Scientists have worked out when our Sun will die. It won’t be any time soon. It will be in 10 billion years. The scientists are from the University of Manchester in the UK. They predict that in about 5 billion years from now, the Sun will turn into a “red giant”. This is the scientific name given to a star at the end of its life. When our Sun becomes a red giant, its centre will shrink (收缩) . Its outer layers will expand (膨胀) as far as Mars. This means Earth will be burnt and disappear. After our Sun turns into a red giant, it will become a bubble of gas and space dust. The scientists say no humans will be on Earth when the Sun dies out.
The Sun is still quite young in space years. It is just 4.6 billion years old. This means it is only around one third into its lifespan (寿命) . Professor Albert Zijlstra, a scientist from the University of Manchester, explained what happens at the end of a star’s life. He said, “By this point in the star’s life, it is running out of fuel. Then it turns off and dies.” Professor Zijlstra was happy that modern science can count the age of stars and what will happen to them. “We even have found out what the Sun will do when it dies.” He said.
1. According to the scientists, when will the sun die?2. When do we call a star “red giant”?
3. What will happen to humans when the sun dies out?
4. What’s the lifespan of the Sun?
5. Should we worry about the sun’s death? Why or why not?
2 . MARS(火星)—The Red Planet!
MARS—The Red Planet! is one of our Early Reader Space books. It has surprising facts and photos showing all about Mars. It is mainly written for kids aged 7-10, it’s an interesting way for readers to find out more about the red planet.
The Weather
The Weather is one of our Early Earth books for boys and girls aged 13-15. This is a fun and fantastic way for readers to find out more about the weather on our earth. It offers information in a fun way mixing facts, photos, and even has a web page with video clips explaining more about the information in the book.
Horses
Kids Book of Fun Facts & Amazing Pictures on Animals in Nature—A Perfect Horse Book For Kids Aged 5-8. The book written by Kate describes the most lovely animal on the planet for early readers. The book uses beautiful and clear pictures that help your child to understand the fun facts about this animal.
1. “MARS—The Red Planet!”, “The Weather” and “Horses” are all ________.| A．photos | B．facts | C．videos | D．books |
| A．5-8 | B．13-15 | C．7-10 | D．4-10 |
| A．maths | B．music | C．science | D．history |
3 . People around the word felt excited on the night of April 10, 2019. For the first time in history, people saw a photo of a black hole. The photo became popular at once. But do you know it has something to do with a computer scientist Katie Bouman. Without her, there won’t be this photo.
Black holes are very far from us, so it is very difficult to take photos of them. It’s like taking a photo of an orange that is on the moon. Many scientists had tried. However, none of them succeeded.
These failures didn’t stop Bouman from trying. Several years ago, she started working on a special computer program. During the part years, she has improved the program many times. Finally, it turned telescope data (望远镜数据) into a photo of a black hole.
Bouman has received lots of praise because of her work. The young woman, however, is modest. She said the success mainly depends on her team. “None of us could do it alone,” she said.
Would you like to make history as Bouman did? Set a goal for yourself and work hard at it. Maybe you will make it come true in the future.
1. When people saw a photo of a black hole for the first time, they felt very ________.| A．sad | B．excited | C．surprised | D．calm |
| A．Because it is too big for us. | B．Because it is too far from us. |
| C．Because it is too dark to see. | D．Because it is as small as an orange. |
| A．By taking a photo of an orange carefully. |
| B．By working on a special computer program. |
| C．By turning telescope data into a photo of a black hole. |
| D．By using more advanced cameras with the help of others. |
| A．A surprising photo | B．A great photo of a black hole |
| C．Make your dream come true | D．A photo of a black hole and Katie Bouman |
4 . Tonight our family was going out to play under the full moon.
We first started going on full moon walks for ourselves, because my husband Todd and I, loved them and we needed these little doses of moonlight to stay happy and to function (起作用) in society. But after we became parents, we did this for our children. We wanted Sierra and Bryce to see that there is much magic in the natural world and that most of it is accessible (可达到的) to anyone. We also wanted to show them that it was not necessary to travel far from home to have an adventure, learn, and experience something new. Nearly every month, our family went into the night to “play” by the full moon.
Once we arrived at our location that evening, Sierra and I stood holding hands, waiting to cheer the full moon in its rising. A thin sliver of the apricot (杏黄色) moon poked above the shape of the Blue Mountain Ridge. Everyone stood up and watched its rising. More of the moon came out until it turned into a brilliant orange sphere. Todd explained to Sierra and Bryce that the moon makes no light of its own, but simply acts like a mirror, reflecting (反射) the sunlight back to us long after the sun has sunk below the horizon (地平线).
“Does the moon’s face change?” Bryce asked. I told him that the moon rotates with the earth, but it does not spin on its axis (轴) like the earth does. The same side of the moon is always facing the earth. We never see the other side, the far side of the moon. Sierra said that the moon looked larger and closer when it was rising. I explained that it is an optical illusion (视错觉) because it is so close to the horizon that the moon tricks our eyes into comparing it with nearby objects to create the impression of increased size.
Much of the knowledge that Todd and I shared with the kids had been learned from our past life experiences. If we did not have the knowledge to explain and educate, we looked it up, either beforehand (提前) to improve the experience or afterwards together, after we wondered and came up with a list of questions.
Opportunities (机会) to explore magical experiences and learning is right in your neighbourhood. Sometimes all it takes is going outdoors and looking up at the heavens.
1. How often does the writer go to play under the full moon with his family?| A．Once a year. | B．Once a month. | C．Once a week. | D．Every day. |
| A．Circle. | B．Float. | C．Rise. | D．Drop. |
| A．the distance from the earth is becoming shorter |
| B．the other side of it never faces the earth |
| C．it does not spin on its axis like the earth does |
| D．comparing it with nearby objects creates an illusion |
| A．Never travel far from home to have an adventure. |
| B．Travel far from home to have an adventure more often. |
| C．Good learning opportunities are just around the corner. |
| D．There is much more magic in books and most of it is accessible to anyone. |
5 . Chinese scientists found Changesite-(Y)—the sixth new lunar mineral in moon samples (样品) brought back by the Chang’e 5 lunar probe (探测器) in December 2020. It has become the first lunar mineral found by Chinese scientists, making China the third nation in the world, after the United States and Russia, to have achieved such a success, reported China Daily.
Changesite-(Y) looks crystal clear like a diamond (钻石). But its chemical content (化学组成) is different from any other known mineral. It has a high level of rare earth, reported China Science Daily. Li Ziying, chief scientist of the lunar sample research, said that the finding of this new mineral will help researchers study the history and physical traits (特征) of the moon. The value of the rare earth in it will also be studied.
Besides the new mineral, scientists also measured the content of helium-3 (氦-3) from the Chang’e 5 samples. Helium-3 is a valuable fuel (燃料) that can provide safer nuclear energy (核能). It is not radioactive (放射性的) and would not produce dangerous waste. On Earth, we have only 15 to 20 tons of helium-3 that can be used. But after studying the moon’s soil, scientists said there could be at least 1 million tons of helium-3 on the moon. That’s enough for all people on Earth to have clean energy for 10,000 years!
1. How many kinds of lunar minerals have scientists found so far?| A．One. | B．Three. | C．Six. | D．Seven. |
| A．Its shape. | B．Its history. | C．Its looks. | D．Its size. |
| A．Helium-3 will not produce any waste. | B．Helium-3 on the moon may be radioactive. |
| C．The moon can provide us with enough clean energy. | D．There is enough nuclear energy on the moon for humans. |
6 . Now the world’s population is growing faster and faster. There will soon be no room on the Earth for more people, so more and more countries, including China, send spacemen to develop the space as human’s second home in the future.
But space is not only amazing but also dangerous. While working in space, spacemen are facing danger as well as success.
Scientists have found out that radiation is the greatest danger to spacemen in space. When spacemen are working in space, they are in danger of radiation from the Sun and other stars, which is bad for their health.
Space junk is also thought to be a great danger to spacemen. It’s reported that there are 9,000 man-made things flying in space. About 30% of these are satellites, 10% are spaceships, and the rest are space junk. These junks are flying in space. They may knock against spaceship windows and do some damage. Scientists are watching and reporting any possible danger all the time. They are working on helpful ways to deal with space junk.
So we should care for space and do something to help improve the space environment.
1. Why do more and more countries send spacemen to search or work in space?| A．Because the space is very amazing. | B．Because there is much junk in space. |
| C．Because there is much radiation in space. | D．Because they are developing human’s second home. |
| A．scientists working on the Earth | B．spacemen working in space |
| C．scientists living on the Earth | D．spacemen working on the Earth |
| A．Radiation isn’t bad for the spacemen’s health. |
| B．Every one of us can make a trip to space now. |
| C．Radiation in space comes from the Sun and other stars. |
| D．Scientists have found out ways to solve any problem in space. |
7 . Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet of the Solar System.
It is around two times smaller than Earth with a diameter of 6,779 km. If you stand on Mars and look at the Sun, it will appear about half the size we see it on Earth. Mars is widely known as the red planet. Its red appearance is caused by the rusty iron in the ground.
In many ways, Mars can be considered Earth’s brother. On Mar’s surface, we have discovered the biggest mountain in the Solar System. It is named Olympus Mons, and it is three times bigger than the largest mountain on Earth. A day on Mars is also a little longer than a day on Earth. It lasts about 24.6 hours. A year on Mars, however, or the time that takes for the red planet to circle our Sun, lasts about 687 Earth days. That is almost twice as long as a year on Earth !
In the 19th century, it was believed that life on Mars existed. An astronomer said that he “found” straight lines on Mars’s surface. Many people believed that those were the work of clever life as the straight lines were most likely to be canals for irrigation.
However, as more advanced telescopes were built, it was found that the straight lines were an optical illusion.
To this day, humans are still trying to find out whether there was life on Mars!
1. What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?| A．The size of Mars. | B．The surface of Mars. |
| C．The structure of Mars. | D．The weight of Mars. |
| A．Showed. | B．Produced. | C．Invented. | D．Lived. |
| A．the wet iron makes Mars red |
| B．whether there is life on Mars remains a mystery |
| C．a day on Earth is 0.6 hour longer than a day on Mars |
| D．Olympus Mons is smaller than any mountain in the Solar System |
| A．Fun facts about Mars. | B．Future life on Mars. |
| C．Special objects on Mars. | D．Red appearance about Mars. |
8 . Do you ever get the feeling that you’re being watched? Well, you might be right.
According to a study published in Nature on June 23, astronomers(天文学家) have found that 1,715 stars have had a direct view of Earth since humans were here.
In order to do this, scientists used a method that looked for life on other planets. But instead, they changed the method so it could try to decide what places could see us.
The team looked at 331,312 stars within 326 light-years of Earth. Out of all those stars, only 1,715 of them could see Earth within the last 5,000 years, with an extra 319 stars that will be able to see us in the next 5,000 years.
“When I look up at the sky, it looks a little bit friendlier because it’s like, maybe somebody is waving,” said Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, US, and the study’s lead writer.
If a planet circling around one of those 1,715 stars is home to advanced life, they could easily see that there is life here because of the oxygen on Earth. If that didn’t give it away, then the radio waves we have sent out into space would also be an indicator. In fact, human-made radio waves have already travelled through 75 of the closest stars on Kaltenegger’s list.
Why haven’t we heard from anyone yet, then?
It takes a long time for messages to travel between star systems. By the time a message could be received, that advanced life would probably not exist anymore.
Alan Boss, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in the US who wasn’t part of the study, wrote in an email that this long time would limit the chances for different life to exchange “emails and TikTok videos”.
“So we should not expect aliens to show up anytime soon,” Boss said.
1. How many stars will be able to see us in the next 5,000 years?| A．2,034 | B．1,715 | C．1,396 | D．319 |
| A．Advanced life. | B．The oxygen on Earth. | C．Human-made radio waves. | D．A planet circling around one of those 1,715 stars. |
| A．Aliens don’t exist. | B．They cannot understand each other. |
| C．Human-made radio waves cannot travel far. | D．It takes a long time for messages to travel. |
| A．To raise reader’s interest in Aliens. | B．To present new findings published in a study. |
| C．To discuss if there is advanced life on other stars. | D．To explain how messages travel between different star systems. |
On December 25, 2021, a new and exciting age of space science started when the James Webb Space Telescope was launched* into space. According to NASA, Webb is the largest and most powerful space science telescope ever built.
At first, Webb was planned to cost half a billion dollars and launched in 2007. But it turned out to be impossible. As designed, Webb’s orbit* is about 1.6 million kilometers away from the earth. It is too far for the astronauts to repair if it breaks down. So everything has to work perfectly on the first try, and it is the main reason why NASA spent nearly 30 years and 10 billion dollars getting it ready for launch.
Considered as a successor* to the old Hubble Space Telescope, Webb will allow us to look deeper into the universe than ever before. Hubble mostly sees what we see—which is known as visible light. But Webb is designed to focus on the infrared* light, which is invisible to the human eyes. That means Webb can see through dust* in the universe and make new discoveries by examining stars inside those dust clouds. It will try to collect light from the very first stars when the universe was young. By collecting the light, the telescope can see galaxies as they appeared in the past, which could help to explain how the universe began. It will also study the planets around other stars, looking for signs of life.
In order to collect the light and focus it into its camera, the mirror* Webb uses is 6.5 meters across much larger than Hubble’s 2.4-meter-wide mirror. The size advantage gives Webb 6.25 times more surface area to collect light in the universe, letting it see further and more detailed. However, the mirror also needs to be small enough to fit into a rocket to be launched into space. To fit the telescope in the rocket, engineers built the mirror with 18 honeycomb-shaped segments* that could fold up. And during Webb’s journey to the orbit, they will unfold, creating one large mirror.
Now, Webb has been in its orbit for several months, and it will send back its first images in June. By the time, the results will prove it is of great value to put so much time and money in building it.
1. NASA put off sending Webb into space because ________.| A．there wasn’t enough money for the further research |
| B．Webb’s orbit was too far away for the rockets to reach |
| C．it was not necessary to send Webb into space so early |
| D．it was hard to make Webb work excellently in its orbit |
| A．costing much more efforts to be designed and built |
| B．working in a shorter distance away from the earth |
| C．using a 2.4-meter-wide mirror to collect more light |
| D．collecting infrared light to explore the start of space |
| A．People still need to be patient for the results of Webb’s first try. |
| B．It’s close to the orbit and will send back its pictures this summer. |
| C．The mirror it uses has been half unfolded since it was launched. |
| D．It is the largest and most expensive space telescope in the world. |
| A．Future of Making New Space Telescope |
| B．A Space Telescope with High Expectation |
| C．Challenges for exploring further universe |
| D．A Special Mirror for Collecting Lights |
10 . Like all the planets in our solar system, Earth and Mars go around the sun. But Earth is closer to the sun, and therefore revolves along its orbit(轨道) quickly. Earth makes two trips around the Sun in about the same amount of time that Mars takes to make one trip. So sometimes the two planets are on the opposite sides of the Sun, very far apart, and other times, Earth catches up with its neighbor and passes relatively close to it.
Since Mars and the Sun appear on opposite sides of the sky, we say that Mars is in “opposition”. Mars oppositions happen about every 26 months. Every 15 or 17 years, opposition occurs within a few weeks of Mars’ perihelion(近日点).
An opposition can occur anywhere along Mars’ orbit. When it happens while the red planet is closest to the sun (called “perihelic opposition”), Mars is particularly close to Earth. If Earth and Mars both had perfectly stable orbits, then each perihelic opposition would bring the two planets as close as they could be. So, with all these added factors, some bring us closer together than others. The 2003 opposition was the closest approach in almost 60,000 years!
Mars’ orbit is more elliptical(椭圆的) than Earth’s, so the difference between perihelion and aphelion(远日点) is greater, Mars’ orbit has been getting more and more elongated, carrying the planet even nearer to the Sun at perihelion and even farther away at aphelion. So future perihelic oppositions will bring Earth and Mars even closer. Our 2003 record will stand until August 28, 2287!
1. Mars ________.| A．isn’t one of the planets in our solar system |
| B．is farther from the sun than the earth |
| C．never meets Earth close |
| D．and Earth have the same orbit around the sun |
| A．as long as | B．not so long as |
| C．as about two times long as | D．as about three times long as |
| A．When Mars is in “opposition”, Mars and the sun are opposite in the sky. |
| B．Mars oppositions happen about every 15 or 17 years. |
| C．An opposition can occur everywhere along Mars’ orbit. |
| D．Mars oppositions happen about every 26 months. |
| A．伸长的 | B．拉长 | C．延长 | D．被拉得.细长的 |
| A．is the closest approach in almost 60,000 years |
| B．is in 2003 |
| C．will bring Earth and Mars even farther |
| D．will happen on August 28, 2287 |
