1 . It is widely agreed that the overuse of coal and oil has caused serious environmental problems. Scientists are trying to find new clean energies that do not pollute the air, the water or the ground. Solar power(太阳能)is one of them.
Solar power is a kind of electricity which is produced by taking energy from the sun, using solar panels(面板，电池板). The power is easy to get and will never be used up. Whenever it is sunny, there is the power. The power is clean and renewable. It helps to reduce waste and pollution, which is great for the environment. For some areas that are too far away to send electricity to, solar power is especially necessary. People there use solar power for lights, TVs, computers, washing machines, fridges and many other things.
Therefore, more and more countries, such as China, the USA, Japan and India, encourage scientists to develop practical(实用的)technology to put solar power to use. However, the power is not as widely used as expected(预期的).
One of the challenges(挑战)is that a solar power system needs sunshine. Countries or areas with a lot of rain, like the UK, are not suitable to develop such power systems(系统). Secondly, a solar power station requires a very large site(地点)to fix(安装)enough solar panels to collect sunlight and change it into electricity. What’s more, solar panels are expensive at present though the energy itself doesn’t cost anything.
Today scientists are working hard to develop more practical and cheaper solar power systems. Maybe one day solar power will be one of the most important clean energies in our life.
1. Solar power is a kind of energy taken from ________.| A．the air | B．the sun | C．the water | D．the ground |
| A．短缺 | B．滥用 | C．用完 | D．习惯 |
| A．Because a solar system needs sunshine. |
| B．Because solar panels are expensive. |
| C．Because fixing solar panels needs very large sites. |
| D．All of A, B and C. |
| A．The ways to use solar power. |
| B．The advantages of solar power. |
| C．The places to build the solar power stations. |
| D．The difficulties of putting solar power to use widely. |
| A．Solar energy itself is expensive. |
| B．Solar power will be used up very soon. |
| C．Solar power is a kind of clean and useful energy. |
| D．Solar power is much better than the other energies. |
The moon is round and bright on a fine night. But in fact, it isn’t as beautiful as people say in the fairy tales (神话故事).
| A．If you go there by train, it will take you 200 days. |
| B．Moon cakes are usually round. |
| C．There is no air or water on it. |
| D．And there are no flowers or trees, either. |
| E．It’s about 380, 000 kilometers away from the earth. |
Many people believe that the Moon was once part of the Earth and broke away millions of years ago.
There are high mountains, deep valleys and wide flat spaces on the Moon. Animals and plants can’t live on the Moon because it has no air or water. There are no clouds, no rain and no snow, either.
Sound needs air to travel.
The Moon has no light of its own. It looks bright because the Sun’s light shines on it. During the day, the rocks become hotter than boiling water.
The Moon is about 383 thousand kilometers away from the Earth.
| A．There is no air on the Moon. |
| B．It takes a spaceship about three days to reach the Moon. |
| C．Other people say that it came from another part of space. |
| D．This is because the Moon is closer to the Sun than the Earth. |
| E．Nobody lives on the Moon. |
4 . 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.
1. The word “reflects” in paragraph 2 probably means _______.| A．sends back | B．picks up | C．carries on |
| A．The moon cannot be seen in daytime. |
| B．The moon shines bright from the sun. |
| C．You can see the flashlight’s light in a bright room clearly. |
| A．The sunlight can shine on both the Earth’s surface and the moon’s surface. |
| B．The fog and clouds in the sky can make the moon brighter. |
| C．The moon becomes difficult to see in daytime because it’s closer to Earth. |
| A．To state reasons that make the sun look bright or dull. |
| B．To tell how darkness makes the moon look bright in the sky. |
| C．To explain reasons that make the moon look different sometimes. |
5 . If you look at the sky one night and see something moving and shining that you have never seen before, it might be a comet (彗星).
A comet sometimes looks like a star. Like a planet, a comet has no light of its own. It shines from the sunlight it reflects (反射). Like the earth, a comet goes round the sun, but on a much longer path (轨道) than the earth travels.
If a comet isn’t a star, what is it then?
Some scientists think that a large part of a comet is water frozen into pieces of ice and mixed with iron and rock dust and perhaps a few big pieces of rock. When sunshine melts (融化) the ice in the comet, great clouds of gas go trailing after it. These clouds, together with the dust, form a long tail.
Many people perhaps have seen a comet. However no one knows how many comets there are. There may be millions of comets, but only a few come close enough for us to see.
An Englishman named Edmund Halley, who lived from 1656 to 1742, found out a lot about the paths that comets take through the sky. Some comets move out of our sight and never come back. Others keep coming back at regular times. A big comet that keeps coming back was named after Halley because he was the one who worked out when it would come back again. Maybe you have ever seen Halley’s Comets because the last time it came close to the sun and the earth was in the year 1986. Then people all over the world were outside at night to look at it. You will probably be able to see Halley’s Comets when it comes near the earth again.
1. A comet is like ________, goes round the sun.| A．sun | B．star | C．planet | D．the earth |
| A．water and rock | B．water frozen into pieces of ice and mixed with iron |
| C．ice, iron and rock dust | D．only a few big pieces of rock |
| A．haven’t seen any comets | B．have seen all comets |
| C．have seen a comet at daytime | D．have seen a comet |
| A．in 1990 | B．in 1980 | C．in 1986 | D．in 1989 |
| name have temperature reach who and wide at planet four |
What do you know about Mars? What does it look like?
Mars is the
It takes a spaceship about eight months
7 . 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 |
 People never stop exploring space. We sent probes (探测器) to the moon and Mars. Now the sun is our goal. China sent its first solar observation satellite Xihe (太阳探测卫星羲和号) on October 14. It will help scientists learn more about the shining star.  | Did you know? |
 ■The temperature inside the sun can reach 15 million degrees! | |
 ■960,000 Earths could fit inside(装在……里面) the sun. | |
 ■The sun is about 4.6 billion (十亿) years old. But it’s young and strong. | |
| How does the sun affect Earth? | |
| ■The sun makes energy for all life on Earth. | |
 ■Solar storms (太阳风暴) can affect weather on Earth. Big ones may also make our phones and TVs stop working. |
| A．Xihe can change the sun’s temperature and speed. |
| B．Xihe will stay in space for at least three years. |
| C．Xihe may watch the sun for twelve hours a day. |
| A．the moon | B．the satellite | C．solar storms |
| A．China sent its first solar observation satellite Xihe to the moon. |
| B．The sun is about 46 billion of years but is young and strong. |
| C．The sun makes energy for all life on Earth so that it is really important. |
| A．A storybook. | B．A travel guide. | C．A science magazine. |
9 . In many science fiction (科幻) movies, men travel to faraway stars and even fight with aliens. But are there real aliens in the universe (宇宙)? The answer of some scientists is yes. So they have been searching for aliens in outer space for many years. They hope io find life signs of aliens.
Some scientists are used to using radio telescopes (望远镜) to search for aliens in space. In order to find aliens, they have worked hard for over half a century, but so far they have found nothing. Then some scientists guessed aliens might not want to connect us, but aliens could answer our messages. So some scientists sent radio signals into the universe. They hope one day they would be picked up by alien technology. These scientists want to prove (证明) that we are not alone in the universe.
But what should we do if the “alien phone” rings one day? Should we answer it? Stephen Hawking, the famous physicist, thought it could be dangerous to connect aliens. He said that the main purpose of aliens’ visiting to our solar system could be searching for our resources (资源). But other scientists think we have no need to worry. David Morrison. a NASA scientist, said, “If an alien radio signal reaches the earth from a planet thousands of light-years away, then they almost surely have solved all the problems we still have including the short of resources. Maybe they are much smarter than us, but why don’t they hurt us? I think we can try to connect them.”
根据短文内容，选择最佳答案
1. ______ scientists believe there are aliens.
| A．Few | B．Some | C．Most | D．All |
| A．more than 50 years | B．50 years | C．40 years | D．30 years |
| A．Aliens are dangerous. | B．Aliens are friendly. |
| C．Aliens can’t be found. | D．Aliens have been on the earth. |
| A．Because we want to find aliens. | B．Because aliens are much smarter than us. |
| C．Because we want to help aliens. | D．Because aliens have many skills. |
| A．How to Use Radio Telescope. | B．Stephen Hawking’s Idea. |
| C．Protect Our Earth. | D．Are We Alone? |
10 . Some scientists believe that Mars is the planet with the highest chance of supporting human life away from Earth.
They believe that it’s possible for human to reach Mars by 2030. However, there are many things to prepare before this can happen.
Putting people on Mars will include (包括) planning how a person will live on Mars. At its shortest distance, Mars is 55 million kilometers away from Earth.
根据材料内容，从下面五个选项中选出能填入文中空缺处的最佳选项，使短文意思通顺，内容完整。
| A．Astronauts have been the key to the plan. |
| B．For example, they had to be fed with bad food. |
| C．One day humans will be able to live on Mars. |
| D．Scientists must make some research on Mars well. |
| E．So it would take about 6 months for a one-way trip. |
