1 . It took humans thousands of years to understand our own planet, and centuries
Up to the present time, astronomers have
Among all these, scientists are eager to find a clue of the
A.explore | B.separate | C.forget | D.defend |
A.revised | B.discovered | C.saved | D.created |
A.travelled | B.damaged | C.recognized | D.ignored |
A.slowly | B.easily | C.wrongly | D.rapidly |
A.Removing | B.Circling | C.Lighting | D.Showing |
A.stars | B.moons | C.planets | D.satellites |
A.type | B.distance | C.power | D.size |
A.authorities | B.species | C.systems | D.facilities |
A.familiar | B.previous | C.unknown | D.distant |
A.hide | B.discover | C.injure | D.support |
A.luckily | B.instantly | C.probably | D.officially |
A.small | B.bright | C.blue | D.clear |
A.And | B.Yet | C.So | D.Thus |
A.limits | B.ends | C.opposites | D.beginnings |
A.examples | B.designs | C.means | D.signs |
China's Chang'e 5 mission
The sample capsule landed in Inner Mongolia
The material collected by Chang'e 5 was from a site in the northwest region of the moon's near side. This area was formed more recently, and the rocks here
Although Chang'e 5 was a short mission, it was one of
3 . When the Chinese spacecraft Chang’e-5 returned to Earth on December 17, 2020, it brought back something not seen on our planet since the 1970s: moon rock samples. This precious cargo, collected by Chang’e-5’s robotic research vehicle in the northwest region of the lunar near side, is now being studied by scientists in Beijing. The success of the latest Chinese space mission also showcased technology that may be used in future years to create human settlements on Earth’s near neighbor.
The returned lunar samples will “absolutely add new knowledge of the history of the moon, particularly its volcanoes,” says Xiao Long, a planetary scientist at China University of Geosciences. The rocks sent back by Chang’e-5 “will ask us to rethink about why and how the moon’s volcanic history lasted this long,” he says.
The Chang’e-5 mission was more than just a trip to collect moon rocks. It was also the latest stage of a long, planned sequence of robotic lunar explorations by China that have grown ever more scientifically advanced.
The program began with the 2007 launch of Chang’e-1 and Chang’e-2 three years later. These craft circled the moon collecting data used to help guide Chang’e-3 and Chang’e-4, the first Chinese spacecraft to land on the moon surface, and to direct their robotic vehicles. The robot on Chang’e-5 was able to collect rock and soil samples and return them to Earth. In the near future, an identical spacecraft called Chang’e-6 will attempt a sample-return mission from the moon’s south pole—an area of intense scientific interest-given the large amount of water ice present.
The more advanced Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 spacecraft are also planned to land near the south pole to carry out analysis of the region and test new technologies, including detecting and obtaining materials that could be useful to future human explorers, such as water and hydrogen, and testing 3D printing on the lunar surface.
The long-term aim of the Chang’s program is to establish an International Lunar Research Station around 2030 to support robotic and, eventually, crewed missions.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?A.The moon’s recent volcanic activities. | B.The significance of the moon rock samples. |
C.New knowledge of the history of the moon. | D.Further studies of the returned lunar samples. |
A.The technology they use. | B.The time they spend on the moon. |
C.The specific locations they explore. | D.The amount of material they bring back. |
A.transport researchers to the moon station |
B.build up an International Lunar Research Station |
C.collect data necessary to guide moon-landing spacecraft |
D.find and test resources and means to support living on the moon |
A.A project to study the surface of the moon. |
B.A plan to improve human settlements on the moon. |
C.A set of experiments to test the possibility of manned spacecraft. |
D.A series of increasingly challenging scientific lunar explorations. |
A small device, Moxie, has produced oxygen on the surface of Mars,
“This is the first demonstration of actually using
“The thin atmosphere on Mars is 96 percent carbon dioxide and much more
The device, Moxie, uses some special pumps,
Despite the challenges, Moxie has proved durable in the extreme conditions on Mars and scientists regard the test results
5 . 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:
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.
However, not everyone agrees.
It seems the main reason is the search for extraterrestrial (地球外的) life.
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? |
6 . Meteorites (陨石) can offer clues about what the early solar system was like. But finding them is far from difficult. Now, some scientists are turning to drones (无人机) and machine learning to help spot freshly fallen meteorites much more efficiently. “A team of six people on a meteorite-hunting expedition can search about 200,000 square meters per day,” says Seamus Anderson, a planetary scientist in Australia.
Around 2016, Anderson began toying with the concept of using drones to take pictures of the g round to look for meteorites. That idea blossomed into a Ph.D. project. In 2022, he and his colleagues reported their first successful recovery of a meteorite spotted with a drone. They’ve since found four more meteorites at a different site. Drone-based searches are much faster than the standard search way. “You’re going from about 300 days of human effort down to about a dozen or so,” he says.
Anderson and his workmates have used drones to search for meteorites in remote parts of Western Australia and South Australia. The team is tipped off about a fall site by networks of ground-based cameras that track meteoroids flashing through the Earth’s atmosphere. The researchers have to do a series of fun but difficult work before the hunt. They pack a four-wheel drive vehicle with drone and computer equipment, battery charging stations, generators, fuel, food, camping equipment, tables, chairs and much more. The drive to the fall site can take more than a day, often on rough or nonexistent roads. Anderson says, “You hope you don’t pop a tire.”
After arriving, the team flies its primary drone at an altitude of about 20 meters. Its camera takes an image of the ground once every second, and the scientists download the data every 40 minutes or so when the drone lands to receive fresh batteries. A typical day of flying can net over 10,000 images, which are then divided digitally into 100 million or so smaller sections. Those “tiles”, each 2 meters on a side, are fed into a machine learning algorithm (算法) that has been trained to recognize meteorites based on images of real land rocks which are spray-painted black.
1. Why do the scientists study meteorites?A.To spot the planetary course. | B.To promote machine learning. |
C.To test the functions of drones. | D.To explore the past of solar system. |
A.Their barriers. | B.Their causes. |
C.Their efficiency. | D.Their concept. |
A.Fun and light. | B.Smooth and flexible. |
C.Difficult and unpleasant. | D.Complicated and tough. |
A.By dividing them in half. | B.By storing them for analysis. |
C.By combining them into a picture. | D.By linking them with a digital printer. |
7 . 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. |
A.Create earth-like conditions. |
B.Build labs in Antarctica. |
C.Spin the spaceship. |
D.Start the Mars500 Mission. |
A.Difficult and dangerous. |
B.Different but adaptable. |
C.Challenging and unbearable . |
D.Acceptable but depressing. |
A.Mars: our final destination? |
B.Ready to be Mars’ colonists? |
C.Space travel: a thrilling adventure? |
D.Are you a qualified Mars astronaut? |
8 . Time has always been of great interest to scientist…
Theory 1: According to Caltech cosmologist (宇宙学家) Dr Sean Carroll, the flow of time from past to future may be the symptom of our Universe having emerged from another universe that existed before the Big Bang and then gave birth to our own. Theory 2: In 1967, two American theorists came up with an equation describing the quantum (量子) state of the whole Universe. Known as the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, it includes many key features of the universe, such as its size. But one aspect is absent: time. Some theorists believe this implies that time only exists in our minds. Theory 3: According to theorist Prof Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute, Canada, the existence of life in the Universe is the result of the laws of physics evolving to their current state over an unlimited number of previous universes. If true, this means that our very existence is proof that time does exist. Theory 4: In 2009, physicists at the universities of Bristol and Cambridge showed that the passing of time revealed by, say, the cooling of a cup of tea, may be due to quantum effect called ‘entanglement’. This involves the particles (粒子) in the team interacting with their surroundings, being bound together and becoming harder to distinguish from each other—a one-way process that requires the forward progression of time to occur. Theory 5: Dark energy, the mysterious anti-gravitational force that drives the expansion of the Universe, may be linked to the existence of the arrow of time. Last year, two cosmologists at the Yerevan Physics Institute showed that dark energy leads to the growth of entropy, a measure of disorder, in the Universe. |
A.time is flexible | B.time is constant |
C.time does go forth and back | D.time does exist in some way |
A.Theory 1. | B.Theory 2. |
C.Theory 3. | D.Theory 4. |
A.It leads to the existence of multi-universities. |
B.It is what keeps the universe in order. |
C.It increases in strength with gravity. |
D.It is what makes the universe get bigger. |
9 . Have you ever noticed that the stars sometimes appear brighter in December, January and February? There's a link between cold air and the night lights. "Part of it is that it tends to be drier in the winter," said Diane Tumshek, an astronomer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Even though it's invisible, moisture can change the way light moves through the air. And in the summer, moisture can make stars appear more dull.
Air temperature is also what puts the twinkle twinkle in the little stars. "Even on very clear nights, some of the atmosphere is cooler, and some of the atmosphere is warmer,” said Tumshek, who also works with the Allegheny Observatory. And when the light from a star passes through those bubbles of varying temperatures, "it bends and shifts the light, so that we are seeing stars appear to dance or twinkle,” she said.
For star lovers in the United States, there's another factor that comes into play for bright winter stars, although this is a matter of coincidence. During Earth's journey around the sun, “there are just simply more bright stars visible from the Northern Hemisphere in the winter sky," Tumshek said. If you really want to see a shiny star, just try to find a burning ball of gas called Sirius near the horizon. At 8.6 light-years away, Sirius is relatively close to Earth and the brightest star visible in the night sky. It is also large — nearly twice as big as our sun and 20 times as bright. So this winter, when the world turns cold and it seems like we should be spending more time indoors, consider asking an adult to go exploring outside. With a warm coat and a clear sky, any night can be turned into a treasure hunt. All you have to do is look up.
1. What does the underlined word "dull" in Paragraph 1 probably mean?A.not shiny | B.not exciting | C.not severe | D.not smart |
A.By changing the bubbles around them. | B.By putting the twinkle twinkle in them. |
C.By varying the direction of the light from them. | D.By making the stars dance and twinkle in the sky. |
A.It can be found at any night. | B.It is 20 times as bright as the sun. |
C.It is a burning and shiny ball. | D.It is closer to Earth than other stars, |
A.To advocate stargazing in winter, | B.To call on people to focus on stars. |
C.To present new research results about stars. | D.To explain why stars are more visible in winter. |
10 . For years, people have wondered whether there’s life on other planets. Scientists may now be closer than ever to answering that question.
Using powerful telescopes, a team of astronomers in South America discovered a new planet, called Proxima b. It circles a star named Proxima Centauri, in the same way Earth circles the sun. Proxima Centauri is the closest star to our solar system.
Scientists believe the new planet has a rocky surface and is similar in size to Earth. More importantly, they’ve determined that the distance between Proxima b and its “sun” gives the planet a similar temperature to Earth’s. This means it could have liquid water. The presence of water on a planet makes it possible for life to exist there. Scientists refer to planets like Proxima b as “Goldilocks planets” because they are not too hot or too cold, but just right to possibly support life.
Astronomers have found other Goldilocks planets in the past, but none are as close to Earth as Proxima b. Still, the new planet is 4.2 light years from Earth—that is about 25 trillion miles away.
Despite the long distance, astronomers hope to get a much better look at our new-found neighbor one day. But they’ll need to wait until more advanced telescopes are developed. They may also send a robotic spacecraft to investigate the planet.
1. Earth is to the sun what ______.A.the solar system is to Proxima b |
B.Proxima Centauri is to Proxima b |
C.Proxima b is to the solar system |
D.Proxima b is to Proxima Centauri |
A.listing figures | B.following the space order |
C.making the comparisons | D.giving examples |
A.the presence of water | B.their temperature |
C.the life on them | D.their size |
A.astronomers have a long way to go to explore the new planet |
B.exploring the new planet is just around the corner |
C.the long distance will prevent astronomers from exploring the new planet |
D.astronomers have got the whole picture of the new planet |