1 . Until recently, gravitational waves could have been the stuff of Einstein’s imagination. Before they were detected, these waves in space time existed only in the physicist’s general theory of relativity, as far as scientists knew. Now, researchers are on the hunt for more ways to detect the waves. “The study of gravitational waves is booming,” says astrophysicist Karan Jani of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “This is just remarkable. No field I can think of in fundamental physics has seen progress this fast.”

Just as light comes in a variety of wavelengths, so do gravitational waves. Different wave lengths point to different types of origins of the universe and require different kinds of detectors. Gravitational waves with wavelengths of a few thousand kilometers—like those detected by the United States, Italy and Japan—come mostly from pairs of black holes 10 or so times the mass of the sun, or from collisions of dense cosmic blocks called neutron stars (中子星). These detectors could also spot waves from certain types of exploding stars and rapidly moving neutron stars.

In contrast, huge waves that span light-years are thought to be created by orbiting pairs of bigger black holes with masses billions of times that of the sun. In June, scientists reported the first strong evidence of these types of waves by turning the entire galaxy (星系) into a detector, watching how the waves make slight changes to the timing of regular blinks from neutron stars throughout the Milky Way.

Physicists now hope to dive into a vast, cosmic ocean of gravitational waves of all sorts of sizes. These waves could reveal new details about the secret lives of exotic objects such as black holes and unknown parts of the universe.

Physicist Jason Hogan of Stanford University thinks there are still a lot of gaps in the coverage of wavelengths. “But it makes sense to cover all the bases. Who knows what else we may find?” he says. The search for capturing the full complement of the universe’s gravitational waves exactly could take observatories out into the moon, to the atomic area and elsewhere.

1. What does Karan Jani think of the current study on gravitational waves?

A．It is rapid and pioneering.

B．It is slow but steadily increasing.

C．It is interrupted due to limited detectors.

D．It is progressing as fast as any other field.

2. What do the detected gravitational waves mostly indicate?

A．The creation of different kinds of detectors.

B．Collisions of planets outside the solar system.

C．The presence of light in different wavelengths.

D．Activities involving black holes and neutron stars.

3. How did scientists manage to find huge waves’ evidence?

A．By analyzing sunlight.

B．By locating the new galaxy.

C．By using the whole galaxy as a tool.

D．By observing the sun’s regular movement.

4. What can be inferred about the future study according to the last paragraph?

A．It’ll exclude the atomic field.

B．It’ll focus exactly on the mapping of the galaxy.

C．It’ll require prioritizing certain wavelengths on the moon.

D．It’ll explore potential places to detect gravitational waves.

2 . Interesting Space Facts

As time goes by, technological advancements have made us learn more facts about space in the past century than in all time before that. We’ve already searched the universe for the most amazing space facts, including facts about the planets in our solar system, moons, the Milky Way and beyond!     1    

The highest mountain discovered is the Olympus Mons, which is located on Mars. It is 16 miles high, making it nearly 3 times higher than Mount Everest.    2     That’s the size of Arizona !

The sun weighs about 330,000 times more than Earth.    3     In fact, the sun is so huge that it contains 99.85% of all mass in our solar system.

Footprints left on the moon won’t disappear as there is no wind. But wait a minute.

    4     Well, it actually wasn’t blowing. That blowing you see is because of a telescopic horizontal rod (望远镜水平杆) that the astronauts were struggling to remove from the flag’s top.

    5     This is due to the lack of gravity in space causing the vertebrae (椎骨) to expand a little. However, this extra height is lost when they re-enter the earth’s atmosphere and are affected by the earth’s gravity again.

A．We’re pretty sure they will make you interested!

B．New discoveries will no longer be made in the future.

C．It is so large that it can contain about 1,300,000 Earths!

D．Not only is it tall, but it’s 114,000 square meters as well.

E．All these space facts may not be true at the time of writing.

F．Astronauts can grow about two inches in height when in space.

G．If there’s no wind to blow them away, then why is the flag blowing?

3 . If you think you’d like to live on Mars, you may have that possibility by 2023. A Dutch company called Mars One will soon advertise for people interested in colonizing (开拓) Mars. If you have all the necessary skills, you could be one of the first colonists. Are you ready for the challenge?

You won’t have to pay for the mission to Mars. Mars One has already received money from some donors and is hoping to get more from TV viewers who will become interested in the show where all applicants have a debate for the rare chances.

The main responsibility of the first colonists is to create an artificial environment on Mars where there is no air to breathe and no land to farm. Scientists know it’s quite possible because something similar has already been done in Antarctica.

Another problem is that space travel to Mars takes nearly a year to get to Mars and the colonists will live the rest of their lives there. When a human lives in an environment without gravity or with low gravity for a long time, the systems in the body weaken. Luckily, spinning (旋转) the spaceship can create artificial gravity, and artificial gravity can ease these problems. It will also be difficult for Mars colonists to be far from home, living in small spaces, and seeing the same people over and over. Colonists with depression could put the mission in danger. Fortunately, a few years ago, a joint Russian and European project called the Mars500 Mission studied people’s reactions in a Mars-like environment. It is viewed as a great success because scientists were able to see how people handle emotional and physical stresses.

Recent studies show that seven percent of people would want to go on such an adventure.

Mars One will soon start accepting its first colonists. Are you interested?

1. What do we know about the applicants to Mars from the first two paragraphs?

A．They will land on Mars in 2023.

B．They can get money from donors.

C．They will compete in a TV show.

D．They do not need special skills.

2. What will the first colonists do to solve the basic living problems on Mars?

A．Create earth-like conditions.

B．Build labs in Antarctica.

C．Spin the spaceship.

D．Start the Mars500 Mission.

3. What can the life of the first colonists be like according to the passage?

A．Difficult and dangerous.

B．Different but adaptable.

C．Challenging and unbearable .

D．Acceptable but depressing.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Mars: our final destination?

B．Ready to be Mars’ colonists?

C．Space travel: a thrilling adventure?

D．Are you a qualified Mars astronaut?

4 . Scientists say they have found detailed evidence of ancient rivers on Mars. The discovery supported existing evidence that Mars once had water. The researchers said their findings suggested rivers may have flowed on the surface of Mars for hundreds of thousands of years.

These images were captured by a camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The camera is able to take detailed pictures of the surface while orbiting the planet from about 400 kilometers away. A team of scientists studied the images, which showed a valley network on Mars.

The team was led by Francesco Salese, a geologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Salese said the scientists studied sedimentary (沉淀物) rocks from a 200 meters high rocky cliff. Sedimentary rocks form when sedimented (使沉积) and transported by water or wind.

“These are sedimentary rocks and were formed by rivers that were likely active for over 100,000 years,” Salese said, adding even without the ability to examine the cliff area on Mars, the pictures show strong similarities to sedimentary rocks found on the earth.

William McMahon is another geologist who was part of the investigation team. He said sedimentary rocks have long been studied on the earth to learn what conditions were like on our planet millions or even billions of years ago. Another leader of the team was Joel Davis, a researcher with Britain’s Natural History Museum. He said scientists had never before been able to examine such a rock formation with such great detail. They created 3D images of the area to get a more detailed understanding of it, which suggested some ancient Martian rivers were several meters deep.

1. What is the text mainly about?

A．Scientists are able to study rock formation on Mars.

B．Scientists found evidence that there was water on Mars.

C．Mars sedimentary has many similarities to that on the earth.

D．A camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took pictures of the planet.

2. How did researchers make the findings?

A．By comparing data.

B．By analyzing images.

C．By studying rivers on the earth.

D．By observing Mars through a telescope.

3. What was Joel Davis’ attitude towards the discovery?

A．Excited.

B．Unsatisfied.

C．Unexpected.

D．Disappointed.

4. Where is the text most likely from?

A．A novel.

B．A notebook.

C．A travel guide.

D．A newspaper.

5 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Waters may be flowing on the surface of an enormous planet that lies about 120 light-years from Earth, according to new evidence     1     (uncover) by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The investigation with the space-based observatory, one of the most advanced astronomy instruments in operation,     2     (reveal) that the exoplanet (外星球) K2-18b may have some key features of a planet     3     could support bodies of water — and life. Closely orbiting the cool dwarf star K2-18, the exoplanet lies within the star’s habitable, or Goldilocks, zone and is 8.6 times     4     big as Earth. An     5     (analyse) of Webb’s observations found the planet has huge quantities of methane (甲烷) and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere.

The Webb telescope, which can detect infrared (红外) light invisible to the human eye, searched for exactly     6     elements are featured in the planet’s atmosphere. And     7     latest observations of the planet also hint that a very special substance, called dimethyl sulfide (二甲基亚砜), could be     8     (presence) on K2-18b. On Earth, dimethyl sulfide “is only produced by life,” according to NASA. Researchers are not directly suggesting that K2-18b is crawling with alien life. Further research is needed     9     (confirm) the presence of dimethyl sulfide.

And even if scientists confirm the chemical compound’s presence, that doesn’t guarantee life-forms exist there. But this new evidence does expand scientists’ understanding of exoplanets similar     10     K2-18b.

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入l个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

A new study suggests Jupiter’s icy moon (卫星) Europa produces much less oxygen than previously thought. The study was based on the data     1     (collect) by NASA’s Juno spacecraft.

The study involved Juno’s instruments measuring levels of oxygen     2     hydrogen molecules (分子) coming from Europa’s atmosphere. The data showed the icy moon produces about 1,000 tons of oxygen every 24 hours. NASA said that would be enough amount     3     (keep) a million humans breathing for a day.

However, the space agency noted those estimates of oxygen were much less than those measured in earlier studies about the moon. Europa is a little     4     (small) than the Earth’s moon. But it is still one of the largest moons in     5     (we) solar system. NASA observations have suggested     6     ocean exists beneath the thick layer of ice on Europa’s surface. Scientists estimate the moon’s ocean may contain a large amount of water,     7     is twice as the Earth’s oceans.

Since Europa was believed to have a large ocean under its surface,     8     (researcher) in the past identified it as a good candidate to hold the right conditions to support some form of life. That data came     9     (main) from telescope observations of oxygen levels existing in the moon’s icy surface. The new lower estimates of oxygen do not support the earlier observations. The team involved in the study said, in the future, more research     10     (need) to confirm the latest findings.