1 . Maybe you know a lot about the city you live in. You may even know some interesting facts about earth, but ________ do you know about Mars? Will there be ________ there just like people on Mars?

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and it’s the most like earth, but it’s much ________ than earth because it’s farther from the sun. It’s also the only planet whose surface can be ________ from earth.

Mars is often called “the red planet” because the rocks on it have a dark ________ color. There are strong winds on Mars that can ________ dust into the hills. For many years, people have ________ Mars. They have sent instruments and robots there. Some of the robots got there, ________ most failed. NASA(美国国家宇航局) sent two robots to Mars two years ago. They wanted to ________ signs of water and life on Mars. Some day, humans will travel to Mars and have an even ________ look at our red neighbor. Maybe it could be you!

1.

A．when

B．what

C．how

2.

A．sound

B．life

C．air

3.

A．hotter

B．colder

C．smaller

4.

A．seen

B．wrote

C．visited

5.

A．red

B．black

C．yellow

6.

A．blow

B．look

C．mix

7.

A．lived on

B．landed on

C．studied

8.

A．but

B．and

C．however

9.

A．leave

B．use

C．find

10.

A．faster

B．farther

C．closer

3 . 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

2. When our part of the earth turns away from the sun, the other part of the earth is _______.

A．night

B．day

C．evening

D．Sunday

3. People and living things can live on the _______.

A．earth

B．Mars

C．moon

D．sun

4. When did the first astronaut from China return to the earth?

A．On November 15th, 2002.	B．On October 16th, 2003.
C．On May 6th, 2004.	D．On October 15th, 2003.

4 . The idea of life in outer space has been talked about for a long time. Some scientists say that life development on Earth was far too unlikely for it to have happened anywhere else. Things had to be perfect for us to make it on this planet.

Other scientists say that space is too big. Stars and other planets are far too numerous for there to be no other life in the universe.

For many years, there have been reports of visitors from other planets. People all around the world have claimed to see alien spaceships or even aliens themselves.

There have been glimpses of these so-called UFOs (unidentified flying objects) flying through the air and they have even ben captured on video. Some Americans believe that the U.S. Army found an alien spaceship crashed in the desert and then lied to the press about it. Although these sightings may be true, scientists have not found significant evidence that aliens exist.

If you go out into the countryside on a clear night and look up, you can see thousands of stars. Those stars make up a tiny part of our universe. There are more stars, planets, and galaxies than we can count. Even the smartest scientists can’t even come close to defining how big space is. The number of possible stars and planets out there is bigger than our ability to count. If we are really on the only planet that can sustain life, then we are very special in a universe full of amazing things.

1. What have some people claimed about aliens?

A．Aliens often appear in dreams.	B．They have encountered aliens.
C．Aliens are extremely dangerous.	D．Aliens are always kidnapping people.

2. Why does the author mention “reports of visitors from other planets”?

A．To give an example of people who do not believe in science.

B．To explain why scientists are not interested in studying aliens.

C．To raise the issue of whether or not we are alone in the universe.

D．To inform people that a spaceship crashed in the American desert.

3. What can be inferred about finding aliens?

A．It’s not possible yet.	B．It’s already been done.
C．Aliens can be found in the USA.	D．Scientists already know the truth.

4. What would be the best title for this passage?

A．Visitors from Faraway Planets	B．The Life and Times of an Alien Life
C．The Mysterious Crash Landing in America	D．The Possibility of Life on Other Worlds

5. What is the genre of the article?

A．Narration.

B．Exposition.

C．Argumentation.

D．Description

5 . Now go to school. ___________________

6 . Suddenly, another alien appeared from the bushes in front of them. ___________________

8 . 太空是浩瀚的、神秘的。人类对宇宙一直不断地探索，请根据你所学的太空知识，描述一下你心目中的宇宙。再结合你自己的感想，向同学们说说你未来的打算。可适当发挥。内容包括：
(1) universe, galaxy, solar system, earth, moon;
(2) scientists, do research about, Chinese space station;
(3) astronaut, in the future.
作文要求：
(1)不能照抄原文；不得在作文中出现学校的真实名称和考生的真实姓名。
(2)语句连贯，词数80个左右。作文的开头已经给出，不计入总词数。

Hello, everybody! It’s my turn to tell you something about the space.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . Scientists have long been looking for life in outer space. They recently found something exciting _______ Venus(金星), the planet closest to ours.

British scientists _______ phosphine gas(磷化氢) in Venus’ atmosphere(大气层) already. Phosphine is a promising sign of life. On Earth, phosphine is produced when organic(有机的) matter breaks down. The same thing could be _______ on Venus. Still _______ need to send a probe( 探测器) to Venus to see _______ life exists there.

In fact, Venus has long been ignored(忽视) in the search for life because of its ______temperatures and atmospheric pressure. Venus is the _______ planet in the solar system. Its surface temperature is 470℃, which is hot enough to melt spacecraft. The pressure there is 92 times greater than that on Earth. Even if humans could bear the heat, they would be crushed(粉碎) by the pressure.

However, it’s possible that life could exist in the planet’s atmosphere. Temperatures there are about -1℃ to 93℃，which is far more suitable _______ life. The pressure there is similar to that of Earth as well. The phosphine was found in Venus’ cloudy atmosphere-around 60 _______ above its surface.

Phosphine is known as an indirect sign of life. So are gases like methane and ozone(臭氧). Scientists focus on such signs when they look for ________ outside of Earth. These gases can exist in the atmospheres of planets for a long time allowing scientists to find them with the help of telescopes and probes. However, it is liquid water that is considered to be the most important sign of life.

1.

A．in

B．of

C．on

D．below

2.

A．have discovered

B．discovered

C．discover

D．discovers

3.

A．happen

B．happening

C．happened

D．happens

4.

A．science

B．scientific

C．scientist

D．scientists

5.

A．whether

B．what

C．how

D．why

6.

A．low

B．high

C．hot

D．cold

7.

A．hot

B．hotter

C．hotest

D．hottest

8.

A．for

B．in

C．at

D．on

9.

A．kilometer

B．meter

C．meters

D．kilometers

10.

A．food

B．life

C．animals

D．stones

10 .

Scientists think that there has been life on Earth for millions of years. However, we haven’t found life on other planets yet. What not?

The Earth is a planet and it goes around the Sun. Seven other planets also go round the Sun. None of them has an environment with air, so people and things cannot grow. The Sun and its planets are called the solar system. The solar system（太阳系）is a small part of our galaxy.

The stars we see at night are the suns in other solar systems. There are more than 200 billion stars in our galaxy, called the Milky Way and our Sun is only one of them.

But scientists have discovered many other galaxies in universe. They are a long way away and their light has travelled for many years to reach us. It is hard to understand how large the universe is.

Scientists have sent lots of spacecraft to look at other planets in our solar system, and some spacecraft have gone beyond the solar system. However, no one has discovered any life in space yet.

But why has no one from other planets sent us a message? Have they tried to send information to us? With so many stars in the universe, are we alone, or is there life out there in space? We don’t know…yet.

1. How long has there been life on Earth according to some scientists?

A．Millions of years.

B．Thousands of years.

C．Hundreds of years.

D．Billions of years.

2. What is the solar system made up of?

A．The Earth and the Sun.	B．The Sun and its planets.
C．Milky Way and the Sun.	D．The Sun and other galaxies.

3. What does the underlined word “discovered” mean in the passage?

A．Found.

B．Developed

C．Checked.

D．Explained.

4. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The scientists have found life on other planets.

B．Many other galaxies are very far away from us.

C．Some planets in the solar system have an environment with air.

D．We know someone from other planets has sent us a message.

5. In which part of a magazine can we read the passage?

A．Diet.

B．Fashion.

C．Science.

D．Culture.