The Long Goodbye to Saturn’s RingsOf all the planets in our solar system, Saturn-组卷网

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The Long Goodbye to Saturn’s Rings

Of all the planets in our solar system, Saturn might be the prettiest. Those rings gleam in soft pinks, grays, and browns, shimmering in the darkness. But Saturn’s rings aren’t a permanent feature. In fact, they’re ________.

The rings are losing material every year. Incoming micrometeorites (微陨石) and the sun’s radiation disturb the small, dusty pieces of ring matter. The particles(微粒), suddenly transformed, start moving along those invisible paths. When the particles get too ________ to the top of Saturn’s atmosphere, gravity pulls them in, and they vaporize in the planet’s clouds.

Astronomers call this “ring rain,” and over time this and other phenomena will destroy the ________ element that, to us, makes Saturn, until nothing is left. Right now? “This is us looking at Saturn’s rings in their heyday (鼎盛时期),” James O’Donoghue, a planetary scientist at JAXA, Japan’s space agency, told me. A magnificent sight that, from our perspective, seems ________, but, on the grand scale of things, is momentary.

Saturn’s rings have impressed observers for centuries, ________ we got truly close to them for the first time in the early 1980s, when NASA’s Voyager spacecraft sped past during a grand tour of the outer planets. At the time, scientists ________ that the rings probably formed alongside Saturn about 4.6 billion years ago, when the solar system was young, noisy and full of life. Back then, with rocky objects flying around everywhere, a new planet could easily have ________ some, hung them around its middle, and let gravity flatten them.

But Voyager’s flyby suggested a ________ story. The observations captured the rings in greater detail than ever before, revealing that the system didn’t have as much ________ as researchers had predicted, which meant that they couldn’t be billions of years old.

Saturn’s ring system had seemed as ________ as the solar system itself; now it seemed that the rings didn’t exist along with dinosaurs. The solar system had ________ by then, so where would Saturn have gotten the raw material? Then in 2017, a NASA spacecraft called Cassini skimmed past Saturn’s rings, sending home as much information as possible, which ________ what the Voyager missions had observed, that the rings weren’t massive enough to be ancient.

The science community hasn’t come to a(n) ________ about the origin story of Saturn’s rings. But, if the rings are indeed cosmically young, scientists say that they probably formed when one of Saturn’s moons, itself quite old, drew too close and was smashed to bits. The moon was likely a small one; our own moon, O’Donoghue said, could be used to ________ thousands of ring systems like Saturn’s.

The story of Saturn’s rings is a reminder that the worlds of our solar system, however still and ________ they might look from here, are dynamic places, with dramatic histories of their own.

A．shining

B．disappearing

C．expanding

D．moving

A．close

B．hot

C．massive

D．fast

A．extinct

B．abstract

C．distinctive

D．basic

A．unchangeable

B．unbelievable

C．unbearable

D．unexpected

A．but

B．as

C．unless

D．once

A．proved

B．suspected

C．questioned

D．claimed

A．lost

B．destroyed

C．captured

D．created

A．familiar

B．different

C．convincing

D．horrifying

A．mass

B．variety

C．energy

D．gravity

10.

A．huge

B．complex

C．diversified

D．ancient

11.

A．quieted down

B．came into being

C．broken down

D．been done away with

12.

A．contributed to

B．backed up

C．resulted from

D．disapproved of

13.

A．decision

B．agreement

C．end

D．solution

14.

A．construct

B．stabilize

C．modify

D．simplify

15.

A．grand

B．faraway

C．motionless

D．resting

21-22高三下·上海·阶段练习查看更多[1]

更新时间：2022-05-17 14:37:28 |

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【知识点】科普知识说明文

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完形填空(约430词) | 较难 (0.4)

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文章大意：这是一篇议论文。文章主要讲述了作者对科幻小说的预测感到失望，但现实生活中人们的创造力还是令人期待的，在某些方面人们的创造力比科幻小说的预测更加优越。

【推荐1】Instead of cruising in on a hover board, I rode my bike to the office today. The bicycle was invented in the 19^th century. Instead of taking a pill for breakfast, I had a bacon roll, cooked using gas. Science fiction has _______ to us.

Making predictions is tricky, especially about the future, as physicist Niels Bohr joked. In science fiction, you can’t escape that _______ though. Since its birth in the 19^th century, writers have _______ imagined the things to come: devices that humankind will invent to make life easier. But in so many instances, those promises have not come to pass. The biggest _______ are in travel-jet packs, hover boards and flying cars are not to fill the skies. Air travel has become significantly cheaper and wide-reaching, but only using distinctly 20^th-century technology: commercial aeroplanes are much the same as they were 50 years ago.

_______ is what science fiction frequently delivers, but its arrival in the real world has been unpredictable. Domestic robots with a degree of intelligence haven’t been _______, though robotic vacuum cleaners are commercially available-even if they are fairly hopeless. Video calls have now arrived-sort of-but conferencing on Skype is still dissatisfying. In mobiles, video call technology is now available, so when your dad rings to update you on his vegetable patch, he’ll be able to _______ your look of boredom.

The truth is that we quickly _______ the astonishment of invention: our wonderment is soon replaced with the feeling of nothing new. We should try to stay in that period of _______. It is astonishing that the contents of every book over written can be stored in a small box. Or that you can carry 10,000 albums on an object kept in your pocket. Or that almost all the information in the world can be accessed almost anywhere at any time. All these ________ are dependent on the emergence of the microchip and its place in computers. Yet sci-fi didn’t ________ the dominance of the computer in running our lives.

But the real area where ________ far outstrips (超过) predictions is medicine. Sure, fiction would describe humans as ‘disease-free’ but without going into detail. “Disease-free” humans are still absent, but the progress made in ________ life is breathtaking. With relative ease, we can sequence anyone’s genome, giving a read-out of our entire genetic code. This means we can find out the underlying genetic cause of thousands of diseases in minutes.

Photosensitive implants now exist that can replace damaged cells in the retina and can thus ________ sight to the blind. While the inventions of science fiction can show great ideas we’d like to happen, nothing ________ the inventiveness of people in the real world.

A．turned

B．lied

C．objected

D．talked

A．opportunity

B．challenge

C．imagination

D．conflict

A．hesitantly

B．critically

C．temporarily

D．tirelessly

A．disappointments

B．advancements

C．enjoyments

D．experiments

A．Modernization

B．Exploration

C．Automation

D．Transportation

A．realized

B．identified

C．honoured

D．liberated

A．imagine

B．feel

C．see

D．ignore

A．arouse

B．discover

C．forget

D．evaluate

A．frustration

B．amazement

C．boredom

D．limitation

10.

A．modes

B．worries

C．potentials

D．actions

11.

A．predict

B．overlook

C．motivate

D．prevent

12.

A．quality

B．obstacle

C．passion

D．reality

13.

A．maintaining

B．creating

C．researching

D．encountering

14.

A．show

B．lend

C．restore

D．label

15.

A．guarantees

B．overestimates

C．releases

D．outperforms

2023-03-24更新 | 105次组卷

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完形填空(约310词) | 较难 (0.4)

【推荐2】Scientists in Norway have some good news for coffee drinkers. Researchers have already found evidence that the drink or the beans can help with weight loss, ________ one's risk of developing some diseases, promote muscle growth, protect against certain types of cancers and can even reduce one's risk of premature(早于预期的) death, among many other________. Now it is said that a cup of ________ reduces physical pain.

The surprising finding is ________ a study involving 48 volunteers who agreed to spend 90-minutes performing computer tasks meant to finish office work. The tasks were known to ________ pain in the shoulders, neck, forearms and wrists. The researchers wanted to ________ how people with pain with those who were pain-free tolerated(忍受)the pain of such tasks. As a matter of convenience, the scientists allowed people to drink coffee before taking the test "to avoid ________ effects of caffeine lack, e.g. decreased vigor, sleepiness, and exhaustion." they reported.

When it came time to analyze the data, the researchers from Norway's National Institute of Occupational Health and Oslo University Hospital noticed that the 19 people who drank coffee reported a ________ intensity(强度)of pain than the 29 people who didn't. In the shoulders and neck, ________ the average pain was rated 41 (on a 100-point scale) among the coffee drinkers and 55 for the non-coffee drinkers. Similar gaps were found for all pain sites measured, and coffee's obvious pain-reduction effect ________.

However, the authors of the study, which was published this week in the journal, BMC Research Notes, warn that the results of the study come with many ________. For starters, the researchers don't know how much coffee the coffee drinkers consumed(消耗)before taking the computer tests. ________, they doubt whether the coffee drinkers and non-coffee drinkers were ________ in all aspects except for their coffee consumption. Problems like these tend to ________ the importance of the findings. But those doubts are ________ to trouble the coffee drinkers looking for any reason not to cut back on their daily caffeine habit.

A．take

B．reduce

C．increase

D．face

A．trends

B．advice

C．benefits

D．promotions

A．milk

B．water

C．coke

D．coffee

A．based on

B．fond of

C．different from

D．regarded as

A．cause

B．indicate

C．ease

D．relieve

A．warn

B．compare

C．cure

D．treat

A．unpleasant

B．modest

C．significant

D．positive

A．lower

B．higher

C．shorter

D．longer

A．in addition

B．as a result

C．for example

D．in one word

10.

A．turned up

B．took up

C．put up

D．gave up

11.

A．preparations

B．uncertainties

C．centers

D．responses

12.

A．Moreover

B．However

C．Otherwise

D．Nevertheless

13.

A．guilty

B．similar

C．different

D．proper

14.

A．realize

B．observe

C．measure

D．weaken

15.

A．unlikely

B．orderly

C．jealous

D．capable

2021-10-23更新 | 166次组卷

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文章大意：这是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了成千上万的麦哲伦企鹅在南美洲海岸搁浅，其中大约75%的搁浅企鹅是雌性，并分析了这一现象出现的原因。

【推荐3】Female penguins get stranded

Every year, thousands of Magellanic penguins (麦哲伦企鹅) get stranded along the coast of South America, but, _________ about 75% of those that get stuck are female. Now scientists say they have worked out what is behind the gender _________: the females migrate further north than males.

Magellanic penguins finish breeding in Patagonia in February, and, during the _________ winter months, head north, reaching as far as Brazil, in search of anchovies (风尾鱼). But every year thousands become stranded, with many _________ to safety on board military aircraft by human.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, researchers in Japan and Argentina report how they _________ tracking device to eight male and six female penguins in 2017 and tracked where the birds went after they left the breeding grounds of Cabo dos Bahfa in Argentina and began the migration north in April.

Previously it was unknown whether male and female’s took different paths or not. “Although some _________ are made, the exact reason for the _________ stranding has been unknown due to the lack of information on their behavior outside the breeding season.” said Takashi Yamamoto, a co-author of the report from the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Japan.

The results from the study offer a clearer picture. _________ the authors note that only a small number of penguins were tracked, all the female’s generally traveled further north. The male, meanwhile, predominantly stuck to waters of the Argentinian coast. The study also found male _________ dived deeper than female’s: about 59 metres compared with about 35 metres.

The authors offer a number of reasons why males and females may head to different areas— including to avoid __________ for food—and why they dive to different __________ —the females’ smaller bodies may restrict the depths they can reach. They also suggest the different sexes may seek waters of different temperatures, with the __________ females preferring warmer, shallower surroundings.

While researchers are still trying to understand why penguins end up stranded, Yamamoto and colleague’s suggest those that end up further north may have used more energy swimming or catching __________ prey, leaving them exhausted. Climate change, pollution in the area or injury from fishing equipment could also play a role. Reports of standings have noted that many penguins are unwell or exhausted, with some even washing up dead.

“__________, plastic remains have been reported in the stomach of beach-washed Magellanic penguins,” said Yamamoto, adding that a stewed sex ratio could potentially lead to a population decline.

While the findings may not help prevent strandings, Yamamoto said it could help with __________ of the species. “If we do not consider any action, such as marine zoning, I expect that the number of stranding individuals will increase.”

A．desperately

B．puzzlingly

C．obviously

D．undoubtedly

A．combination

B．frustration

C．conflict

D．imbalance

A．following

B．previous

C．starting

D．finished

A．dismissed

B．withdrawn

C．airlifted

D．extended

A．attached

B．equipped

C．lifted

D．injected

A．evaluations

B．assumptions

C．descriptions

D．conclusions

A．deep-rooted

B．ice-covered

C．storm-stricken

D．female-biased

A．Because

B．While

C．After

D．When

A．legally

B．physically

C．typically

D．simply

10.

A．searching

B．competing

C．asking

D．defending

11.

A．widths

B．levels

C．depths

D．rates

12.

A．lighter

B．heavier

C．rougher

D．smoother

13.

A．fixed

B．scared

C．deposited

D．scattered

14.

A．After all

B．In addition

C．However

D．For example

15.

A．perseverance

B．conversation

C．conservation

D．reservation

2022-08-30更新 | 260次组卷

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【推荐1】Why do so few people find fulfillment in their work? Amy Wrzesniewski, a Yale School of Management professor who studies these issues, offered an explanation that made a lot of ______. Students, she said, “think their calling is under a rock, and if they ______ enough rocks, they will find it.”

Surveys confirm that meaning is the top thing Millennials (千禧一代) say they want from a job. And yet her research shows that less than 50% of people see their work as a calling. So, many of her students are left feeling anxious, ______, and completely unsatisfied by the good jobs and careers they do secure.

What they—and many of us, I think—fail to realize is that work can be ______ even if you don’t think of it as a calling. The four most common occupations in America are retail (零售) salesperson, cashier, food preparer/server, and office clerk—jobs that aren’t typically ______ “meaning.” But all have something in common with those professions that are, such as teachers and doctors: They exist to help others. And as Adam Grant, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has shown, people who see their work as a form of

____ always rank their jobs as more meaningful.

That means you can find meaning in nearly any role in nearly any organization. ______, most companies create products or services to fill a need in the world, and all employees contribute in their own ways. The key is to become more conscious about the service you’re providing—______ and personally.

How? One strategy is to constantly remind yourself of your organization’s main ______. Life Is Good is a clothing company best known for colorful T-shirts with stick-figure designs, but its mission is to spread

____ and hope throughout the world, and that’s something even storeroom employees understand. If you work for an accounting firm, you’re helping people or companies with the ______ task of doing their taxes. Each job serves a purpose in the world.

Even if you can’t get excited about your company’s mission or customers, you can still adopt a service attitude by thinking about how your work ______ those you love. Consider a study of women working in a shoe factory in Mexico. Researchers found that those who described the work as dull were generally less productive than those who said it was ______. But the effects went away for those in the former group who saw the work (however boring) as a way to support their families. With that attitude, they were just as productive and ______ as the workers who didn’t mind the task.

Not everyone finds their one true calling. But that doesn’t mean we’re fated to work meaningless jobs. If we ______ our tasks as opportunities to help others, any occupation can feel more significant.

A．progress

B．trouble

C．sense

D．difference

A．carve out

B．turn over

C．pile up

D．keep off

A．frustrated

B．shocked

C．inspired

D．excited

A．meaningful

B．demanding

C．repetitive

D．challenging

A．distinguished from

B．exposed to

C．associated with

D．defined as

A．understanding

B．existing

C．producing

D．giving

A．In conclusion

B．After all

C．By comparison

D．In addition

A．as a whole

B．in this way

C．in public

D．on average

A．advantage

B．business

C．objective

D．construction

10.

A．optimism

B．information

C．designs

D．strategies

11.

A．unpleasant

B．dangerous

C．productive

D．urgent

12.

A．gathers

B．benefits

C．worries

D．entertains

13.

A．embarrassing

B．rewarding

C．rough

D．temporary

14.

A．relaxed

B．surprised

C．confused

D．energized

15.

A．assign

B．abandon

C．neglect

D．reframe

2020-05-18更新 | 174次组卷

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完形填空(约400词) | 较难 (0.4)

文章大意：这是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了“心灵感应（GOFT）”这种交流方式的特点以及优势。

【推荐2】In a letter he wrote in 1884, Mark Twain complained that “Telephones, telegraphs and words are too slow for this age; we must get something that is faster.” “We should communicate by thought only, and say in a couple of minutes what should have ballooned into ________ in an hour and a half,” said him.

Despite the progress the previous century brought for our understanding of both language and the brain, we are no closer to telepathy(心灵感应), communication from one mind to another by ________ means, than we were in Twain’s time. The reason is that the telepathy we’ve been promised, the sort imagined by Twain, and ________ in countless movies and TV shows, is, for the time being, groundless.

“Good old-fashioned telepathy” (GOFT) involves a direct transfer of ________ from one mind to another. It has fascinated people for good reasons. It removes the ________ of language. With GOFT, we no longer need to put each concept into words or to ________ someone’s language. You know instantly what one means as the former channel of communication, language, is not at all necessary. The ________ of language is the central feature of GOFT. It is what enables science-fiction writers to imagine humans and aliens from other planets communicating telepathically despite not sharing a language. But can it really come true with current science and technology?

Besides, GOFT promises genuine communication. However, ________ is universal. We all have experiences of saying one thing, only to be understood as saying something else. Because language is so flexible, it is also easy to lie or ________ oneself. We aren’t even certain if Bob’s expression could be in line with what he believes in a year’s time.

These weaknesses have driven people to look for alternatives and finally inspired inventions of artificial languages trying to remove misunderstanding. Of course, one day when technology allows, a direct thought-to-thought transfer seems the ________ solution.

Many of us have the confidence that we can think faster than we can speak or write. Having to rely ________ on language to communicate, however, is depressing. Therefore, the ________ of adding new direct brain-to-brain communication channels is exciting. By channels of this kind, our brains can be “________ ” and allowed to be committed to other ________ practices instead of conveying messages. New brain-to-brain channels have the potential to increase ________, turning us into super-actors, handling so many tasks in a short period of time as we cannot yet imagine.

A．words

B．gestures

C．actions

D．costs

A．extra-genetic

B．extra-familial

C．extra-sensory

D．extra-legal

A．sacrificed

B．popularized

C．enclosed

D．balanced

A．strength

B．intelligence

C．thoughts

D．structures

A．limitations

B．expenses

C．command

D．evolution

A．replace

B．update

C．decode

D．imitate

A．avoidance

B．discrimination

C．employment

D．expansion

A．reluctance

B．privacy

C．fear

D．misinterpretation

A．contradict

B．indicate

C．delay

D．justify

10.

A．multiple

B．invisible

C．ultimate

D．equivalent

11.

A．roughly

B．casually

C．entirely

D．willingly

12.

A．distraction

B．prospect

C．origin

D．regulation

13.

A．fed up

B．set up

C．cut off

D．let loose

14.

A．profitable

B．meaningful

C．steady

D．typical

15.

A．charm

B．recognition

C．efficiency

D．endurance

2023-04-17更新 | 406次组卷

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完形填空(约430词) | 较难 (0.4)

文章大意：本文是说明文。讲述了猿类和人类在行为方面有很多共同之处。从对猿类和儿童行为的观察中获得的证据表明，个体间爆发争斗和表现出侵略性有三个原因。

【推荐3】完形填空
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Apes and human beings share a lot in common when it comes to behavior. The evidence taken from the observation of the behavior of apes and children suggests that there are three causes for the outbreak of fighting and the exhibition of ____by individuals.
One of the most common causes of fighting among both children and apes was over the____of external objects. The argument over the ownership of any____object---food, clothes, toys, females, and the affection of others--- was sufficient reason to ____ force. In a case of monkeys’ disagreement over females，thirty females were killed. Two points are of particular interest to notice about these fights for possession.
In the first place, the fights are often carried to such an extreme that they end in the ____destruction of the objects of common desire. Toys are torn to pieces and females are killed.
In the second place it is observable, that ____occurs when an object is desired by only one person or by someone else. There were many cases where toys and other objects which had been____as useless were ____ defended by their owners when they became the object of some other child’s desire.
Another cause of aggression is the tendency for children and apes are greatly to ____the invading of a stranger into their group. A new child in the class may be laughed at, ____and disliked. A new monkey may be bitten to death. It is interesting to note that anger occurs when a stranger comes from the ____species. Monkeys do not mind being ____ by a goat or a rat. Children do not object when animals are introduced to the group. As a matter of fact, such newcomers are often ____ But when monkeys meet a new monkey or children a strange child, aggression often occurs. This strongly suggests that the reason for the aggression is fundamentally possessiveness. The competition of the newcomers is feared. The present members of the group feel that there will be more____for the food or the ____of the adults.
Finally, another common ____of fighting among children is a frustration or failure in their own ____ .A child will be stopped either by ____causes such as bad weather or illness from doing something he wishes to do, for example, sail his boat or ride the bicycle. Sometimes the activity may be ____because of the opposition of some adult. The child may also frustrate itself by ____, through lack of skill or strength, to complete successfully some desired activity. Such a child will then in the ordinary sense become “naughty”. He will be in a bad or unfriendly temper.1.

A．fulfillment

B．excitement

C．aggressiveness

D．isolation

A．usage

B．collection

C．value

D．possession

A．rejected

B．desired

C．opposed

D．attracted

A．turn to

B．drive away

C．come over

D．make into

A．moderate

B．slight

C．complete

D．temporary

A．donation

B．negotiation

C．agreement

D．conflict

A．taken away

B．put away

C．thrown away

D．given away

A．reluctantly

B．peacefully

C．unwillingly

D．violently

A．hate

B．accept

C．prove

D．ignore

10.

A．honored

B．isolated

C．appreciated

D．bitten

11.

A．similar

B．modest

C．strong

D．reliable

12.

A．observed

B．joined

C．protected

D．spoiled

13.

A．offensive

B．considerate

C．generous

D．welcomed

14.

A．organizers

B．competitors

C．advocators

D．applicants

15.

A．assessment

B．attitude

C．attention

D．emotion

16.

A．reason

B．account

C．description

D．source

17.

A．knowledge

B．study

C．activity

D．personality

18.

A．physical

B．natural

C．financial

D．academic

19.

A．enhanced

B．operated

C．prevented

D．extended

20.

A．learning

B．falling

C．imitating

D．refusing

2016-11-26更新 | 442次组卷

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