impossible; discover; different; get; close; call; might; although; larger; send |
Lots of scientists believe that there’s life on other planets. Because of this, they keep doing research about the universe. They have sent astronauts to the moon. And they have
2 . Do you know Venus (金星)? Of the eight planets, Venus is the nearest one to us. Venus was the Roman goddess of love and beauty. In Greek her name was Aphrodite. Venus and the Earth are almost the same size, and you would weigh almost the same on both planets. If you were 70 pounds on Earth, you would be 63 pounds on Venus. Venus is an “unfriendly” planet. Because of its thick cloud, you can’t see the surface (表面). In many ways, Venus is like the Earth. It has active volcanoes (火山), mountains and valleys, too. But Venus is too hot for life. It has the highest temperature of the planets in our solar system, about 480°C. Besides, the Earth lets heat out through volcanoes, hot springs. But Venus lets heat out in a different way. Venus has no moons. Scientists call Venus the Earth’s sister planet because Venus and the Earth are almost the same size. For a long time, most scientists thought that Venus probably had plants, animals, and possibly even human beings. However, because Venus is so hot, it is impossible for anything to live there.
1. Aphrodite is the goddess of ________ in Greek.| A．love and beauty | B．danger and thought |
| C．love and thought | D．beauty and danger |
| A．70kg | B．63kg | C．54kg | D．20kg |
| A．It’s the nearest planet to us. |
| B．It’s almost the same size as the Earth. |
| C．People can’t see it clearly from the outside. |
| D．Anything can’t live there. |
| A．The surface of Venus is much hotter than that of the Earth. |
| B．Venus has the same way to let heat out as the Earth. |
| C．The Earth and Venus are similar in size. |
| D．Both the Earth and Venus have active volcanoes. |
| A．The Introduction to Venus | B．The Story of Venus |
| C．Life on Other Planets | D．Planets Around Us |
3 . According to Ken Croswell, The Sun shines all the time. It shines during the day when we see it, and even at night when we don’t.
As the Earth turns, sometimes we face the Sun. That’s when we get day. When the Earth’s spin (自转) turns us away from the Sun and we are in the Earth’s shadow, we get night. When people on the opposite side of the Earth face the Sun, those people have day while we have night.
The Moon is a different story. Unlike the Sun, it doesn’t make its own light. Moonlight is actually the Sun’s light reflecting (反射) the Moon back to us.
The Sun lights up only the side of the Moon that faces the Sun. At Full Moon, the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. Then the side of the Moon facing the Earth is all lit up. During Full Moon, the Moon rises around sunset (日落), shines all night, and sets around sunrise (日出). Since the moonlight is so bright, you can sometimes see it during the day, too. A few days before Full Moon, if you look east in the afternoon, you may see the Moon in the sky. After Full Moon, you may find it if you look west in the morning.
The Moon is most difficult to see at New Moon, when its orbit (轨道) puts it between the Earth and the Sun. Then, the side of the Moon facing the Earth is dark and we can’t see the Moon at all.
1. What can we know about the Sun?| A．The Sun rules the Moon. |
| B．The Sun shines during both day and night. |
| C．The Sun lights up all the sides of the Moon. |
| D．The Sun shines everywhere on the Earth at the same time. |
| A．the shape of the Earth. | B．the force from the Sun. |
| C．the dark area on the Earth. | D．the opposite side of the Sun. |
| A．How the Moon makes its light. |
| B．Why there is day and night on the Earth. |
| C．Why the Moon can be seen during the day. |
| D．What the difference is between Full Moon and New Moon. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Culture. | B．Science. | C．Education. | D．Technology. |
4 . Humans might live on another planet one day! That seemed
In fact, we have found one red planet—Mars. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and it’s
Some years ago, they
In 2013, Dutch scientists first planned to put
American scientists showed another plan to get humans to Mars in 2033. They are working on building larger
I believe that humans will go to Mars and have an even closer look
| A．beautiful | B．wonderful | C．impossible | D．terrible |
| A．walk | B．climb | C．dream | D．fly |
| A．close | B．far | C．hot | D．big |
| A．bought | B．sent | C．made | D．saw |
| A．However | B．Unluckily | C．Luckily | D．So |
| A．humans | B．monkeys | C．robots | D．water |
| A．Because | B．Although | C．But | D．When |
| A．factories | B．cars | C．houses | D．rockets |
| A．fly up to | B．take care of | C．look for | D．get back to |
| A．at | B．into | C．after | D．for |
It can be hard to believe that it is just an illusion (错觉) when the moon has a “changing” size, but it is true. You can actually test it yourself and even catch it with a camera.
People mainly notice the moon looking bigger when it is full and near the horizon (地平线).
There are several explanations that sounds reasonable but wrong for the moon illusion.
It’s easy to test the moon, illusion, and you can do it yourself. Next time you see the moon looking bigger than usual, bold out your hand with a straight arm.
| A．The moon is always changing its shape. |
| B．Such as the idea that on some nights the moon really is closer. |
| C．Then close one eye and see which finger just covers the moon. |
| D．So when the moon rises next to a far house or a mountain, the moon looks huge. |
| E．This is because your mind senses the size of an object by comparing it with other things. |
| F．Actually, the moon is so far away that no matter where you are on the earth, it always looks the same size. |
6 . “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is a popular song for children. But have you ever wondered why the stars twinkle? I’m afraid many adults don’t understand this question, let’s unlock the mystery of the stars!
When we look up to the sky on a clear, dark night, our eyes can see about 6,000 stars in the sky. Some stars look like they are always twinkling and winkling. They are very beautiful. In fact, most of the stars are shining with a steady (稳定的) light. Not all stars twinkle. The stars that twinkle are generally stars. In addition to the Sun, the nearest star to the Earth, the neighboring star (比邻星), is also more than 4 light years away from Earth. Because the distance is too far, the stars we see are only a small point. Also, from the distant star travels a long way through the atmosphere (大气) down to us on Earth. At the same time, air is moving in the atmosphere of Earth. The movement of air causes the starlight to get slightly bent. To our eyes, this makes the star to twinkle. You will notice that stars closer to the horizon appear to twinkle more than other stars. This is because there is more atmosphere between you and a star near the horizon. However, there is no atmosphere in space to make the stars seem to twinkle. That’s why the Hubble telescope (哈勃望远镜), which is in space, can take such clear pictures of other galaxies (星系).
Go out tonight and take a look at the stars twinkling in the sky!
1. On a clear, dark night, our eyes can see _________ stars in the sky.| A．less than 6,000 | B．around 6,000 | C．more than 6,000 | D．Not mentioned in the article |
| A．bright | B．colourful | C．fixed | D．flashing |
| A．The movement of air in the atmosphere of Earth. |
| B．Air on Earth. |
| C．The long distance between stars and Earth. |
| D．The movement of stars. |
| A．Because stars twinkle in space. | B．Because air is not moving in space. |
| C．Because the telescope is close to stars. | D．Because there is no atmosphere in space. |
| A．Why are many stars so dim at night? | B．Which song do children like best? |
| C．How to observe the stars from Earth? | D．What do stars look like? |
7 . People in many parts of North and South America will be able to see a total lunar eclipse (月食) on Sunday night and early Monday morning. The eclipse is special, and it is called a super blood wolf moon by some people.
The moon will be a little closer than it normally is to the Earth. For this reason, it will appear brighter than usual. Such a moon is called a super moon. When the moon is completely eclipsed, it looks darker and appears to have an orange or even a red color. The sunset on the Earth looks orange for a similar reason. Because of its reddish color, an eclipsed moon is sometimes called a blood moon.
In North America, there are traditional names given to each of the 12 full moons that happen throughout the year. January’s full moon is known as the wolf moon or the great spirit moon.
Is there anything I should get ready when I look up the lunar eclipse?
“There are no precautions (预防措施) you need to take when looking at a lunar eclipse, since the moon is never bright enough to hurt your eyes like the sun,” according to Walter Freeman, a physicist at Syracuse University.
It’s just a wonderful thing for the whole family to see because it’s fairly rare to have all these kinds of things together at the same time.
1. Where can people see the super blood wolf moon?| A．In North America. | B．In South Asia. | C．In West Africa. | D．In East Europe. |
| A．smaller | B．bigger | C．brighter | D．darker |
| A．Monday | B．Sunday | C．January | D．February |
| A．A super moon is farther than it normally is to the Earth. |
| B．You can always see the super blood wolf moon. |
| C．Each of the 12 full moons has a traditional name in each country. |
| D．An eclipsed moon is sometimes called a blood moon because of its reddish color. |
| A．A Lunar Eclipse in the UK | B．A Super Blood Wolf Moon |
| C．The Wolf Moon | D．Preparations for the Lunar Eclipse |
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Is there intelligent (有智力的) life on other planets? For years, scientists said “no.” or “we don’t know.” But today this is changing. Seth Shostakovitch and Alexandra Barnett are astronomers (天文学家). They believe intelligent life exists (存在)
Why do Shostakovitch and Barnett think intelligent life exists on other planets? The first
In the past, it was hard to look for
Have beings from space already visited Earth? “Probably not,” says Shostakovitch. “It’s a long way away. However, intelligent beings may contact us in other way, such as radio signals (信号). In fact, they may be trying to communicate with us now, but we don’t have the right tools to
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In the minds of the Chinese, they always
In Chinese traditional culture, the moon is a
Besides, with respect to the history of Chinese civilization（文明）, China is the first nation to have the dream of flying to the sky.
The Chinese exploring moon project, named after Chang’e,
10 . We have always been interested in the moon. Two thousand years ago, people already knew that the moon
When scientists could use telescopes to study the moon more closely, their ideas began to
In 1969, moon rocks were finally
After years of study, most scientists now think that the moon was once part of the earth. They believe very early in its history, maybe 4 billion years ago, something about the size of Mars hit the earth. This
| A．moved | B．moves | C．move | D．moving |
| A．looking | B．seeing | C．watching | D．searching |
| A．improve | B．change | C．agree | D．express |
| A．because | B．why | C．whether | D．how |
| A．taken | B．caught | C．brought | D．put |
| A．sent | B．hit | C．influenced | D．produced |
| A．quickly | B．easily | C．slowly | D．exactly |
