The space community is taking the orbital debris (碎片) threat increasingly seriously these days. Multiple satellite “mega-constellations (巨型星座)” are in the works, making space traffic management and space-junk removal more pressing issues than they’ve ever been.
For instance, SpaceX has already launched more than 1,700 satellites for its Starlink broadband constellation. The company ultimately wants to launch around 30,000Starlink satellites into orbit. One Web has launched more than half of the satellites for its planned 648-member constellation, which may also grow beyond that initial number as time goes on.
In addition, satellite construction costs continue to fall, allowing more and more people to get satellites up and operate them—including folks with very little experience in the field. This opening of the final frontier is generally a good thing, but it further highlights the need for responsible action when it comes to satellite operation. In 2019, for example, the Space Safety Coalition (SSC) laid out a set of proposed voluntary guidelines designed to control space junk over the coming years.
One recommendation is that all satellites operating above 250 miles be equipped with propulsion(推进) systems, allowing them to get away from possible collisions (碰撞). The SSC also recommends operators who control satellites in low Earth orbit should include in their launch contracts a requirement that rocket upper stages should be got rid of in the atmosphere shortly after liftoff.
More active debris-fighting strategies could also be part of the solution. Removing just a handful of rocket bodies or dead satellites every year could help us keep our space-junk problem under control, according to some studies. And researchers around the world are developing and testing ways to do just that, using nets, harpoons(鱼叉) and other methods.
The space-junk issue is a global one, so governments around the world should have conversations about how to deal with it. Let’s hope the talks, the decisions and the tech end up outpacing the problem.
1. What do the two examples in Paragraph 2 illustrate?| A．Orbital debris ensure satellite safety. |
| B．Constellations consist of many satellites. |
| C．Space is becoming increasingly crowded. |
| D．SpaceX has higher capacity to explore space. |
| A．Experience in this area is rich. |
| B．Satellites are cheaper to make. |
| C．Satellite operations require little skills. |
| D．Space is accessible to common people. |
| A．Remove dead satellites from orbit. |
| B．Cooperate in monitoring satellites. |
| C．Operate satellites at a fixed height. |
| D．Recycle a rocket shortly after liftoff. |
| A．Space junk cleanup |
| B．The risks of space junk |
| C．Space debris and satellites |
| D．Guidelines for space safety |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Dengue is a very painful illness spread by mosquitoes. In severe cases, dengue can even be deadly. Dengue is a serious disease affecting people in around 120 countries. It can cause high fevers, headaches, and severe pain. It’s caused by a virus spread by bites from mosquitoes. Therefore, dengue is more common in warm areas. Every year, roughly 390 million people get dengue, and as many as 25,000 die from it.
Now scientists seem to have found a way to protect humans from dengue by first protecting mosquitoes. Dengue fever is caused by a virus. Though it may seem strange to think of it this way, the mosquitoes that spread the dengue virus are also infected with it. But the virus doesn’t seem to hurt the mosquitoes.
Wolbachia is a kind of bacteria commonly found in many insects. In some insects, Wolbachia can keep some viruses from duplicating themselves, which is how viruses grow inside a body. Wolbachia isn’t naturally found in mosquitoes. But by infecting these mosquitoes with Wolbachia, scientists can keep the mosquitoes from catching the dengue virus. Even better, the young mosquitoes coming from the eggs of the infected mosquitoes also carry Wolbachia.
Researchers working with the World Mosquito Program (WMP) ran a 27-month study in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. They split a 10-square-mile area up into 24 smaller areas. In half of the areas, the scientists did nothing. In the other half, they set out containers of eggs from mosquitoes that had Wolbachia. They did this every two weeks for just 4 to 6 months.
Ten months later, 80% of the mosquitoes in the treated areas carried Wolbachia. The researchers report the number of dengue cases in the treated areas was reduced by 77% and that the number of people needing hospital care for dengue dropped by 86%.
Because the results of the experiment were so good, the WHO has placed Wolbachia-infected mosquito eggs in all parts of Yogyakarta and surrounding areas. The WHO says that within a year, their efforts will protect 2.5 million people against dengue and that their efforts will be turned into a program that can be repeated worldwide.
1. What kind of disease is dengue?| A．It is likely to cause death. | B．It causes no pain but fevers. |
| C．It happens less often in hot areas. | D．It hurts both people and mosquitoes. |
| A．worsening the harm of | B．expanding the size of |
| C．increasing forces of | D．making copies of |
| A．Its wide use. | B．Its effectiveness. | C．Its complexity. | D．Its easy operation. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Positive. | C．Tolerant. | D．Skeptical. |
【推荐2】Over our long shared history, dogs have developed a range of skills for bonding with human beings. Their ability to make sense of human instructions like "lay down" is just one such skill. But whether dogs understand human intentions, or merely respond to outcomes, remains unclear. The ability to recognize others’ intentions is a basic part of Theory of Mind, long regarded as uniquely human. Can dogs also distinguish between something done on purpose and something done by accident?
To answer this question, a team of researchers in Germany conducted an experiment that examined how dogs reacted when food rewards were held back. They found that dogs responded differently depending on whether the actions of the experimenter were intentional or unintentional.
The experiment was conducted under three conditions. In each condition, the dog was separated from the human tester by a transparent (透明的) barrier. Then the experimenter fed the dog pieces of dog food through a gap in the barrier. In the "unwilling" condition, the experimenter suddenly withdrew the reward through the gap in the barrier. In the "unable-clumsy" condition, the experimenter brought the reward to the gap in the barrier and "tried" to pass it through the gap but then "accidentally" dropped it. In the "unable-blocked" condition, the experimenter again tried to give the dog a reward, but was unable to because the gap in the barrier was blocked. In all conditions, the reward remained on the tester's side of the barrier.
Not only did the dogs wait longer in the unwilling condition than in the unable conditions, they were also more likely to sit or lie down-actions often interpreted as being uninterested-and stop wagging their tails.
The team acknowledges that their findings may be met with challenges and that further study is needed to deal with alternative explanations, such as behavioral cues (暗示) on the part of experimenters or knowledge transfer from earlier dog training. "Nevertheless," the paper concludes, "the findings present important initial evidence that dogs may have at least one aspect of Theory of Mind: the capacity to recognize intention-in-action."
1. How was the experiment carried out?| A．By grouping the dogs and treating them differently. |
| B．By feeding the dogs with food for good behavior. |
| C．By observing the dogs in different conditions. |
| D．By training the dogs about reactions to food. |
| A．The tester collected the food back. | B．The food dropped to the floor. |
| C．The gap in the barrier was blocked. | D．The dog stopped wagging its tail. |
| A．They partly prove Theory of Mind on dogs. |
| B．They have met more doubts than trust. |
| C．They are challenged by some experimenters. |
| D．They help solve dogs’ behavioral problems. |
| A．Experiment to Test Dog-human Bond. | B．Dogs Have a Wide Range of Skills. |
| C．Experiment Guided by Theory of Mind. | D．Dogs Can Understand Human Intentions. |
【推荐3】Scientists found statistical equality between boys ‘and girls’ brains when it comes to learning math. Jessica Cantlon, author of the study and professor of developmental neuroscience(神经科学) at Carnegie Mellon University, told NPR that when it comes to learning math, boys and girls are “indistinguishable.”
Boys and girls experience learning math in the same way, the new study found, debunking the age-old thought that-males are superior to females in the subject.
The study published Friday in the journal Science of Learning discovered that young boys and girls use the same networks in the brain to solve math problems. “While some have thought that boys are biologically likely to be better in math, there was little evidence to support those claims, “researchers said in the study. Some earlier studies have shown gender differences, but “it is impossible to separate intrinsic(本质的), biological differences from sociocultural influences.”
For the study published Friday, researchers analyzed 104 kids between 3 and 10years old while they performed some tests connected with mental processes of understanding and watched videos of math lessons in an MRI scanner. In a first for such a study, scientists used neuroimaging(神经成像) to capture images of kids ‘brains to evaluate the differences between males and females.
Testing revealed that girls’ and boys’ brains function similarly during mathematical processing. “Additionally, there was no evidence of gender differences in neural responses to mathematics content, neural responses during educational video viewing, or rates of neural development for mathematical processing in early childhood.”
Furthermore, scientists “found statistical equality between boys and girls throughout the brain. “This led the researchers to conclude that “gender differences in the field of science in adults don’t develop from intrinsic differences in children’s brains but likely from a complex environmental origin.”
1. What does the underlined word “debunking “mean in paragraph 2?| A．spreading. | B．exposing. |
| C．reflecting. | D．confirming. |
| A．The gender differences are likely influenced by socio-culture. |
| B．Boys and girls solve math problems in exactly the same way. |
| C．Evidence was found that boys are biologically better in math. |
| D．Earlier studies have enough evidence to prove the gender differences. |
| A．Girls’ and boys’ brains are different in Math. |
| B．The kids like watching videos of math lessons. |
| C．The MRI scanner is helpful to evaluate the differences. |
| D．There are no gender differences in learning Math. |
| A．Boys and Girls Are Equal in Getting Education |
| B．Boys and Girls Brains Are Equal in Math |
| C．Males Are Superior to Females in Math |
| D．Adults Are Superior to Kids in Math |
【推荐1】Research led by the University of Leeds has found that children do better at primary school if their fathers regularly spend time with them on interactive engagement activities like reading, playing, telling stories, drawing and singing.
Analyzing primary school test scores for five-and seven-year-olds, the researchers used a representative sample of nearly 5,000 mother-father households in England from the Millenium Cohort Study, which collected data on children born during 2000—2002 as they grew up.
According to the research, dads who regularly drew, played and read with their three-year-olds helped their children do better at school by age five. Dads being involved at age five also helped improve scores in seven-year-olds’ Key Stage Assessments.
Dr Helen Norman, who led the research, said, “Mothers still tend to assume the primary carer role and therefore tend to do the most childcare, but if fathers actively engage in childcare too, it significantly increases the likelihood of children getting better grades in primary school. This is why encouraging and supporting fathers to share childcare with the mother, from an early stage in the child’s life, is critical.”
Dads’ involvement impacted positively on their children’s school achievement regardless of the child’s gender, ethnicity, age in the school year and household income, according to the report. There were different effects when mums and dads took part in the same activities—the data showed that mums had more of an impact on young children’s emotional and social behaviors than educational achievement.
The researchers recommend that dads carve out as much time as they can to engage in interactive activities with their children each week. For busy, working dads, even just ten minutes a day could potentially have educational benefits.
1. How did researchers draw their conclusion?| A．Through experiments. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By doing surveys. | D．Through data analysis. |
| A．Create a wonderful learning environment. |
| B．Meet all the kid’s demands. |
| C．Care for the kid with the mother. |
| D．Focus on the kid’s study. |
| A．Emotion management. | B．Educational achievement. |
| C．Intelligence development. | D．Physical health. |
| A．Father takes on more responsibilities in kids’ development. |
| B．Children benefit from reading and playing. |
| C．Father plays a more important role than mother. |
| D．Father sharing childcare makes for kids’ schooling. |
【推荐2】Beavers(海狸), like humans, change their surroundings to fit their needs. Known as nature’s engineers, they tear trees down to build homes to live in and dams to raise water levels for protection from endemics. Dams also slow water’s flow while blocking sediment(沉积物)that would otherwise flow downstream. The resulting wetlands often attract wildlife diversity where none had existed. There are challenges, though. Beaver dams sometimes cause flooding, and most people prefer trees alive and upright.
Communities face a delicate balancing act, learning to coexist with beavers. Last winter, many people enjoying Winston Path became beaver fans as one furry family transformed Swallow Pond into an oasis for birds, frogs, turtles and deer.
Yet such activity caused concern. As beavers worked, they raised water levels about five feet. The increased depth allows beavers to survive underwater if the pond ices over. But county officials were concerned about how higher water would affect the soil bank supporting Winston Path.
To find a good balance between protecting the path and the beavers, the county introduced a “beaver baffle”- a pond leveler. Beavers often rush to fill holes in their dams. Baffles stabilize water levels by creating a hidden exit for high water to escape through the dam, unnoticed by the beavers.
People love the beavers but they also love the mature trees. Recently, Catherine Jones,18, organized a tree-caging event-putting wire cloth around large tree trunks to discourage beavers from biting them. It also protects people from injury due to random trees falling. “We cover the trees we don’t want them to eat, while planting periodically others they like,” said Jones. “We need to learn to give up a little of our wants to share the Earth’s resources.”
Swallow Pond’s 2023 project will restore proper water depth and improve wildlife habitat without creating problems for the path. The balancing act continues.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．Where beavers’ favorite surroundings are. |
| B．What effects beavers have on their habitat. |
| C．Why beavers are called nature’s engineers. |
| D．How beavers help attract wildlife diversity. |
| A．Swallow Pond would flood often. |
| B．Sediment would flow downstream. |
| C．The popular path might be damaged. |
| D．Beavers might have to live underwater. |
| A．They build beaver dams. | B．They fill holes in the dams. |
| C．They cover all the trees. | D．They plant trees beavers like. |
| A．Biological diversity. | B．Harmonious coexistence. |
| C．Prevention of natural disasters. | D．Preservation of wildlife habitat. |
【推荐3】When you go running in the woods in your running tights, elastane (氨纶) is the reason why they fit you so comfortably. Elastane is an elastic material that allows the fabric to stretch and adapt to your body.
But when elastane fibres are mixed with cotton, wool, nylon or other fibres, as is the case in many clothes today, the clothes become almost impossible to recycle. It is extremely difficult to separate out the different fibres, and therefore the materials in the clothes cannot be recycled.
But this may change, says Assistant Professor Steffan Kvist Kristensen from the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center at Aarhus University. Together with a number of colleagues, he is behind a new technology that can separate out fibres in mixed fabrics.
“We’ve developed a method to remove elastane completely from nylon. We’re not quite there yet with cotton, because some of the cotton fibres are broken down in the process. But we believe that, with some minor adjustments, we can solve this problem,” he says.
It is not easy to separate elastane and other fibres once they have been woven(编织) together. Clothes are made by winding the main fibres, such as nylon or cotton, around the elastane fibres, which consist of long chains of molecules (分子). The fibres only break apart if we break the long chains of molecules, explains Steffan Kvist Kristensen.
By heating the clothes to 225 degrees Celsius and adding a specific alcohol, the researchers have found a method to break down the bonds in elastane chain. When this happens, the chains fall apart and the materials separate. “The whole process takes place in what is in effect a large pressure cooker that we feed the clothes into. We then add a little alcohol and a potassium hydroxide(氢氧化钾) base and heat it up. Then we let it cook for just over four hours, and when we open the lid again, the different fibres will have been separated.” says Steffan Kvist Kristensen.
So far, Steffan Kvist Kristensen and his colleagues have only experimented with two nylon stockings at a time. The technology is therefore not yet ready for application at industrial scale.
1. What can we learn about elastane from the passage?| A．It is an eco-friendly material. | B．It is a kind of stretchable fabric. |
| C．It makes the clothes far from recycling. | D．It is made up of short chains of molecules. |
| A．To separate more fibres. | B．To reduce the heating time. |
| C．To increase the temperature to 225℃. | D．To ensure the safety of the experiment. |
| A．It can separate all sorts of fibres. |
| B．It needs plenty of energy to work. |
| C．There is a long way before it is widely used. |
| D．There is no possibility to separate elastane from cotton. |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Confident. | C．Critical. | D．Unclear. |
【推荐1】Human innovation (创新) has allowed people to explore space for decades. Within a space station, astronauts have enough air, food and water to complete missions of a year or longer without a resupply. But missions to further reaches of space are a different matter. Establishing a base on the moon or sending humans to Mars seems just on the horizon. That can only happen if innovative and foolproof ways are developed to supply humans with enough air, water and food.
One company, Interstellar Labs, has developed an advanced, closed loop system that can grow plants anywhere, even in space. They call their AI managed greenhouses BioPods and they are designed to be very efficient. In fact, Interstellar Labs claims that BioPods reduce the amount of land and water needed to produce food by 99 percent. That is not an impossible claim. BioPods don’t use any soil to grow plants, and the vast majority of water is recycled and recirculated.
Plants are grown inside BioPods using aeroponics, the practice of hanging plants in the air and spraying a mist of nutrient-rich water on their roots. By using aeroponics, the BioPod system carefully conserves water with amazing results. According to Interstellar labs, BioPod-grown plants are up to 300 times more productive than traditionally grown plants, using only a small amount of water.
The conditions inside of a BioPod are controlled by AI, which can change anything from the lighting to the temperature and humidity to maximize growth. This optimizes (使最优化) growing conditions no matter what the environment is outside, including the emptiness of space.
The BioPods themselves can be built in almost any environment, too. The pod’s structure is made with a 3D printer using raw materials in liquid form. The inside part is sealed with an inflatable membrane (充气膜) that is also 3D-printed. This means that a BioPod could be built right on the surface of the moon or Mars, making transporting a large structure unnecessary.
Like most technology developed for space exploration, BioPods can also be used on Earth to provide highly efficient food production systems even in the harshest environments.
1. In writing paragraph 1, the author aims to____________.| A．present a topic | B．make a comparison |
| C．reach a conclusion | D．propose a definition |
| A．They are widely used for space exploration. |
| B．They are highly productive and efficient greenhouses. |
| C．They are easy to operate without need for soil or water. |
| D．They are deigned to be used in harsh environments on Earth. |
| A．Food Consumption in Space Station | B．Space Exploration with BioPods |
| C．Growing Food in Space Pods | D．3D Printers Used in Space Lab |
| A．Positive. | B．Cautious. | C．Ambiguous. | D．Disapproving. |
【推荐2】Four “amateur (业余的) astronauts” are about to launch into orbit in another landmark mission for space tourism. It’s the latest flight to help open up access to space for paying customers. The trip has been paid for by US billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman, who will travel with three crewmates (机组同事). A healthcare worker, a science educator and a data analyst will circle the Earth with Mr. Isaacman for three days. They hope to inspire others with their adventure and to raise money for children’s cancer medicine. Accordingly, the mission has been named Inspiration 4.
The crew’s Dragon vehicle, made by Elon Musk’s company Space X, will ride a Falcon-9 rocket. It is due to launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center at 20:02 EDT on Wednesday, or very shortly after. The spacecraft will reach an altitude of 575km, which is about 150km higher than the International Space Station (ISS). The four will then spend their time doing experiments and looking at Earth through a large domed (圆顶状的) window which offers panoramic views of the whole planet.
The mission follows hot on the heels of Sir Richard Branson’s flight aboard his Virgin Galactic rocket plane on 11 July, and fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos’s trip to space nine days later in the New Shepard vehicle. The glass dome has been fitted in place of the mechanism that Dragon normally uses to dock (对接) with the ISS, which isn’t needed on this flight.
In the 60 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin first went into space, fewer than 600 people have followed in his footsteps, and most of those have been military-trained personnel flying on government-sponsored missions. Inspiration 4 is different. It’ll be a fully commercially purchased and operated orbital flight. NASA helped fund the development of a lot of the technology used by Elon Musk’s company, and did so to try to diversify the economy in low-Earth orbit.
1. Why is the mission called Inspiration 4 according to paragraph 1?| A．To promote the space tourism industry. |
| B．To highlight the huge expenses of the space trip. |
| C．To claim the commercial benefits of space adventures. |
| D．To inspire people and collect money for medical treatment. |
| A．Its crew members are mostly military trainees. |
| B．The launch schedule is to be further confirmed. |
| C．It is to be made nine days after Jeff Bezos’ space trip. |
| D．A glass dome will be fitted to replace the mechanism to join the ISS. |
| A．It ensures the success of the mission. |
| B．It enables the crew to observe surrounding planets. |
| C．The crew can get a full view of the earth through it. |
| D．The crew can take advantage of it to do experiments. |
| A．A commercially paid orbital flight. |
| B．The diversity of space exploration. |
| C．The development of space technology. |
| D．A space tour on government-sponsored missions. |
【推荐3】In the opening scenes of the new film Good Night Oppy, the Opportunity rover (漫游车) rolls along through Perseverance Valley on Mars in June 2018.
But a storm forming on the horizon changed everything. This storm was different. It rapidly grew in size, encircling the planet and blocking out the sun. The solar-powered rover’s last message to mission control translated to this: “My battery is low and it’s getting dark.”
This chapter is just the beginning of the documentary, available to stream on Amazon Prime on November 23, 2022. The film traces the journey of the twin rovers — Opportunity and Spirit — and the people who dedicated their lives to them from concept to that last transmission.
These two rovers built by NASA engineers in the early 2000s were to search for past evidence of water on Mars. Both were launched in 2003 inside Delta rockets and landed in 2004 on opposite sides of the red planet. The dual mission’s first 90 days came and went, and NASA engineers realized the two rovers were ready for more adventure.
Spirit and Opportunity’s findings rewrote the textbooks with new information about Mars and its watery past while they both got into all sorts of trouble in between discoveries, like getting stuck in the sand and nearly rushing down the sides of steep craters (火山口). The bonds between team members and the rovers quickly deepened, despite the vast distance between Earth and Mars, making it more difficult when Spirit’s journey ended in 2011 and Opportunity fell silent in 2018. Spirit and Oppy’s missions have ended, but Mars exploration continues today through next-generation rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance.
The film shines a light on the hope of space exploration and captures the emotional attachment between humans and the robotic ambassadors that explore on our behalf.
1. What caused the death of Opportunity?| A．A slide in the valley. | B．A sand trap. |
| C．A fall in a crater. | D．A huge storm. |
| A．To discover water sources on Mars. | B．To record the data of storms on Mars. |
| C．To map the shape of valleys on Mars. | D．To detect signs of past water on Mars. |
| A．Delta rockets. | B．Spirit and Opportunity. |
| C．NASA engineers. | D．Curiosity and Perseverance. |
| A．To recommend a documentary. | B．To appreciate engineers’ devotion. |
| C．To honor the Opportunity rover. | D．To present NASA’s achievements. |
