1 . In the universe, as we know, there is the sun, the moon, the earth and many stars. Through our geography lessons, we know the earth goes round the sun, and the moon goes round the earth. We have day and night because the earth keeps turning all the time. When our part of the earth turns to the sun, it is day. When our part of the earth turns away from the sun, it is night.
Just because the moon is closer to the earth than the sun, it looks much bigger than the sun. Big things look smaller when they are farther, and small things look bigger when they are nearer.
The sun is bright enough to give out very strong light. The moon can’t give out any light at all, but it looks quite bright too. Why? In fact, the light from the moon comes from the sun. The moon looks much bigger and brighter than the stars. But actually(事实上) the stars are much bigger and brighter than the moon. They look smaller than the moon because they are farther away from the earth.
There are still many other planets in the universe. All of them move round the sun. But of all these planets, only on the earth are there living things and people can only live on the earth too. At 9:00 am, on October 15th, 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei was sent into space. He stayed there for 21 hours. It was the first time for Chinese to get into space.
1. We find the sun _______ than the moon because it is _______ to us.| A．bigger; farther | B．smaller; closer |
| C．bigger; closer | D．smaller; farther |
| A．night | B．day | C．evening | D．Sunday |
| A．earth | B．Mars | C．moon | D．sun |
| A．On November 15th, 2002. | B．On October 16th, 2003. |
| C．On May 6th, 2004. | D．On October 15th, 2003. |
2 . A black hole is a place in outer space with very strong gravity. Gravity is a great force（力量） that shapes the universe. On Earth, gravity makes apples fall from trees. It keeps your feet planted on the ground. The gravity in a black hole is much stronger. It is so strong that nothing around it can get away from it, not even light.
Black holes are invisible. We can’t actually see them because they don’t throw back light. But scientists can find them with space telescopes and special tools. The strong gravity makes nearby stars move in a certain way. By studying how the stars move, scientists can find out if they are flying around a black hole. Strange things happen around black holes. This makes black holes a popular subject of science fiction（科幻）stories, although they are very unreal.
A black hole forms（形成）when a star dies. The star falls in on itself and turns into a very small point. Because of its small size and huge mass（质量）, the gravity will be so strong that it will pull light in and become a black hole. Black holes can grow huge as they continue to pull other things in and “eat” them. Many scientists believe that there are super-massive black holes at the center of galaxies, including the Milky Way.
The idea of the black hole was first suggested by two different scientists in the 18th century: John Michelle and Pierre-Simon Laplace. In 1967, a physicist named John Archibald Wheeler came up with the name “black hole”. Studying black holes can tell us many things about our galaxy and help scientists answer questions about the universe.
1. The word “invisible” in Paragraph 2 probably means “________”.| A．far to go | B．easy to find |
| C．difficult to catch | D．impossible to see |
| A．how big black holes are | B．how heavy black holes are |
| C．how black holes are formed | D．how black holes “eat” stars |
| A．a star’s moving path can help scientists find a black hole |
| B．writers love writing about black holes because they are real |
| C．many scientists believe that there aren’t any black holes at the center of the Milky Way |
| D．John Archibald Wheeler found the first black hole in space |
| A. information B. different C. see D. send |
We live on the planet（星球）Earth. Could we live on a
Scientists on Earth tell rovers what to do. Talking to rovers is something like playing a computer game. From Earth scientists can
Seth dropped his schoolbag and headed straight for the fridge. He needed a good snack if he was going to stay up late to watch the super perigee moon. He didn’t care about the moon, but Mr. Andrews assigned (布置作业) a project and expected him to do all that work in one night.
“Hungry?” Mom asked.
“Not really, but I have to eat something. Mr. Andrews is making me watch the moon tonight and write up information on it.”
“Oh, that’s right. Tonight is the super perigee moon.” Mom smiled. “What a fun assignment.”
Fun? Was she crazy? “I don’t think staying up late to stare (凝视) at the moon sounds like fun at all.”
Mom laughed. “You just wait. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more than you think you will.”
Seth didn’t think so. Mr. Andrews told the class that the super perigee moon appears when the full or new moon is the closest to the Earth. They spent an entire class talking about how big the moon usually looks. Seth didn’t see why this was such a big deal.
When the sun set, Seth walked outside. “That’s strange,” he said to his dad, “It’s so bright out here.”
“The super perigee moon is about 30% brighter than usual,” Dad said. “When I was younger, Grandpa used to study astronomy. He taught me all about space. The super perigee moon was always one of my favorite things to look at.”
Seth stared at the moon. Not only was it bright, it was huge—bigger than any full moon he’d ever seen.
“About 40% larger than usual,” Dad said.
Seth opened the notebook and started to write down the information his dad told him. “Think I should take pictures for the assignment?”
“Why not? It’s a good idea. It would get you good marks.”
“And I’d like to have pictures to remember this. It’s pretty cool.”
“So I guess you’re not too upset that you have to do the homework after all,” Dad said.
Seth continued to stare in awe (无比崇敬地) at the super perigee moon. “I think it’s the best assignment we’ve had all year.”
1. Seth’s assignment was to _______.| A．take some pictures of planets and stars |
| B．surf the Internet for information on space |
| C．invite his parents to help him finish a task |
| D．watch the moon and write up information |
| A．Mr. Andrews. | B．His father. | C．His mother. | D．His classmate. |
| A．he spent the whole night with his father |
| B．he would get good marks after finishing it |
| C．it interested him to learn more about the moon |
| D．it helped him make his grandpa’s dream come true |
1. What is the speech mainly about?
| A．The dreams of space travel. | B．The influence of space travel. | C．The achievements of space travel. |
| A．To show us the advantages of space travel. |
| B．To tell us the aliens we may meet in the space travel. |
| C．To remind us to be careful about space travel. |
6 . Mission to Mars
On July 4, 1997, space exploration took a huge step. On that day, a spacecraft called Pathfinder landed on Mars. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sent Pathfinder to discover new information about the Red Planet.
The mission was a complete success. After landing, Pathfinder sent a small rover (漫游机器人), Sojourner, onto the planet's surface. Sojourner explored more than 250 square meters of Mars. Together, designed Sojourner to last for only seven days, but little vehicle ran twelve times longer! Pathfinder surprised scientists, too. It sent back information for almost three months. That was three times longer than it was built to last.
Because Pathfinder and Sojourner ran for so long, scientists got more information than they ever dreamed of getting. For one thing, they discovered that Mars is very sandy. Pictures of sand dunes around the land site hint that Mars once had water. Scientists know that water means life. Was there ever life on Mars? We don't know yet. In addition, the Pathfinder mission told scientists that Mars is dusty. Huge "dust devils" on Mars spit enormous amounts of dust into the Martian air. Pathfinder also discovered frosty Martian temperatures at 200 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. At that temperature, a glass of water would freeze solid in just a few seconds.
In October, scientists lost Pathfinder's signal because the spacecraft's battery had run down. They tried to revive the signal but had no luck. The mission officially ended on November 4.
Scientists hope to use the knowledge from these missions to better understand how life on earth began. They will also use it to plan future Mars missions.
1. What did NASA do to get information about Mars?| A．NASA sent the spacecraft Sojourner to Mars. |
| B．NASA sent engineers on a three-month space mission. |
| C．NASA sent the spacecraft Pathfinder to Mars. |
| D．NASA sent astronauts to run tests for seven days. |
| A．Scientists found out that Mars is very cold and dusty. |
| B．Scientists got more information than they ever dreamed of getting. |
| C．Scientists learned that Mars definitely had water at one time. |
| D．Scientists found out that there was once life on Mars. |
| A．dust devils on Mars made the photographs hard to see. |
| B．Martian temperatures caused Pathfinder's battery to fail. |
| C．scientists suspect that life on Earth began on Mars. |
| D．scientists will look for signs that life existed on Mars. |
7 . However exciting space travel sounds, astronauts must still suffer with bad food. Now, food in space has to be dehydrated（使脱水）or pre-cooked and stored. This means astronauts aren't really eating fresh food.
New technology may change this. Scientific American reports that a specially-designed oven will be sent into space this autumn with NASA's NG-12 cargo（货物）.Far from the common vacuum-packed（真空包装的）meals, astronauts may get to enjoy freshly baked cookies before the end of 2019.
Why aren't they baking cookies in space already?
For one thing, there's the risk of a fire. Engineers also have to overcome the challenge of microgravity, which prevents heat from circling inside ovens the same way it does on Earth.
Astronauts will still have to wait a while before they can have their cookies, though. After baking, the results will be sent back to Earth for safety testing. If successful, this will be the first oven to bake food in space.
“I believe…that will be game-changing for both science and astronauts, ”food technology researcher Maeena Naman Shafiee told Scientific American.
One of the main driving forces behind this project has been NASA's 2018 research into the effects of " confinement（封闭）and isolation（隔离）”. Unlike on the International Space Station（ISS）, astronauts traveling out of Earth's orbit may not be able to speak to their loved ones on future missions, which could lead to negative feelings.
It's hoped that the chance to bake and sense familiar smells can bring joy to crews（宇航人员）.
“Is the ISS going to smell like fresh-baked cookies? We don't know, ”said NanoRacks' communications manager Abby Dickes. “But that's a feeling we all know and love…that will make someone feel at home.”
Baking cookies in space would mark an important step, offering a small comfort in the difficult and unfamiliar environment of space travel. Astronauts have already grown plants aboard the ISS.
With commercial（商业的）space travel now being planned, who knows what other developments may surprise us in the future
1. What can the new technology help astronauts to do in space?| A．Store more food. | B．Enjoy fresh cookies. |
| C．Quickly prepare food. | D．Cook many different kinds of home-made meals. |
| A．Because it's difficult and costly to send food into space. |
| B．Because microgravity stops food from staying in one place. |
| C．Because baking cookies in space would pollute the spaceships. |
| D．Because it is hard to heat food properly because of microgravity. |
| A．To improve astronauts' health. | B．To make improvements in space travel. |
| C．To encourage more people to travel to space. | D．To make space travel more comfortable for astronauts. |
