space work

D．it made great achievements in Chinese and humans’ history of space work

4. The structure of the passage is ___________.

A．	B．
C．	D．

5 . 假定你是李华，这周三，以刘伯明、王亚平等航天员为代表的中国载人航天工程代表团访问了你们学校。请你根据以下内容为你校英语报写一篇英文报道，内容包括：
1. 代表团抵校的场景；
2. 代表团分享的内容；
3. 代表团访问的意义。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80个左右；
2. 参考词汇: 中国载人航天工程代表团 China’s manned space program delegation
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

China, on October 26th,     1     (send) the Shenzhou XVII manned spaceship, and the three astronauts aboard will stay in orbit for about six months on a space station mission.

The crew members—Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin—have been scheduled to ride on board the Shenzhou XVII spaceship. Tang Hongbo is one of the nation’s second-generation astronauts. Through this mission, he will become a record holder among Chinese astronauts, regarding the     2     (short) interval (间隔) between two spaceflights—just two years and one month after returning from his first space journey in the three-month Shenzhou XII.

    3     (bring) up in a farming family in northwest China’s Gansu Province, Tang Shengjie entered China’s Aviation University of Air Force after graduating from high school     4     became a fighter pilot. After nearly 13 years of     5     (serve), he has flown six types of aircraft.

Like many of his predecessors, Jiang Xinlin is a pilot-turned-taikonaut,     6     was also a ground-force tank driver before reaching beyond the sky. “I am very much looking forward to travelling into space, enjoying the fun in zero gravity and     7     (explore) the wonders of the vast universe,” the 35-year-old said in a pre-flight interview.

The Shenzhou XVII crew is supposed     8     (stay) inside the Tiangong for around six months and return to Earth around April. Their     9     (task) include carrying out scientific experiments and technological demonstrations, conducting spacewalks to install equipment and maintain the massive orbital outpost, checking the     10     (station) operational performance, obtaining data, as well as helping to review ground facilities’ support capabilities.

7 . 根据句意和提示用正确的单词把句子补充完整。

The Shenzhou-17 spacecraft flew high into the sky from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China on Thursday morning,     1     the significant occasion of the 20th anniversary of China's first manned spaceflight the Shenzhou-5.

Sitting on the top of the Long March 2F Y17 carrier rocket,     2     (taikonaut) Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie, and Jiang Xinlin, committed     3     (they) to the journey to ward the China Space Station. Following a smooth flight of around 10 minutes, the Shenzhou-17 spacecraft entered its planned orbit,     4     (mark) a successful launch,     5     was released by the China Manned Space Agency(CMSA). The cooperation between the two crew groups     6    (apparent) signals a giant step in China's ongoing space exploration.

In the past 20 years, China has carried out 12 such crewed missions involving     7    latest Shenzhou 17 mission     8     (acknowledge) as a great achievement. Since its flight in1999, the Long March 2F rocket, the country's first and only manned carrier rocket,     9    (maintain) a perfect record rate. The Shenzhou-17 crewed flight mission has some crucial objectives, including the in orbit crew rotation(机组轮换) and several experiments     10     (conduct) in April 2024.

9 . Animals were the real pioneers of space flight. Let us learn about some animals that have been to space.

A. Fruit flies

On February 20, 1947, the United States sent some fruit flies into space to study the impact that cosmic radiation (宇宙辐射) might potentially have on astronauts in the future. They chose flies because they are genetically similar to humans.

When they returned to Earth, the scientists found the flies alive, with no evidence of the effects of radiation.

B. Mice

Mice have long been used to find out more about how space travel will affect the human body. In fact, NASA has recently published a study of mice housed at the International Space Station. It shows that mice quickly adapt to microgravity (微重力) conditions.

The very first mouse went into space in 1950, reaching an altitude of 137km. However, unlike the fruit flies, the mouse died when the rocket broke into parts due to a parachute (降落伞) failure.

C. Dogs

Laika, a Russian homeless dog, went to space on November 3, 1957. She was picked up on the streets and was thought suitable because she had a gentle temperament (性情) and behaved well. The scientists also believed a homeless dog would be better at dealing with difficult conditions like microgravity than a pet dog.

Laika is famous for being the first animal to orbit (环绕……运行) the Earth. However, she never returned.

D. Spiders

In 1973, two garden spiders called Anita and Arabella were used in an experiment to see if they could still build webs in space.

Both spiders managed to build webs, even though the webs were slightly finer than on Earth. The study showed a great deal about the effects of microgravity on motor response (运动反应).

1. What can we learn about the mouse astronaut?

A．It failed to come back alive.

B．It couldn’t survive in microgravity conditions.

C．Its genes were similar to humans’.

D．It was the first animal to be sent to space.

2. Laika was chosen by the scientists for all the following reasons EXCEPT ________ .

A．her good temperament	B．her identity as a pet dog
C．her ability to deal with microgravity	D．her good behavior

3. What’s the purpose of sending the two spiders to space?

A．To compare the quality of webs they made on Earth and in space.

B．To study the impact of cosmic radiation on their survival.

C．To see how fast they could build webs in space.

D．To see whether they could build webs in space.