1 . It sounds like something from science fiction — a space journey into the vast expanse of space, heading towards Mars. While we’re not quite ready to put a person on the land, the question we ask today is:     1    

The space race saw the USA and USSR compete to achieve the first in spaceflight. The Soviet Union released Sputnik 1, an artificial satellite (人造卫星), before anyone else.     2     Now it appears that Mars is the heaven body of desire. While the reputation and bragging (吹嘘) rights to be the first nation to touch down is an obvious draw, there are other reasons we want to get there.

    3     You only have to look at the fossilized remains of the dinosaurs to see the benefit of finding another habitable planet. While Mars doesn’t have the right conditions to call it home just yet, there’s always the concept of terraforming (地球化) — changing the environment of a planet to meet our needs.

However, not everyone agrees.     4     He has said the concept of changing habitability of another planet because of the damage we have done to Earth makes no sense when we can simply terraform Earth.

It seems the main reason is the search for extraterrestrial (地球外的) life.     5     But now seemingly dead, the potential fossils could answer questions about our own evolution and that of our planet. One theory is that bacterial life on our planet didn’t start here, but was transferred via asteroid from Mars.

A．Leading astrophysicist Neil Tyson is one of them.

B．And the US landed on the Moon first.

C．One of these could be the survival of our species.

D．May landing on Mars inspire more people to become interested in science?

E．It has been believed that, at one time, Mars was filled with life.

F．Surely inspiring a new generation to visit the stars is reason enough.

G．Why are so many countries interested in going to Mars?

2 . Extremely energetic light from space is an unexplained wonder. Scientists don’t know where that light comes from, exactly. And now astronomers have spotted this light, called gamma (伽马) rays, at higher energies than ever before.

You can’t see gamma rays with your naked eyes (肉眼). They are much more energetic than the light that we can see. So you need a fancy detector to spot them. The Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory, LHAASO, is an experiment in China. It searches for extremely high energy gamma rays.

Scientists have spotted 12 gamma-ray hot spots. These are parts of the sky from which the gamma rays are sent out. Those hot spots show that our galaxy (银河系), the Milky Way, has powerful particle accelerators (粒子加速器). But those particle accelerators aren’t made by humans. Instead, they come from violent events in the universe. They might be exploding stars, for example. Such violent events make electric and magnetic fields, which can speed up protons (质子) and electrons. Those fast particles can then produce gamma rays with a lot of energy. That can happen when protons interact with other matter in space, for example.

Scientists aren’t sure what could produce gamma rays with the extreme energies observed. But the new observations point to two possibilities. One hot spot was associated with the Crab Nebula. That’s the remains of an exploded star. Another possible source was the Cygnus Cocoon. That’s a region where massive stars are forming. The stars send out strong winds in the process.

LHAASO is located on Haizi Mountain in China’s Sichuan province. It is not yet fully operational. It’s due to be completed later this year. Then, it could find even more gamma rays.

1. What can we learn about gamma rays?

A．They are invisible to our naked eyes.	B．They are often ignored.
C．They contain little energy.	D．They can be explained.

2. Why are some examples used in paragraph 3?

A．To make the explanation lively.

B．To help understand the Milky Way.

C．To show the universe is expanding.

D．To show how gamma rays might be produced.

3. Which word can describe the source of gamma rays with higher energy?

A．Disappointing.

B．Exciting.

C．Accurate.

D．Uncertain.

4. What’s the main idea of this text?

A．There will be more gamma rays.

B．The universe is exploding with great energy.

C．Astronomers have spotted gamma rays with higher energy.

D．Gamma rays can only be seen by astronauts.

3 . Is there anybody out there? For centuries humans have wondered although the ways in which we have gone about this have varied. As we have gained a greater understanding of the universe, our searches have taken on more concrete(具体的) forms. Questions about aliens(外星人) have become a subject for science rather than science fiction.

Now new cooperation between the Very Large Array (VLA) observatory in New Mexico and the SETI Institute in California means that our curiosity about whether aliens exist can be closer than ever before to being satisfied. Data from the VLA’S 28 radio telescopes, used to scan a vast area of sky, will be fed through a special supercomputer that will search for distant signals.

How likely it is that a signal will be found, and what this might mean, are hard questions to answer. SETI’s existing projects have not discovered any signals from other planets so far. But recent discoveries in space and Earth sciences have provided some encouragement for those who are enthusiastic about the possibility, however remote, of detecting other civilizations.

Once it was thought that our solar system could be unique. Since the discovery of the first exoplanet (a planet beyond the solar system) in the 1990s, thousands more have been located. Around one in five stars is now thought to have a planet in their orbit(运行轨道) in a so-called “habitable(适合居住的) zone”—that is, at a distance from the star where the temperature means that life is theoretically possible.

Are Earth’s 7.5 billion humans, along with billions of other animals and plants they share their home with, on their own in the universe? If there is another life form somewhere, could it be as intelligent as humans? Or could it threaten them? I think all of these need further exploration. As explorations of Mars continue, and a new set of observations from the James Webb Space Telescope are set to begin, our interest in the possibility of alien life appears as much as before.

1. Why does the VLA work with SETI?

A．To develop new radio telescopes	B．To find evidence of aliens’ existence
C．To build a special supercomputer	D．To search for distant signals

2. What is the encouraging news for scientists exploring distant civilizations?

A．Life does indeed exist on exoplanets

B．New technologies are employed to find aliens

C．Some exoplanets may have habitable zones

D．Signals have been discovered from other planets

3. What is the author's attitude to the existence of aliens?

A．Uncertain

B．Positive

C．Unacceptable

D．Worried

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．Space: the unknown place	B．Finding aliens: possible or not?
C．Receiving signals: aliens appear again?	D．Exoplanets: home of aliens

4 . 以下语篇中共有15处错误，每处错误及其修改均仅限一词。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。从第16处起不计入分数。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

“Are we alone? What's out there?” Looked up at the stars, people have always wanted learn more about space, and scientist work hard to find answers. They make vehicles to carry brave people into space to find out the secrets of universe. They also really wish to discover other planets that were suitable enough support life. Despite the huge risks, people still believe in the important of carrying on space exploration.

China's space programme started late than those of Russia and the US, but it have made great progresses in a short time. China became the three country in the world to independently sent humans into space in 2003. Then China completed a second manned orbit and the first Chinese spacewalk, following by the vehicle Jade Rabbit be sent later to the moon to study its surface. After which, China launched the Tiangong 2 space lab into space and Tianzhou 1 to dock with it.

5 . Despite what so many people would love to believe, NASA hasn’t discovered any evidence of past or present intelligent life on Mars. So, when the Curiosity rover (好奇号探测器) found something suspicious on the Red Planet’s surface, they were not only surprised but also a little bit worried.

The thin fragment was suspicious enough to guarantee its own name, with NASA’s Curiosity rover team calling it the “Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris,” named for the location where it was discovered. With no idea what it was or where it came from, the rover’s handlers began to worry that it might actually be a piece of the rover itself, suggesting some unseen damage or other issue with the robot. Thankfully, those concerns seem to have been unfounded.

In a new update from NASA the object has now been identified as a natural piece of rock rather than a piece of any man-made craft or vehicle. The team analyzed the bizarre object with a tool called the ChemCam RMI. The instrument uses a laser (激光器) to sniff out the makeup of anything it’s pointed at, and the results for this particular piece of debris revealed that it’s actually just a very thin piece of rock.

NASA describes the inspection: The planning day began with an interesting result from the previous plan’s ChemCam RMI analysis of a target that was referred to as “Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris” (PPFOD), and speculated to be a piece of spacecraft debris. In fact it was found to be a very thin flake of rock, so we can all rest easy tonight—Curiosity has not begun to shed its skin!

How this particularly thin sliver of rock got to where it is—and why it seems to be a different colour than the surrounding sand and debris —remains unexplained, but at least the rover isn’t falling apart.

1. What attitude does NASA hold towards the newly found thin fragment?

A．Positive.

B．Surprised.

C．Interested.

D．Amazed but worried.

2. What is the “Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris” named for?

A．Its finder.

B．Its location.

C．Its researcher.

D．Its shape.

3. What does the underlined word “bizarre” mean?

A．Strange.

B．Changeable.

C．Normal.

D．Common.

4. Which of the following questions has got clear answer?

A．How this particularly thin sliver of rock got to where it is.

B．Why it seems to be a different colour than the surrounding sand and debris.

C．Whether the rover is falling apart.

D．None of them.

6 . An Indian spacecraft's first attempt to make a soft, controlled landing in the moon's south polar region has ended in painful silence: Shortly before touchdown (降落), the robotic lander - part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission - fell out of contact with mission control(航天地面指挥中心). The Indian Space Research Organization says that the spacecraft stopped communicating with Earth when it was within 1.3 miles of the lunar surface. ''The Vikram descent (下降)was as planned, and normal performance was observed, up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometers, '' said Kailasavadivoo Sivan, ISRO's chairman, in a statement roughly half an hour after signal loss. ''The data is being analyzed.''

A successful landing would have made India just the fourth country to touch down anywhere on the lunar (月球的)surface, and only the third nation to operate a robotic rover (巡视器) there. Nevertheless, the Chandrayaan-2 mission's orbiter(航天器) remains safely in lunar orbit, with a year-long scientific mission ahead of it. Like any voyage to a world beyond Earth, Vikram's flight was a risky endeavor, requiring the lander to slow itself down to a near standstill(停止), scan for surface obstacles (障碍物) by itself, and then take steps to avoid them during touchdown. The majority of attempts to land robots on the moon have ended in failure, either during launch or on the way to the surface.

Following its launch on July 22, Chandrayaan-2 spent the last several weeks inching its way to the moon, ultimately entering lunar orbit on August 20. On September 2, Vikram separated from the mission's orbiter, and the newly freed lander began a series of braking maneuvers (刹车操作)to lower its orbit and ready itself for landing. Had things proceeded without a fault, Vikram and Pragyaan - the small solar-powered rover it carried - would have set down on the moon at a latitude of about 70 degrees South, on a highland between Manzinus C and Simpelius N.

This landing site was ''somewhere new that we haven't seen before, so that makes it another area for ground-truthing remote sensing data,'' Clive Neal, a lunar geologist, said in an interview before the landing attempt, ''It was going to certainly enhance our knowledge of what the moon is like in those areas, so it was going to be another very good place for science and exploration.''

1. What happened to the lunar lander according to paragraph 1?

A．It made a soft landing.	B．It got data from the lunar surface.
C．It lost contact with Earth.	D．It lowered itself at a wrong altitude.

2. Why was the Vikram's flight a risky endeavor?

A．It demanded higher technique.

B．There were not enough funds to support it.

C．Few Indian scientists agreed with the voyage.

D．No country has succeeded in landing robots on the moon.

3. What can we learn about Vikram from the third paragraph?

A．It entered lunar orbit four weeks after its launch.

B．It landed on the moon at an altitude of about 70 degrees South.

C．It separated from the mission's orbiter before entering the lunar orbit.

D．It lowered its orbit by starting the braking maneuvers to prepare for its landing.

4. What's Clive Neal's attitude towards the landing?

A．Doubtful.

B．Positive.

C．Neutral.

D．Negative.

7 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Where does the conversation probably take place?

A．In an auditorium.

B．In a bookstore.

C．In an library.

2. What has the woman been doing at night?

A．Watching the sky.

B．Reading astronomy.

C．Working night shift.

3. What does the woman major in?

A．Physics.

B．Drama.

C．Chemistry.

8 .         No one knows exactly     1     the earth began, as it happened so long ago.     2     , according to a     3     (wide) accepted theory, the universe began with a “Big Bang” that threw matter     4     all directions. After that, atoms began to form and combine to create stars and other bodies.
        Water     5     (appear) on other planets like Mars but, unlike the earth, it had disappeared later.     6     was not immediately obvious that water was to be fundamental to the development of life. What many scientists believe is that the continued     7     (present) of water allowed the earth     8     (dissolve) harmful gases and acids into the oceans and seas. This produced     9     chain reaction,     10     made it possible for life to develop.