1 . Imagine you are taking a bus home at night. Suddenly your cellphone loses its signal. The television on the bus has no programs. Everything around us black-except for some strange colorful lights dancing in the sky. What is going on?
These are just the kinds of problems a solar storm might cause. Solar storms happen when solar flares (耀斑)break from the sun and travel towards Earth quickly. Actually, since Sept.4, 2017, the sun has burst out two big solar flares, the most powerful ones since at least 2008 according to NASA. They hit Earth on Sept.7.
Normally, Earth is protected by its magnetic field (磁场). But when strong solar storm mix with it, things change. On the one hand, the colourful lights of the aurora (极光)can be seen from the US and Europe, rather than just from polar (极地的)areas. But on the other hand, the storms can stop the satellite systems that control our computers, cell phones and GPS. They can even cause blackouts (断电) for weeks or months.
, but they can put astronauts in danger. Spacewalking astronauts might have only minutes to hide. For this reason, NASA never plans spacewalks during solar storms.
Scientists now have a new tool called EEGGL, which can predict solar storms and hopefully give us warnings when they arrive. As for the recent storm, scientists say it is still too early to know its effect on our technology. They are closely watching for any long-term effects.
1. A solar storm might cause problems EXCEPT that ______.| A．the cell phone loses its signals | B．we get hurt in the eyes suddenly |
| C．we have no TV programs | D．everything around turns black |
| A．Solar storms happen when solar flares travel toward the sun quickly. |
| B．The aurora can only be seen from polar areas during a solar storm. |
| C．Satellite systems can't work unless they're connected with solar storms. |
| D．It took two solar flares 3 days to come to Earth in September, 2017. |
| A．Solar storms are good for people on the ground |
| B．Solar storms have great effect on people on Earth |
| C．Solar storms hardly harm people on the ground |
| D．Solar storms can harm people on Earth seriously |
| A．angry | B．serious | C．crazy | D．happy |
2 . The first astronauts(宇航员)
Since the earliest times, people have looked up at the stars, the moon and the planets. Today people use modern machines
| A．look | B．to look | C．looking | D．looked |
| A．thousand | B．thousands | C．thousand of | D．thousands of |
| A．explore | B．to explore | C．explored | D．exploring |
| A．as | B．or | C．but | D．so |
| A．safe | B．safer | C．safest | D．the safest |
| A．they | B．them | C．their | D．theirs |
| A．whom | B．what | C．that | D．whose |
| A．die | B．died | C．have died | D．will die |
| A．shouldn’t | B．may not | C．don’t have to | D．needn’t |
| A．if | B．because | C．after | D．since |
What is inside Mars(火星)? Perhaps I may give you the answer in the near future. I am InSight(洞察号).I am a spacecraft. On Nov 27,I arrived on Mara. In fact, I am the eighth spacecraft in my family to successfully land on Mars. But I'm the first to study the things inside it.
What do I look like? I have an arm, It is 1.8 metres long. At work, if I need to move the things from my body to the ground, the arm helps me. On my arm, I have my single eye. You are right-it's a camera. I can use it to take pictures of Mars. As for navigation(导航),I will be led to the right place because scientists on the Earth keep telling me about directions. With three legs, I can stand well. And look at my two big “wings". Actually the get lots of power from the sun to make me work.
For the next 24 months-about one Martian year, I will stay on this red planet. Unlike brothers or sisters, I don't move a lot when I'm working on Mars. I will Just stay at one place use my heat probe(探热仪)to explore nearly 5 meters deep inside Mars. This way, I can get a lot of information about the inside without damaging the planet. Then I will send the information back to Earth. This may help scientists find out how Mars started.
1. Before InSight,_________ spacecrafts landed on Mars successfully.| A．six | B．seven | C．eight | D．nine |
| A．move the things it needs t work | B．use its camera to find the way |
| C．stand well on Mars | D．take pictures of Mars |
| A．about one year | B．twelve months | C．about one Martian year | D．twenty-four years |
| A．InSight gets its power for work from Mars |
| B．several spacecrafts are studying the inside of Mars |
| C．InSight won't damage Mars because it won't move a lot on the planet |
| D．the scientists' ambition is to find out how Mars started |
| A．New Lander on Mars | B．The Inside of Mars | C．A Red Planet-Mars | D．Exploring Mars |
4 . Men have always wondered about the earth they live on and about the ① ______ above them.
When early men looked at the night sky, they asked themselves a lot of questions. They looked at the moon, and wondered what this strange bright object in the sky was. They did not understand why it changed its shape from night to night. They looked at the stars and planets. They also wondered why some of them changed their positions, while others did not. ② 他们也思考地球的形状。Most early people believed the earth was flat.
③ In different parts of the world, there were different ideas about the universe. The ancient Greeks were the first people to study the universe more scientifically. In the sixth century BC Pythagoras put forward the idea that the world was round. However, he could not explain why people at the bottom of the world did not fall off.
It was not until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that scientists found the answers to some important questions. ④ With the help of Galileo’s telescope, people could see the sky more clearly, and find the positions of the stars and planets. Finally in 1665,Isaac Newton explained to the world what gravity (重力) was and people at last understood why they did not fall off the earth.
1. 在文中①处填写一个单词，使得句意完整、上下文通顺2. 根据文章内容回答问题。
What questions did early men ask themselves when they looked at the night sky? Write down one of them.
3. 将文中②句翻译成英语。
4. 将文中③句翻译成汉语。
5. 写出文中④句的同义句，每空限填一词。
Galileo’s telescope made
