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? |
Some people believe that space exploration is a waste of time and the
It is humans’
3 . 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,
5 . A new study suggests that dark markings on the planet Mars represent sand — not water. The research in 2015 suggested that lines on some Martian hills were evidence of water. Yet American scientists now say these lines appear more like dry flows of sand. If water is present, it is likely to be a small amount. Water in liquid form would be necessary for microbial (微生物的) life.
NASA, the American space agency, said more research is needed. Michael Meyer is the lead scientist for NASA’s Mars exploration programme. He noted that the latest study does not reject the presence of water. But he admitted, “It just may not be as exciting as the idea of rivers going down the sides of cliffs (悬崖).”
The new findings come from a team led by Colin Dundas of the United States Geological Survey. His team measured 151 of these lines in 10 areas. Most of the lines end with slopes (倾斜) between 28 degrees and 35 degrees. These measurements are similar to active sand dunes (沙丘) on both Mars and Earth. A small covering of dust that moves and sometimes becomes lighter might help explain the markings. They usually appear in the Martian summertime, and then disappear until the next year. If these lines are dry, this suggests that recent Mars bas not had large amounts of liquid water. Dundas and his research team say that many questions remain.
“I still think that Mars has great potential for having had life early on in its history,” Meyer said. “As long as that’s true, we also have a reasonable possibility of life still being on Mars. It just happens to be cryptic or well hidden.”
NASA currently has no robotic — either on Mars or in development — with the ability to climb steep slopes. The lack of such equipment has engineers coming up with ideas like Martian helicopters or planes without pilots.
1. What do American scientists find on Mars now according to their study?A.A lot of little life. | B.An amount of water. |
C.Some Martian hills. | D.Dark markings are sand. |
A.In Martian spring. | B.In Martian summer. |
C.In Martian autumn. | D.In Martian winter. |
A.Doubtful. | B.Trustful. | C.Unconcerned | D.Objective. |
A.Undiscovered. | B.Strange. | C.Magical. | D.Icy. |
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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The U.S. space as agency NASA has released the first images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope, the most
One of the images shows some of the first galaxies (星系) ever to form, which means the Webb is seeing the galaxies that existed about 13 billion years ago. Additional
The Webb is the result of a $10 billion, 25-year project led by NASA and supported by other space agencies.
8 . 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. |
9 . Mars is truly a fascinating planet for those of us here on Earth.
The Red Planet has the largest volcano in the solar system-Olympus Mons.
Mars also has an atmosphere, but it is very thin and made up mostly of carbon dioxide. Because of its thin atmosphere and greater distance from the Sun, Mars is much colder than Earth.
Scientists believe that studying Mars can help answer some of the key questions about our planet Earth, or even the universe.
A.It is roughly 27 kilometres high. |
B.Missions to Mars have never been easy. |
C.Mars, however, today has no active volcanoes. |
D.The temperature at the planet’s surface varies widely. |
E.However, Mars does have weather, with clouds and winds. |
F.China will continue to explore the mysteries of the universe. |
G.It is one of the few planets that we can see with our own eyes. |
10 . Two high school students have identified four new planets in distant space about 200-light-years from Earth, making them “the youngest astronomers” to make such a discovery.
Kartik Pingle, 16, and Jasmine Wright. 18, who both attend schools in Massachusetts, participated in the Student Research Mentoring Program (SRMP). With the help of Tansu Daylan, an MIT doctor for Astrophysics and Space Research, the students studied and analyzed data from the Transiting Exoplanct Survey Satellite (TESS). Together they focused on Tess Object of Interest (TOI) 1233, a nearby, bright sun-like star and here they found four planets rotating(旋转)around the star. “We were looking to see changes in light over time,” Pingle explained, “the idea is that if the planet transits the star, or passes in front of it, it would periodically cover up the star and decrease its brightness.”
While studying 1233, Pingle and Wright had at least hoped to find one planet but were overwhelmed with joy when a total of four were spotted. “I was very excited and very shocked.” Wright said. “We knew this was the goal of Daylan’s research, but to actually find a multi-planetary system, and be part of the discovering team, was really cool.” Three of the newly discovered planets are considered as “sub-Neptunes”, which are gaseous, but smaller than the Neptune that lives in our solar system. While observing the planets, the team determined each one completes their orbit around 1233 every six to 19.5 days. However, the fourth planet is called a “super-Earth” for its large size and rockiness this one orbits around the star in just under four days.
“We have long been studying planets beyond our solar system and with multi-planetary systems, the two young students are kind of hitting the jackpot. They are really blessed.” Daylan said. “The planets originated from the same disk of matter around the same star, but they ended up being different planets with different atmospheres and different climates due to their different orbits. So, we would like to understand the basic processes of planet formation and evolution using this planetary system.”
Daylan added that it was a “win-win” to work with Pingle and Wright on the study. “As a researcher, I really enjoy interacting with young brains that are open to experimentation and learning and have slightest bias(偏见).”he said, “I also think it is very beneficial to high school students, since they get exposure to cutting-edge research, and this prepares them quickly for a research career.”
1. How did the two students identify the four planets?A.By helping professor Tansu Daylan with the data. |
B.By analyzing the change of brightness of star 1233. |
C.By studying Neptune that lives in our solar system. |
D.By interacting with other young talented brains. |
A.It was made by two high school students. |
B.It was made with an innovative approach. |
C.It was meant to be made by Tansu Daylan. |
D.It found the largest number of planets at a time. |
A.Making a discovery difficultly. | B.Achieving the goal easily. |
C.Succeeding in something luckily. | D.Performing a task carefully. |
A.It allows the scientists to work with young people without prejudice. |
B.It equips future astronomers with better researching abilities. |
C.It provides more perspectives and thus boosts more discoveries. |
D.It arouses students’ interest in exploring the unknown universe. |