1 . It sounds like something from the field of science fiction — a space exploration into vast outer space, heading towards the Red Planet While we’re not quite ready to put a person on it, the question we ask today is:
The space race saw the USSR (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and USA compete to achieve firsts in spaceflight. The USSR released Sputnik 1, an artificial satellite, before anyone else,
However, not everyone agrees. Leading astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has said the concept of changing habitability of a planet is not always practical.
It seems that the main reason at the moment is the search for alien (外星的) life.
A.and the US landed on the moon first. |
B.Instead, it makes no sense when we can simply terraform Earth because of the damage we have done to it. |
C.One of these could be the survival of our species. |
D.Why are so many countries interested in going to Mars? |
E.It has been believed that, at one time, a certain form of life did exist in this red planet. |
F.Surely inspiring a new generation to visit the stars is reasonable enough. |
G.May landing on Mars inspire more people to become interested in exploring space? |
2 . As we continue to explore farther out into our solar system and beyond, the question of humans living on other planets often comes up. Manned bases on the Moon or Mars for example, have long been a dream of many. There is a natural curiosity to explore as far as we can go, and also to make human existence permanent (永久的). In order to do this, however, it is necessary to adapt to different extreme environments. On the Moon for example, a settlement must be self-supporting and protect its inhabitants from the airless, severe environment outside.
Mars, though, is different. While future bases could adapt to the Martian environment over time there is also the possibility of modifying (改造) the surrounding environment instead of just co-existing with it. This is the process of terraforming — adjusting Mars’ atmosphere and environment to make it more Earth-like. But the bigger question is, should we?
One of the main issues is whether Mars has any native life or not and if it does, should it be preserved as much as possible? If the answer is yes, then large-scale human settlements on Mars should be completely off-limits. Small settlement might be fine, but living on Mars should not be at the cost of any native habitats, if they exist. If Mars is home to any indigenous life, then terraforming should be a non-issue; it simply should not be done.
What if Mars is lifeless? Even if no life exists there, that untouched and unique alien environment needs to be preserved as it is as much as possible. We’ve already done too much damage here on our own planet. By studying Mars and other planets and moons in their present natural state, we can learn so much about their history and also learn more about our own world. We should appreciate the differences of other worlds instead of just transforming them to suit our own ambitions.
1. What is the best title for the text?A.Is there life on Mars? | B.Can we adapt to Mars? |
C.Should we terraform Mars? | D.Are Mars and Earth So Different? |
A.Ensure that it’s not harmed. | B.Make peace with the Martians. |
C.Change the unpopulated regions. | D.Assess the advantages and disadvantages. |
A.Advanced. | B.Native. | C.Foreign. | D.Intelligent |
A.By referring to others’ research. |
B.By commenting on different planets. |
C.By proving the benefits of terraforming. |
D.By arguing in support of one viewpoint. |
1.参加讲座的经历;
2.参加讲座后的心得体会。
注意:
1.词数80左右;
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
参考词汇:讲座lecture
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NASA has discovered the eighth planet of a star system, similar to our solar system. The star, Kepler-90, is over 2,500 light years away and larger and
The Kepler-90 star system is much more compact (紧凑的) than our solar system. The outermost planet
The newly discovered planet, Kepler-90i, is
The discovery was made on data
Some people believe that space exploration is a waste of time and the
It is humans’
The Future Life on Mars
Compared with the life we
Firstly, without pollution on Mars, people will be able to drink cleaner water
7 . US Space Agency Returns to Mars with InSight Lander
The American space agency’s lander InSight is to arrive on Mars at the end of November, 2018. Unlike NASA’s Curiosity rover, InSight will not move across the planet’s surface. Instead it will become the first spacecraft (航天器) used only for exploring underground. It will study the geography of Mars, searching for signs of Martian (火星的) quakes.
InSight is a project of U.S. and Europe. It is 6 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. It weighs 360 kilograms. InSight’s 1.8-meter robotic arm will put two experiments in place. Both are designed to explore underground of Mars to learn about the inside.
Bruce Banerdt is the lead scientist for InSight. He viewed the spacecraft as a robot that can take care of itself. “It’s got its own brain. It’s got an arm. It can listen and feel things. It pulls its own power out of the sun,” he noted.
Thomas Zurbuchen, one of the heads in NASA, said the results of the InSight project could “change the way we think about the inside of our earth.” But, first, InSight will have to land on Mars undamaged. Since Mars exploration started in the 1960s, only about 40 percent of the explorations have succeeded.
Tom Hoffman is InSight’s project manager. He said earlier successes do not lessen the concerns for each new exploration. “That we’ve done it before doesn’t mean we’re not nervous and excited about doing it again,” he said.
InSight will enter the Martian atmosphere (大气层) traveling at 19,800 kilometers an hour. It will slow for landing on a wide flat area on Mars. If all goes well, InSight could carry out its experiments in about 10 weeks. The InSight project is expected to continue for one Martian year, about two years on Earth.
1. What can we learn from the passage?A.InSight travels at an unchanged speed. |
B.InSight is the project of America and Japan. |
C.InSight has the functions (功能) of a robot. |
D.InSight is mainly powered by the natural gas. |
A.It will help us understand the geography of Mars. |
B.It will change the way we think about the inside of the earth. |
C.It will help carry out more experiments on Mars. |
D.It will get more information about the reasons for Mars quakes. |
A.Confident. | B.Satisfied. |
C.Concerned. | D.Frightened. |
A.The size. | B.The design. |
C.The speed. | D.The task. |
Before the mid-2th century,
9 . Do you ever get the feeling that you are being watched? Well, you might be right.
According to a study published in Nature on June 23, astronomers have found that 1,715 stars have had a direct view of Earth since humans have been here.
In order to do this, scientists used a previous method that looked for life on other planets. But instead, they changed the method so it could try to determine what places could see us.
The team looked at 331,312 stars within 326 light-years of Earth, with each light-year equaling 9.4 trillion kilometers. Out of all those stars, only 1,715 of them could see Earth within the last 5,000 years, with an extra 319 stars that will be able to see us in the next 5,000 years.
“When I look up at the sky, it looks a little bit friendlier because it’s like, maybe somebody is waving,” said Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, US, and the study’s lead writer.
If a planet circling around one of those 1,715 stars is home to advanced life, they could easily see that there is life here because of the oxygen on Earth. If that didn’t give it away, then the radio waves we have sent out into space would also be an indicator. In fact, human-made radio waves have already traveled through 75 of the closest stars on Kaltenegger’s list.
Why haven’t we heard from anyone yet, then?
It takes a long time for messages to travel between star systems. By the time a message could be received, that advanced civilization would probably not exist anymore.
Alan Boss, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in the US who wasn’t part of the study, wrote in an email that this long time would limit the chances for different life to exchange “emails and TIKTOK videos”.
“So we should not expect aliens to show up anytime soon,” Boss said.
1. Why did scientists change the research method?A.To seek alien life. |
B.To count the stars in outer space. |
C.To decide what places could view Earth. |
D.To measure the stars within light-years of Earth. |
A.319. | B.1,715. | C.1,396. | D.2,034 |
A.A planet circling around one of those 1,715stars. |
B.Advanced life. |
C.The oxygen on Earth. |
D.Human-made radio waves. |
A.Aliens don’t exist. |
B.It takes a long time for messages to travel. |
C.They cannot understand each other. |
D.Human-made radio waves cannot travel far. |
A.To present new findings published in a study. |
B.To discuss if there is advanced life on other stars. |
C.To raise readers’ interest in aliens. |
D.To explain how messages travel between different star systems. |
10 . Studies of Mercury — the planet closest to the sun-show that it has shrunk by about 11 kilometers across since the solar system’s birth 4.5 billion years ago. As the planet cooled and contracted (收缩), its surface had many long curved ridges (山脊) similar to the wrinkles on a bad apple.
A new research on these ridges, called lobate scarps (瓣状陡坡), has found more of them, with steeper faces, than ever before. The discovery suggests that Mercury shrank by far more than the previous estimate, says Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist. The finding helps explain how Mercury’s huge metallic core (中心) cooled off over time. It may also finally settle the differences between theoretical scientists, who had predicted a lot of shrinkage, with observers who had not found evidence of that — until now. “We are resolving a four-decade-old argument here,” Byrne added.
Planetary scientists have been arguing over Mercury’s lobate scarps ever since the Mariner 10 spacecraft flew past the planet three times in 1974-1975. Researchers can use measurements of the length and height of the scarps to calculate how much planetary shrinkage they represent. That shrinkage is a product of Mercury’s strange structure — “like a core floating through space with a thin outer blanket,” says Byrne. Most of the planet is made of that large core, and so it would have cooled rapidly as heat rushed toward its surface.
The latest data, coming from NASA’s MESSENGER probe and covering the entire planet, showed many lobate scarps with sharp steeper faces, Byrne said. It also uncovered details on another kind of surface feature that may be related to shrinkage. These “wrinkle ridges” are less pronounced than the lobate scarps but may also have formed during contraction. Combined, the data on the lobate scarps and the wrinkle ridges suggest that Mercury’s diameter (直径) has shrunk by 11.4 kilometers, Byrne said.
1. How does the author explain the formation of the ridges on Mercury?A.By making a comparison. | B.By providing some figures. |
C.By describing the process. | D.By following the order of time. |
A.It helps explain why Mercury has a huge metallic core. |
B.It shows Mercury shrinks much less than previously thought. |
C.It reveals there are less ridges on Mercury than people thought. |
D.It helps settle the argument between theoretical scientists and observers. |
A.It’s large core with thin surface. | B.The lobate scarps and wrinkles. |
C.The pronounced wrinkle ridges. | D.The length and height of the scarps. |
A.The latest data came from NASA’s Mariner 10 probe. |
B.The lobate scarps may have formed before Mercury’s contraction. |
C.The latest data provided supporting evidence of Mercury’s shrinkage. |
D.The data suggests that Mercury’s diameter has shrunk to 11.4 kilometers. |