The company SpaceX has already launched hundreds of its Starlink satellites, with plans to put as many as 42,000 of them into the Earth’s orbit. Its goal is to provide the high-speed Internet for billions of people. Moving toward that kind of access is important, but it comes at a cost. Glittering with reflected sunlight, these first orbiters, sent up in the past year, are brighter than 99 percent of the 5,000 or so other satellites now circling Earth, and obviously there are going to be a lot more.
This sudden increase is bad for astronomy: The probability of a Starlink satellite crossing a telescope’s field of view and ruining an observation will be quite high near sunset. For that reason, my fellow astronomers have signed a petition (请愿书) calling for governments to protect the night sky from this invasion.
In response to protests, SpaceX has promised to address the visibility problem by, for example, applying experimental coatings — essentially painting the satellites black — but the company’s aggressive launch schedule remains unchanged. And the satellites’ illuminated (被照亮的) surfaces are mostly their solar panels — exactly the part that cannot be painted over.
Unfortunately, at present no regulations govern how bright a single satellite can be, let alone thousands of them together. Even if there were such regulations, one nation’s laws could not hinder (阻碍) another country’s launches. Space literally has no borders, and the sky will need to be protected at an international level. As a consequence, we hope that the United Nations will find a way to think outside of the box to save the sky for everyone.
When I was growing up in Montana, it was a game to be the first to find a moving satellite among a host of stars in the night sky. Soon it could be a game to recognize the constellations (星座) behind a swarm of moving points of light.
1. Why have the astronomers signed the petition?| A．SpaceX plans to send more Starlink satellites into space. |
| B．They intend to call for government to protect the orbiters. |
| C．The Starlink satellites can provide the high-speed Internet. |
| D．The Starlink satellites may ruin an observation near sunset. |
| A．It actually has done nothing useful. | B．It has painted the satellites all over. |
| C．It has changed its original plan. | D．It ignores the visibility problem. |
| A．SpaceX will still carry out its plan despite the protest. |
| B．SpaceX is unlikely to launch more satellites into space. |
| C．Regulations will soon be made to stop satellite launches. |
| D．The United Nations will stop SpaceX from launching. |
| A．Launch Starlink Satellites | B．Protest Against SpaceX |
| C．Save the Night Sky | D．Observe Moving Satellites |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】How would you like it if you are able to go to your local park and pick some tomatoes, potatoes or even bananas for dinner. Sounds too good to be true, right? For residents of Andernach, a German city, it’s not just a Utopian dream — it’s the reality. In 2010, Andernach began its “edible city” project, planting 101 varieties of tomatoes in public green spaces around the city centre. Its 30,000 residents are free to help themselves to whatever grows, as are any other visitors. Every year a new type of plant is introduced. In 2021, 100 types of beans were planted, while 2022 saw the introduction of 20 onion varieties. The town’s motto (座右铭) is, “Picking is encouraged — help yourself!”
It’s a community effort, as local citizens are encouraged to help plant and maintain the gardens. This offers an opportunity to socialize as well as to learn about planting, cultivating and harvesting food. “I often drop by to pick some herbs that I’m missing at home. Everything is easily accessible. There aren’t any fences. You just take what you need. The only thing is you have to be quick once the fruits are ripe or they’ll all be gone!” said a local historian.
Andernach may be the first, but it isn’t the only edible city. It’s part of the Edible Cities Network, an EU-funded project connecting green urban food initiatives around the world. Other edible cities include Carthage in Tunisia, Havana in Cuba and Šempeter-Vrtojba in Slovenia. In February 2022, the first Edible Cities Network Conference took place. Dr. Ina Säumel, director of the Edible Cities Network, called it “a unique opportunity to invite researchers and people involved of Edible City Solutions to the same table and unite theory with practice”.
Ultimately, the Edible Cities Network aims to create “greener, more edible and, above all, more livable cities”. It is a response to the pressures of climate change, and a cause for hope.
1. What is paragraph I mainly about?| A．The development of a German city. |
| B．The popularity of Andernach’s city design. |
| C．Approaches of planting vegetables. |
| D．The green food project in Andernach. |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Ignorant. | C．Doubtful. | D．Discouraged. |
| A．Edible cities hold meetings on a regular basis. |
| B．German rural areas will also follow the steps. |
| C．Asia will join the Edible Cities Network soon. |
| D．Green urban food is in the upward trend. |
| A．Start a green food campaign now | B．Gain easy access to German food |
| C．Make your cities edible as well | D．Respond quickly to climate change |
【推荐2】Global fast-food giant McDonald's announced it would be phasing out (逐步淘汰) plastic straws in China. From June 30, nearly 1,000 stores in Beijing. Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen began to phase out plastic straws for both dine-in and take-out, expanding to all stores in China by the end of 2020. Diners would drink cold beverages directly through the new cup cover. The move is expected to reduce plastic waste by about 400 tons a year.
Zhang Jiayin, CEO of McDonald’s China, expressed that McDonald's is devoted to building a “beautiful China”. “We believe that taking advantage of McDonald's influence worldwide. reducing straws can be a huge step for sustainable development. In the past decade or so, we have continued to carry out the green packaging action.” Zhang said, “This movement is playing a positive role in the protection of the ecological environment.”
The move is in keeping with China’s national plan to phase out single-use plastics which came into effect in January of this year, in an effort to combat its growing trash problem.
Among other things, the government carries out a nationwide ban on plastic straws and disposable cutlery (一次性餐具) by the end of 2020, as well as a ban on plastic bags in major cities by the end of 2020, and nationwide by 2022.
Plastic has increasingly played a role in global solid waste, and has choked oceans and rivers as well as landfills. Both companies and volunteers in the past few years have taken it upon themselves to respond to this plastic problem in their own ways.
1. What happened to McDonald’s in 2020?| A．It started to gradually get rid of using plastic straws in China. |
| B．It banned using plastic package in all stores. |
| C．It became the first company to ban plastic straws in China. |
| D．It successfully dealt with China’s trash problem. |
| A．Protect. | B．Separate. | C．Arouse. | D．Fight. |
| A．It is a kind of poisonous material. | B．It has been solved completely so far. |
| C．It results in a growing waste problem | D．It should be banned in all fields. |
| A．McDonald’s green packaging action | B．Plastic a controversial material in daily use |
| C．How to control environmental pollution? | D．Devotion to building a beautiful China |
【推荐3】In the wake of President Trump's decision to remove America from the Paris Climate Agreement, you’d be forgiven for feeling a little pessimistic about the future of the planet.
With reports of huge cracks appearing in the Antarctic ice and the rising of some coastal areas, fears that preventing the two degree heating of the planet might be a pipe dream - our planet is increasingly getting worse. Everything looks and sounds grim.
Fortunately though, there are some good news stories on the horizon; with many of them coming from China. The country has been leading the way when it comes to ‘green living’ in recent years, with the government announcing it had completed the construction of the world's largest floating solar farm.
Now, in an attempt to restrain the production of toxic(有毒的) gasses, the country is continuing to pave the way with the construction of one of the world's first ‘forest cities’. Designed by Stefano Boeri, who you might remember also designed two vertical skyscraper 'Forests', the city is at present under construction in Liuzhou, Guangxi Province.
Once it is completed, the new city will reportedly host 30,000 people and - thanks to the abundance of trees and plants - will absorb almost 10,000 tons of CO2, 57 tons of pollutants per year and produce about 900 tons of oxygen annually.
The city will achieve these rather impressive figures thanks to roughly a million plants from over100 species, as well as 40,000 trees being planted in facades over almost every surface imaginable.
1. What is the main course of the phenomena mentioned in paragraph1?| A．The decision of the President Trump. | B．The big cracks in Antarctic ice. |
| C．The rising of the global temperature. | D．The nightmare of our planet. |
| A．It shows the talent of the designer - Stefano Boeri. |
| B．It is designed to control the emission (排放) of harmful gases. |
| C．It can absolutely lead to a better skyscraper. |
| D．It means that people will have a toxic place to live in. |
| A．The benefits of the construction of the city. | B．The good life experience of the locals. |
| C．The green surface of our planet. | D．The pollutants caused by the CO2. |
| A．Anew trend of living in China. |
| B．Different lifestyles in different places of China. |
| C．Conflicts between people and the environment. |
| D．The efforts made by China to change the climate change. |
【推荐1】The Most Populous Cities in the World
The cities listed below are the most populous (人口稠密的) in the world, according to a 2018 U. N. report.
Tokyo, Japan
Population in Urban Area: 37,340,000
Population in City Area: 13,960,000
Tokyo is the most populated city in the world and the largest “Megacity” in the world.
The city called the “Capital of the East” is located on the eastern coast of the Japanese main island of Honshu.
Delhi, India
Population in Urban Area: 31,181,000
Population in City Area: 20,591,874
Delhi, also known as the National Capital Territory of India is the largest city in the country. According to a U. N. report, the Indian capital is expected to be the spot of the world’s second most populous city through at least 2030.
Shanghai, China
Population in Urban Area: 27,796,000
Population in City Area: 22,315,474
This is China’s most populated and also wealthiest city. Situated in the Yangtze River Delta, in eastern China, it has a huge business district, two large airports (Pudong and Hongqiao) and the world’s fastest train (the Shanghai Maglev).
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Population in Urban Area: 22,043,028
Population in City Area: 10,021,295
This busy metropolis (大都市) in southeast Brazil, is the largest city of the Southern Hemisphere (半球) and the largest Portuguese-speaking city in the world.
1. How many people are there in City Area of Delhi?| A．10,021,295. | B．20,591,874. | C．22,315,474. | D．13,960,000. |
| A．Tokyo, Japan. | B．Delhi, India. | C．Shanghai, China. | D．Sao Paulo, Brazil. |
| A．They belong to the same hemisphere. |
| B．They are the largest cities in their countries. |
| C．They all have a larger population in their countries. |
| D．They are all the richest in their own countries. |
【推荐2】When we want to communicate with another person, we generally use our voice, such as speaking or shouting. They are great ways to communicate, but they have some drawbacks.
For instance, if you live on a mountainside and your friend lives on another mountainside, shouting to each other isn’t always that effective. Shouting creates lots of echoes (回声) among the corners and holes of mountains, and the average outdoor range of an understandable human voice is only about 180 meters. Unless you walk over to where your friend lives to carry on a conversation at a reasonable speaking distance, or communicate by some sort of visual technique like smoke signals, there’s not much to be done except whistle (吹口哨).
Whistling is the product of air being forced through a small hole made by your lips. A whistle is different from your voice because it’s clear, and the frequency is high. The sound of a whistle can carry for over 8 kilometers and it holds its form, while a shout can become a mess because of the echoes.
For thousands of years, humans have relied on spoken language to accomplish daily, face-to-face communication most of the time. And in recent years, the coming of text messaging has also made whistled languages take a dive worldwide. Luckily, there are still over 70 groups around the world that engage in special whistled languages.
They’re most commonly found in mountainous regions where farmers need to pass messages around without walking up and down hills, and whistles are also used to communicate through the thick Amazon rainforest and are useful to Inuit at sea as well. Hunters can use whistling to communicate with each other in a way that doesn’t alarm their targets as the voice-produced language might.
Whistled languages are unique to a certain area and they are not distinct from spoken language. However, whistled language speakers around the world are found to be able to understand about 90 percent of what’s communicated. When whistled languages are still present, it signals that traditional activities are still commonly practiced and therefore the cultures behind them have been maintained.
1. What does the author want to express in the first two paragraphs?| A．Reasons for producing echoes outdoors. |
| B．The difficulty of living on the mountainside. |
| C．The necessity of adopting face-to-face communication. |
| D．Limitations of communicating by speaking or shouting. |
| A．Stay adaptable. | B．Become influential. |
| C．Get an improvement. | D．Experience a decline. |
| A．By providing research results. | B．By listing the statistic data. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By doing some questionnaires. |
| A．They will disappear gradually. |
| B．They could help keep traditional cultures alive. |
| C．They are independent of the local spoken language. |
| D．They become much more complex as time goes by. |
【推荐3】A drug designed entirely by artificial intelligence is about to enter clinical human trials for the first time. The drug, which is intended to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder ( OCD)(强迫症),was discovered using Al systems from Oxford-based biotech company Exscientia. While it would usually take around four and a half years to get a drug to this stage of development, Exscientia says that by using the Al tools it's taken less than 12 months.
The drug, known as DSP・1181, was created by using algorithms (算法)to examine potential compounds (化合物),checking them against a huge database of parameters, including a patient's genetic factors. Speaking to the BBC, Exscientia chief executive Professor Andrew Hopkins described the trials as a “ key milestone in drug discovery “ and noted that there are “ billions” of decisions needed to find the right molecules (分子)for a drug, making their eventual creation a “ huge decision. “ With Al, however, “the beauty of the algorithms is that they are unknowable, so can be applied to any disease.”
We've already seen multiple examples of Al being used to diagnose illness and analyze patient data, so using it to engineer drug treatment is an obvious progression of its place in medicine. But the Al - created drugs do bring about some relevant questions. Will patients be comfortable taking medicine designed by a machine? How will these drugs differ from those developed by humans alone? Who will make the rules for the use of Al in drug research? Hopkins and his team hope that these and a great many other questions will be explored in the trials, which will begin in March.
1. What is special about the drug designed by Al?| A．It's a better cure for OCD. |
| B．It has no side effect on humans. |
| C．Its development takes less time. |
| D．It doesn't need clinical human trials. |
| A．Trials. | B．Algorithms. |
| C．Compounds. | D．Molecules. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Disappointed. | D．Puzzled. |
| A．Medical Trials by Al | B．An Example in Medical Trials |
| C．A Creation in Al Development | D．Al - designed Drugs to Be on Trial |
【推荐1】
Eyes in the sky Several space telescopes planned for Launch after the James Webb Space Telescope（JWST）promise to deliver incredible science. Here are three of the most important. | ||
| Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars （PLATO） Expected launch date: 2026 This European Space Agency project will search a million stars looking for blips in their light that indicate the presence of an orbiting planet. Similar kinds of previous telescopes have only been able to see planets that are close to their stars and so pass in front of them frequently. Plato will linger on each star for longer and so has the chance to detect planets that are more distant from their star, with a longer orbital period. In particular, the mission is focused on trying to spot signs of rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone, the narrow region of a star system in which temperatures are right for liquid water. It also has the tools to characterize such worlds, providing clues to how Earth-like they may be. | Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Expected launch date: 2025 Like the James Webb Space Telescope, the Roman Space Telescope, named after the first female executive at NASA, will observe mainly infrared radiation. But while the JWST focuses on detail, Roman is going for the big picture. The telescope has a panoramic（全景的）field of view more than 100 times greater than the JWST’s. During its first five years, Roman will image more than 50 times as much sky as the Hubble Space Telescope covered in its first 30 years. That will allow it to make the first wide-field infrared maps of the sky. It is hoped this will help solve mysteries like the true identity of dark matter and dark energy. Astronomers can see the influence of these substances on the universe but have not been able to explain what they are. | Laser Interferometer Space Antenna（LISA） Expected launch date: 2034 We first detected gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space, in 2015. So far, we have seen waves from black hole and neutron star collisions（碰撞）. LISA, a mission led by the European Space Agency, will be a much larger gravitational wave detector than existing ground-based ones. It will consist of three spacecraft positioned 2.5 million kilometres apart in a triangular formation. This space detector will be sensitive to gravitational waves with extremely low frequencies. Among other things, it could allow us to spot planets in other galaxies just from the subtle way in which they influence the gravitational waves produced by their parent stars. Until now, all confirmed discoveries of exoplanets have been in our own Milky Way galaxy. |
| A．It is designed to detect gravitational waves in the fabric of space. |
| B．It is aimed to look for planets that are closely orbiting their stars. |
| C．It is the first of its kind to be able to see blips in the stars’ light. |
| D．It observes each star for longer so as to detect more distant planets. |
| A．The Roman Space Telescope can observe infrared radiation while the JWST cannot. |
| B．The Roman Space Telescope has a larger field of view compared to the JWST. |
| C．The James Webb Space Telescope make the first wide-field infrared maps of the sky. |
| D．The James Webb Space Telescope can image more than 50 times as much sky as the Roman. |
| A．All of the three space telescopes are being led by the European Space Agency. |
| B．With the help of LISA, we might be able to find planets outside of the Milky Way galaxy. |
| C．Getting wide-field infrared maps of the sky, scientists are sure to spot what dark matter and dark energy are. |
| D．Scientists have already confirmed the clues to the existence of all the exoplanets with the aid of gravitational waves. |
【推荐2】Over the past few years, China’s aerospace industry has witnessed many landmark events. Apart from celebrating these scientific achievements, the public has also developed a growing interest in the missions’ unique names, of which many are derived from China’s myths and legends.
China’s spacecraft are called Shenzhou. This literally means “heavenly ship” in Chinese, and is also a homonym for the Chinese words “divine land”, which is a term used in literary works to refer to the country. China’s moon exploration project and its lunar probe(月球探测器)are both named after a Chinese goddess of the moon,Chang’e. In 2013,the Chang’e-3 lunar probe landed on the moon and was carried around by a lunar rover(月球车)called Yutu. The two names perfectly match the legend of the moon fairy and her pet. In another example,the relay satellite for the Chang’e-4 moon exploration mission is called Queqiao, or “magpie bridge”. The magpie bridge, in a Chinese folk tale, was formed by millions of magpies, so that a separated couple could meet each other despite the Milky Way. Likewise,the Queqiao relay satellite serves as a “space-bridge”for communication between the moon and the earth.
Chinese people’s eagerness for the universe dated back to ancient times, some even tried to explore. Luban, a great inventor living in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, made a flying wood bird. Others created many myths and legends, such as “Kuafu Chases the Sun”, to explain phenomena that they could not explain. These traditional stories have become the source of inspiration for Chinese scientists in the naming of major space missions.
The famous spacecraft and rovers built by the United States include the Challenger,the Opportunity and the Spirit, whose names reflect a positive and enterprising spirit. This is quite unlike how the Chinese name their spacecraft,which reflects the Chinese people’s sense of romance and awe for space as well as their efforts to pass down traditional culture and their ancestors’ spirit of scientific discovery. Nevertheless, all these names, Chinese or foreign, showcase the dreams of humankind and our collective pursuit to discover the secrets of space.
When Apollo 11 prepared to land on the moon, the control center on earth told the astronauts onboard to “watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit”, which refers to Chang’e and her rabbit Yutu. With the rapid progress of China’s aerospace industry, more and more Chinese stories embodying Chinese romanticism will be shown to the world.
1. How is paragraph 2 developed?| A．By making comparisons. |
| B．By describing processes. |
| C．By giving examples. |
| D．By analyzing causes. |
| A．Because this name can draw public attention. |
| B．Because this name comes from a Chinese folk tale. |
| C．Because this name reflects Chinese romanticism. |
| D．Because this name indicates the function of the relay satellite. |
| A．The ancient Chinese explored the space to create myths and legends. |
| B．Some spaces missions’ names are originated from traditional stories. |
| C．China and the US name their spacecraft differently because of different pursuits. |
| D．China’s aerospace industry has changed the world. |
| A．Space Missions’ Names. |
| B．How to name Space Missions? |
| C．Space Missions’ Names Embody Chinese Romanticism. |
| D．Chinese Myths and Legends. |
【推荐3】The 60-foot-tall rocket took off in West Texas, sending a group of six people into space and giving them a few minutes of weightlessness before they landed by parachute (降落伞).
Most of the passengers paid a secret sum of money for their seats. But Katya Echazarreta, an engineer and science communicator, was selected by a nonprofit organization to join this travel from a pool of thousands of applicants (申请⼈). The organization’s goal is to send great leaders into space and allow them to experience the overview effect, which was reported by astronauts who say that viewing the Earth from space gives them a great change in their view.
“Looking down, you see everyone is down there, all of our past, all of our difficulties, everything — everything is there,” Echazarreta said. “When I came back down, it just completely strengthened my wish to continue enabling people of different backgrounds to go into space and do whatever they want to do.”
Echazarreta is the first Mexican-born woman to travel into space. She moved to the United States with her family at the age of seven. She recalled (回忆说) that she felt uncertain in a new place where she didn’t speak the language and that a teacher warned her she might have to repeat a grade. “It just really fueled me and after that, I just studied harder,” Echazarreta said. Later she was the main breadwinner in her family. She had sometimes up to four jobs at the same time, just to try to successfully graduate from college.
She worked in NASA before and didn’t see other female engineers like her, which inspired her to popularize science among the public. These days, Echazarreta is studying for her master’s degree in engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She also has a following of more than 330,000 fans on TikTok, and hosts a science-focused YouTube series.
1. Why was Echazarreta chosen to travel into space?| A．She made great efforts to set up a nonprofit organization. |
| B．She supported the project with a big sum of money. |
| C．She was considered to be an excellent woman. |
| D．She was an expert in space science. |
| A．To make women scientists known to the public. |
| B．To share the beauty of space on social media. |
| C．To encourage the public to learn science. |
| D．To help more people travel into space. |
| A．Beat. | B．Drove. | C．Confused. | D．Attracted. |
| A．Inspiring and hardworking. | B．Humorous and outgoing. |
| C．Talented and creative. | D．Calm and confident. |
