What do black holes look like? We finally got the answer: they look like dark circles with a bright ring around the outside. Scientists took the world’s first photo of a black hole. The black hole is very far from Earth—about 55 million light years away. This is not the only black hole in the universe.
Black holes are mysterious in the universe. A photo can help us learn more about them. How much do you know about black holes? Try to answer the following questions.
Q: What is a black hole?
A: A black hole comes from a dying star. The star turns in to a small point. The point has much mass and strong gravity (引力) . The strong gravity of a black hole pulls things. The black hole “eats” these things. Black holes can even “eat” light. That’s why a black hole looks “black”.
Q: If black holes are “black”, how do scientists know they are there?
A: We cannot see black holes. But we can see how their strong gravity works on the things around them. A black hole’s gravity pulls dust and gas into it. And if a star is orbiting (绕轨道运行) a point in space, scientists can study the star’s orbit. They can tell if the star is orbiting a black hole.
Q: How did scientists take the picture of the black hole?
A: Scientists didn’t use a camera to take the picture. They used eight radio telescopes in different places across the world. The telescopes got information from the black hole. Scientists used computers to deal with the information. It took them two years to get the final picture.
Q: Will the sun turn into a black hole? And if it does, will it “eat” Earth?
A: The sun won’t become a black hole. According to NASA, it does not have enough mass to turn into one. When the sun dies, it will become a smaller and cooler star. Even if the sun becomes a black hole, Earth would still be safe.
1. Which of the following is NOT true about black holes?| A．They are about 55 million light years away from Earth. |
| B．Black holes look “black” because they pull light and “eat” it. |
| C．There is more than one black hole in space. |
| A．moves | B．shakes | C．feels |
| A．using cameras to take pictures |
| B．using radio telescopes around the world |
| C．watching the stars carefully in the sky |
| A．Earth will die at once. | B．Earth will become black. | C．Earth will still be safe. |
| A．Learning about black holes | B．Earth and the black holes | C．Something about the universe |
2 . From a plane you can see the fields, cities, mountains or rivers below. If we go into space, we see more and more of the earth. People and man—made satellites (卫星) are sent into space to look at the earth, the stars and other planets and learn more about them.
The moon is our nearest neighbor in space. It is our satellite and men have visited it already. It is smaller than the earth. Plants can’t grow on the moon because there is no air or water on it. There are lots of mountains on the moon. At night, it is very cold on the moon. It is not comfortable to live on the moon if possible. On the moon, there is much dust here and there. The things on the moon are much lighter than the things on the earth.
The moon hasn’t its own light. It shines back (反射) the light of the sun. When the sun is shining on the side of the moon that faces us, it looks like a great round ball. We can’t see the moon when the sun is shining on the side of the moon that faces away from us.
In fact, the moon isn’t as near as it looks. It is 380, 000 kilometers away from the earth. Of course we can fly to the moon in a spaceship. It only takes more than three days to get there by spaceship.
根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。
1. The underlined words “dust” in the passage means “ ________” in Chinese.
| A．液体 | B．尘土 | C．冰山 |
| A．find there is more air |
| B．see more of the earth |
| C．learn more about the sun |
| A．a great round face |
| B．a great square box |
| C．a great round ball |
| A．Many kinds of plants can grow on the moon. |
| B．It takes the spaceship at least three days to the moon. |
| C．People can live on the moon easily. |
| A．Something about the moon. |
| B．How to get to the moon. |
| C．The introduction (介绍) the sun. |
Do you know anything about the Moon? How much do you know about it?
The Moon is not a friendly place. There is no air or water. There are only lots of dust (灰尘) and mountains around on it.
So people can’t hear any sounds on it.
But from the Moon, you can see our beautiful Earth. It is shining more brightly than the other stars in the dark.
| A．So there are no animals or plants there |
| B．The Moon is also a very quiet world |
| C．Do you want to go to the moon |
| D．You can take some photos with your camera |
| E．When the Sun shines in the day, the temperature is very high |
| F．Will you be hungry in space |
| G．Let’s see an exciting film about space |
The universe (宇宙) is everything out in space. Nobody
Now let me tell you something about the
We live on the outside part of the Earth. Around us is the air. It takes the Earth 24
Can you tell me something else about the universe? I think it is
| A．leaves | B．knows | C．blows | D．pollutes |
| A．gardens | B．planes | C．stars | D．rockets |
| A．Maths | B．Sun | C．Earth | D．Land |
| A．goes | B．waits | C．shows | D．keeps |
| A．water | B．ice | C．snow | D．cloud |
| A．watch | B．hear | C．feel | D．touch |
| A．nights | B．minutes | C．days | D．hours |
| A．easily | B．brightly | C．badly | D．slowly |
| A．flies | B．kicks | C．ties | D．becomes |
| A．weak | B．nervous | C．interesting | D．tiring |
5 . 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. |
| 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
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. |
