2 . Fun Facts about Our Moon

Have you ever noticed the ways the moon changes? The moon can be bright or dull. Sometimes, we don’t see the moon in the sky at all! Other times, the moon shows up even when the sun is out.

When the moon looks bright, it’s partly because of the sun. The moon has no light of its own. It only reflects the sun’s light. But how?

Think about daytime. The sun makes everything around you bright with light. During daytime, sunlight hits Earth’s surface and makes it bright. During nighttime, the sun is near another part of Earth’s surface, making that part bright, so you see darkness. At night, you also see the moon.

In the same way that sunlight shines on Earth’s surface and makes it bright, sunlight shines on the moon’s surface and makes that bright. Even though you can’t see the sun at night, sunlight reaches the moon’s surface. The sun acts like a giant flashlight in the sky that’s pointed at the moon.

Other things can make the moon look brighter or duller, too. Sometimes, the moon looks brighter because it’s closer to Earth. Fog and clouds in the sky can make the moon look dimmer.

The moon is always in the sky, but we don’t usually see it during daytime. One reason for this is that the sun is so powerful that it makes the sky very bright. The brightness makes the moon hard to see. Imagine turning on a flashlight in a darkroom and aiming it at a wall. You would see the flashlight’s bright light clearly. Now, imagine turning on a flashlight in a room that already has all the lights on. You would hardly see the light from the flashlight because the other lights are more powerful. The moon becomes difficult to see in daytime for the same reason.

The next time you see the big, bright moon in the sky, think of the sun shining its light onto it.

3 . The universe (宇宙) is everything out in space. Nobody _______ how large the universe is. When we talk about the universe, we _______ the Earth, the Sun, the Moon and all the stars, and the space between them.

Now let me tell you something about the _______. It is like a large ball. It _______ around the Sun. And _______ and land cover it. If you are in a spaceship and _______ the Earth from space, you will find that there are some large blue parts. They are the seas and about 70% of the Earth’s surface (表面) is water.

We live on the outside part of the Earth. Around us is the air. It takes the Earth 24 hours to turn in a full _______. When you see the Sun shining _______, it’s the day for you. But when the Earth turns you away from the Sun, everything around you becomes _______.

Can you tell me something else about the universe? I’m ________ in it and want to learn more about it.

5 . Our Future in Space

Many people believe that one day, we may leave the Earth to make our home among the stars. At that time, many people, including you, might live in a space station 200 miles above the Earth.

Space Cities

There will be cities like the one we are living in now.     1     Hundreds, or even thousands, of people will live, work and go to school there.

In fact, we have explored(探索) part of the Moon, and even sent spaceships to the surface of Venus and Mars.     2    

Go into Space

The Moon is full of valuable metals. These metals—if we got them—could be used to build factories and space stations.     3     In that case, more energy can be turned into electricity—for creating comfortable living conditions.

From space, too, we can look down on the Earth and study the atmosphere, its weather, and the influence of air pollution to save it.

At Home in Space

    4     For example, we have to protect ourselves from the ultraviolet(紫外线) because it can give us bad sunburns. Besides, our bones(骨头) will become weaker if we stay out in space for a long time. But we’ll surely find out the solution.

Yet, these risks won’t keep people from going into space.     5     And people will live there with many different interests—medicine, farming, teaching and so on.

The next hundred years will be filled with other worldly adventures, exciting scientific discoveries, and danger, as humans leave the Earth—perhaps forever.

9 . How many things can you see in the night sky? A lot! ______ a clear evening you might see the Moon and some planets. And ______ sparkling stars can be seen, too.

You can see even ______ with a telescope. You might see stars where you only saw dark space before. You might see ______ many stars look much larger than others. You might see some stars look white are really red and blue ______.

But scientists believe there are some ______ things in the sky that we never see. We ______ see them with the biggest telescope in the world, even when it is the clearest night of the year. That’s because they are the dead stars, which ______ black holes. You might find ______ hard to imagine stars die. After all, our Sun is a star. Year after year we see it burning ______ in the sky, giving us heat and light. The Sun doesn’t seem ______ getting old or weak. ______, stars do burn out and die after billions of years. As a star’s gases are ______, they give off light and heat. But when the gases run out, the star stops ______ and begins to die.

So the next time you stare up at the amazing night sky, remember: there is more in the sky than that meets the eye. ______ wonderful place it is!