1 . What would happen to you if you fell into a black hole? Some physicists believe you would burn up the moment you entered one. Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicts that you would pass through, unaware that you were lost to the rest of the universe.
Black holes have a bottom, but you wouldn’t live to see it. Gravity, as you fell, would grow stronger. The pull on your feet, if you were falling feet first, would be so much greater than the pull on your head that you would be stretched until you were torn apart. But pieces of you would reach the bottom. From there, some physicists believe that those pieces that once were you could end up in another universe.
However, nobody has ever seen or will see a black hole. A black hole is invisible, a blank spot in space, but scientists are able to know its existence by the effect it has on things around it. For example, if an object comes close to a black hole, it should be possible to see the powerful gravity of the black hole trying to pull the object in. In fact, this is exactly what scientists are planning to do: to observe one while it eats a very large object.
The black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is peaceful but is currently pulling a gas cloud toward itself fast. As the gas cloud begins to enter the black hole, telescopes will be able to take a picture of a black hole in action. This will be the best proof so far that black holes certainly exist.
A black hole is an eater. The nearer objects get to it, the hotter they become. Black holes also spin (旋转), and the extreme heat and spinning break up and expel large amounts of matter at extremely high temperatures. This heated matter flies through space, away from the hole at unbelievable speed. It can travel millions of light-years straight through a galaxy. The material then cools, comes together, and eventually forms new stars around the galaxy, thus the birth of new universes.
1. According to paragraph 2, what is the consequence of falling into a black hole?| A．Being reduced to pieces. | B．Being stretched into a single piece. |
| C．Being burned in another universe. | D．Being pulled to the bottom instantly. |
| A．To prove that no one can see a black hole. |
| B．To show that black holes can in fact be detected. |
| C．To observe while a black hole eats a huge object. |
| D．To see the powerful gravity a black hole possesses. |
| A．Set up. | B．Take in. | C．Throw off. | D．Call for. |
| A．What a black hole is and its various aspects. |
| B．Why a black hole is invisible and its final discovery. |
| C．How a black hole is formed and its unknown mysteries. |
| D．When a black hole bears a universe and its amazing origin. |
2 . Scientists have long believed that Mars was wet around three billion years ago and then lost much of its water. But a new study presents evidence of water activity from about 700 million years ago, posing a new puzzle about Mars and its history for scientists to crack in their future studies.
The new study is based on data from China’s Zhurong rover (“祝融号”火星车), part of the Tianwen-1 mission that touched down on the surface of Mars in May 2021. In particular, the scientists used data the rover gathered during its first 92 Martian days, at its landing site in Utopia Planitia. Yang Liu, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), and his colleagues analyzed data from three different instruments on Zhurong. Those instruments studied minerals that suggest the presence of a large quantity of liquid water at the site about 700 million years ago, which scientists previously thought was dry.
“This is a very interesting result. We have very little recorded evidence of young liquid water systems on Mars. And for the ones we have, they were usually in the form of salt minerals,” says Dr. Scheller, a scientist at the California Institute of Technology. He explained Zhurong’s instruments spotted water molecules locked away in the rock, which was different from other young liquid water environments that have been observed.
“One of the major things we’ll have to find out and that I look forward to seeing from the Zhurong rover is how extensive these ‘young’ water-bearing minerals are,” Dr. Scheller said. “Are they common or uncommon in these ‘young’ rocks?” Zhurong has now covered about two kilometers during its more than 350 Martian days and has analyzed a range of features on its travels, meaning more new Martian insights are likely still to come from the rover.
NASA has so far sent its Mars rovers to ancient landing sites, dating back to more than 3.7 billion years ago. Zhurong is not just an extra set of wheels on Mars, but a powerful suite of instruments exploring a new, geologically young site to open new windows of opportunity for research on Mars.
1. What does the underlined word “crack” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Keep. | B．Doubt. | C．Solve. | D．Create. |
| A．The inaccuracy of data gathered on Mars. |
| B．Functional limitations of instruments on Mars. |
| C．Main reasons for the failure of the Tianwen-1 mission. |
| D．The misconception of past thinking about Martian water. |
| A．The result has been recorded by many scientists. |
| B．Zhurong’s wide analyses will bring more surprises. |
| C．Salt minerals are younger than water-bear ing minerals. |
| D．Young water-bearing minerals are common in young rocks. |
| A．Ancient. | B．Common. | C．Alarming. | D．Promising. |
3 . As we all know, the universe includes the Sun and Earth, the planets and moons, the galaxies, stars and other forms of matter and energy.
Within the universe are billions of galaxies. A galaxy such as our own Milky Way contains billions of stars.
Scientists think that before the universe came into existence, all matter and energy were gathered in a tiny point. Then the point exploded. This explosion is called the Big Bang. After the Big Bang, the universe expanded at an amazing rate.
We still have much to learn about the universe. One important question remains unanswered: Does life exist out of Earth? Scientists do not have the answer. They hold different views about it.
| A．One of those is the Sun. |
| B．The Sun and the Earth are also in the solar system. |
| C．Some people believe that people have a good life on Earth. |
| D．In other words, the universe includes space and everything in it. |
| E．The expansion then slowed and, over time, the universe cooled. |
| F．Scientists are also trying to determine what the universe will be like. |
| G．Some think that Earth is the only planet in the universe with intelligent life. |
4 . Mars has fascinated humans since we first set eyes on it as a star-like object in the night sky. Over the last century, everything we’ve learned about Mars suggests that the planet was once quite capable of providing ecosystems. Unfortunately, the planet is now covered by a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and cannot support earthly life-forms. The soil contains compounds that would be toxic to life. Although water does exist on Mars, it’s locked into the planet’s icy polar caps and buried, perhaps in abundance, beneath the Martian surface.
Since the 1960s, humans have sent dozens of spacecraft to study Mars. Early missions were flybys (近天体探测飞行), with spacecraft snapping photos as they traveled past rapidly. Later, probes pulled into orbit around Mars; more recently, landers and rovers have touched down on the surface. But the thin Martian atmosphere makes landing tricky, and more than 60 percent of such attempts have failed. Early highlights of Mars missions include NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft, which captured the first close-up images of this foreign world in 1965. In 1971, the Soviet space program sent the first spacecraft, Mars 3, into Martian orbit. It returned roughly eight months of observations about the planet’s atmosphere, weather, and geology (地质状况). The mission also sent a lander to the surface, but it returned data for only about 20 seconds before going quiet. Over the following decades, orbiters returned far more detailed data on the planet’s atmosphere and surface, and finally cleared the misunderstanding, widely held by scientists since the late 1800s, that Martian canals were built by an alien civilization. They also uncovered some truly dramatic features: the small world possesses the largest volcanoes in the solar system, and one of the largest canyons (峡谷).
Once every 26 months, Earth and Mars are lined up in a way that minimizes travel time and expense, enabling spacecraft to make the interplanetary journey in roughly half a year. Now, three countries are sending spacecraft to Mars: The United Arab Emirates, China, and the United States. All of the robotic activity is, of course, laying the preparation work for sending humans to the next world over. NASA is targeting July 2035 as a reasonable time for sending a spacecraft, aiming to set the first boots on Mars. Private spaceflight companies such as SpaceX are also getting into the Mars game. Soon, in one way or another, humanity may finally know whether our neighboring planet ever hosted life — and whether there’s a future for our species on another world.
1. Which of the following is a reason for the failure to host life on Mars according to the text?| A．Carbon dioxide atmosphere wraps Mars. | B．There is no trace of water. |
| C．The soil is rich in compounds. | D．A thin toxic gas appears in the atmosphere. |
| A．All the attempts of Landing on Mars failed. |
| B．An alien civilization built canals on Mars. |
| C．No other volcanoes in the universe are larger than those on Mars. |
| D．Efforts have been made to take a closer look at Mars over decades. |
| A．NASA will send the first pair of boots to Mars in 2035. |
| B．Astronauts will take a walk on Mars in the near future. |
| C．Private spaceflight companies will create a Mars game. |
| D．More countries will send spacecraft to Mars. |
| A．In 2035. | B．In 2036. | C．In 2037. | D．In 2038. |
5 . The Moon is attracting much attention these days as NASA is ready for its Artemis I launch and preparing for more to follow. The mission objectives are clear: develop a sustainable presence on its surface and pave the way to go to Mars.
And then what? What’s the next great leap in humans’ quest for the secrets of the universe? When it comes to the near future scientific exploration, there are a few areas of the solar system that will be receiving some special attention.
First off, there’s Venus, a planet which was a relative paradise with oceans and a pleasant atmosphere. Something went terribly wrong there a few billion years ago, and NASA has scheduled a series of missions to explore what exactly is going on there.
At the other end are the gas giants. Several of the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn are covered in thick sheets of ice, and underneath that ice sit oceans of liquid water. NASA has missions planned to investigate those mysterious worlds, hunting for any signs of possible life hidden deep within.
As for us humans, Mars is certainly the grand prize in the coming decades. If we have the adequate drive and funds, we can establish a semi-permanent presence on the red planet, keeping crews working and studying in person on the Martian surface. The other planets of our solar system are not so suitable for people to settle on. Mercury is too close to the Sun for comfort and too far away from the Earth.
Over the coming decades, humans expect to see a rise of “space hotels”, set up for visiting tourists and scientific explorations. Naturally, turning the space rock into a habitat for humans is not very practical considering our current level of technological maturity, but in my best estimation, it’s the next easiest thing to accomplish after the Moon and Mars, of course.
1. What does the underlined word “quest” probably mean in the second paragraph?| A．Request. | B．Explanation. |
| C．Question. | D．Search. |
| A．Mars. | B．Venus. |
| C．Mercury. | D．Gas giants. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Hopeful. |
| C．Critical. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．The launch of Artemis I. |
| B．The secrets of the solar system. |
| C．The missions of NASA. |
| D．The areas of the future universe exploration. |
6 . A lunar rover(月球车) has spotted a strange cube-shaped object and will change its official course to check it out, needing 2-3 months to arrive. Official observations suggest it could be a rock pushed upward from the impact(撞击) of an outside object that clearly landed next to it, or a technological relic from previous exploration, or hopefully, perhaps something that can’t be explained.
The Chinese Yutu 2 lunar rover spotted it in its cameras while passing a C-shaped enclosure on the moon’s far side. “Under the dark and deep sky, a circle of winding mountains stood on the extension line of the sky and the moon. On the side, people can’t help but admire the extraordinary work of the universe.” wrote Our Space, a Chinese -language blog connected with the national space agency. The drivers zoomed in(镜头拉近) on the pictures, slowly admiring them one by one. Suddenly, a cube on the northern skyline attracted their attention. The object looked like a “mysterious hut(小屋)”.
Right angles are unusual in nature, usually marking out something artificial if we see them through the faint light of a forest. On the moon, however, there’s not a lot of room for possibilities for a cube. After some days, the camera produced an image to share with the world of their “mysterious hut(小屋)”. The blog post suggested it could be evidence of previous moon missions, but noted the presence of a small impact crater(陨石坑) next to the cube, which could have led to the rising of rocks.
Popular Science magazine said the image could simply be pixelated, as it was taken from far away, Yutu2 landed with Chang’e 4, the first two spacecraft ever to land on the moon’s far side. They’ve in fact had the place to themselves since they arrived in 2019.
1. What can we learn about the cube from the first paragraph?| A．It will change its course soon. |
| B．It has been identified to be a rock. |
| C．It will be better observed after 2-3 months. |
| D．It’s identity is a mystery forever. |
| A．What people think of the cube. |
| B．What the cube was like when spotted. |
| C．How the cube was found. |
| D．How beautiful the universe is. |
| A．Clear | B．Unclear | C．Interesting | D．Unique. |
| A．A lunar rover sent by China 3 months ago. |
| B．The environment on the moon. |
| C．An impact crater on the moon. |
| D．A cube object spotted by China’s lunar rover on the moon. |
7 . There are nearly 2,800 working satellites in space, which we depend on for technology we use every day, such as video calls, online maps, satellite TV, and weather tracking. Scientists use them to study space and learn more about our planet.
But there are many other satellites in orbit (轨道) that are no longer working. They're among the objects cluttering (使杂乱) up space. Some of these eventually fall back toward Earth, either landing or burning up in the atmosphere. But much of this space junk (垃圾) circles Earth for years. Space junk is a problem. Debris (残骸) floating around Earth puts technology and future space tasks at risk. Experts are working on ways to solve it.
Orbital debris, a type of space junk, is any human-made object that has slopped working but continues to float around the Earth. This includes satellites that are no longer used and pieces of spacecraft, such as rocket stages. It has been a large problem since the 1960s.
Space junk also includes broken pieces of objects. These occur when satellites hit against things. They also result from an object crashing into an old rocket stage that still contains fuel, causing an explosion (爆炸) . There have been more than 250 space explosions since the 1960s. These tiny broken pieces can damage working satellites, which can affect research in space.
Companies all over the world are working to clean up the area surrounding our planet. A company based in Japan will test the method of using magnets (磁石) to collect space debris. Another mission is led by a company based in Switzerland. It plans to carry out a debris-removal spacecraft in 2025. The craft will get hold of a piece of an old rocket, slow it down, and move it back to Earth. Eventually, the debris will burn out like a shooting star.
Governments are trying to help too. Some are updating their country's space guidelines to limit the amount of debris created. Space is so large that the problem won't be solved by a single organization or a single country. We have to work on this together.
1. What is the biggest harm that space junk does to human beings?| A．It will fall back toward the Earth. | B．It circles the Earth for years. |
| C．It puts other space objects in danger. | D．It will burn up in the atmosphere. |
| A．By making the orbital debris fall back to Earth. | B．By putting the pieces all together. |
| C．By collecting space junk with magnets. | D．By sending space junk into deep space. |
| A．Strict laws. | B．Global efforts. |
| C．Stopping in space exploration. | D．Setting up professional organizations. |
| A．Earth and its satellites. | B．The problem of space junk. |
| C．Ways of cleaning up space junk. | D．The various uses of man-made satellites. |
