Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System after Mercury. Mars carries a name of the Roman God of War, and is often mentioned as the “Red planet” because of its reddish (微红的) look. We can see it easily from Earth with our eyes.
Many pictures taken by our telescopes (天文望远镜) or spaceships show that there might be water on the surface of Mars long ago. This finding is very exciting. Because on Earth, almost everywhere there is water, there is life. That makes people think that “something” smart, or Martians, lived on the planet. So Mars has caught a lot of our imagination.
These ideas led to more stories, books, movies, and television shows than any other planet. The most famous one was the 1938 radio drama The War of the Worlds. It sounded so real that many listeners were afraid that Martians would come to Earth and take our home one day.
Television picked up on the idea of human-like Martians with the 1966 series My Favorite Martian. Other stories that took place on Mars were turned into movies such as the 1990 Total Recall and its remake in 2012. Different from the 1990 one, the 2012 Total Recall showed Mars became a planet just like the earth but the people on it lived a hard life because it got less air.
The most successful one was the 2014 novel that became the movie in 2015 of The Martian about a scientist that is left on Mars. The movie showed a complete picture of the life on Mars and got great success.
The more we know about Mars, the more stories will follow.
26. Which statement is TRUE about Mars according to the text?
A.Its name comes from Roman God of War. |
B.There was water and life on it long ago. |
C.We can’t see it without using any tool. |
D.It is smaller than the planet Mercury. |
27. People have a lot of imagination about Mars because of ________.
A.its reddish look | B.its place in Solar System |
C.the pictures taken by spaceships | D.the idea that there may be life on it |
28. What can we know about the 2012
Total Recall?
A.It was a TV programme. | B.It was about Martians on Earth. |
C.It was the same as the 1990 one. | D.It showed people’s hard life on Mars. |
29. Which of the following talks about a scientist living on Mars?
A.The War of the Worlds. | B.The Martian. | C.the 1990 Total Recall. | D.My Favorite Martian. |
30. What is this passage mainly about?
A.The movies about Mars. |
B.The new findings of Mars. |
C.The information about Mars leads people to create stories. |
D.The Mars is used as a background in many stories, books, movies and television. |