NASA has big plans for returning astronauts to the moon in 2024, a stepping stone on the path to sending humans to Mars. But where should the first people on the Red Planet land? While there are lots of places on Mars scientists would like to visit, few would make practical landing sites for astronauts. Thanks to the researchers, their newly-published paper in Geophysical Research Letters will help by providing a map of water ice believed to be as little as an inch (2. 5 centimeters) below the surface.
Water ice will be a key consideration for any potential landing site. With little room to spare aboard a spacecraft, any human missions to Mars will have to harvest what’s already available for drinking water. Liquid water can’t last in the thin air of Mars. With so little air pressure, it turns from a solid to a gas when exposed to the atmosphere. On this planet, water ice is locked away underground. Buried water ice changes the temperature of the Martian surface, so the study’s authors relied on heat-sensitive instruments to find ice that astronauts could easily dig up. The authors of the new paper make use of data from spacecrafts to locate water ice that could potentially be within reach of astronauts on the Red Planet.
The paper’s lead author, Sylvain Piqueux of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said, ‘‘We’re continuing to collect data on buried ice on Mars, aiming to find the best places for astronauts to land.” Piqueux is planning a comprehensive campaign to continue studying buried ice across different seasons, watching how the abundance of this resource changes over time.
1.What’s the benefit of the study?
A.To produce a map of the surface of Mars.
B.To help decide where to land on Mars.
C.To speed up the harvest of ice deep inside Mats.
D.To arouse attention to seasonal changes on Mars.
2.Why is water ice important for any landing site?
A.Because it is the source of power.
B.Because water only exists in the form of solid on Mars.
C.Because it can serve as drinking water.
D.Because astronauts are too busy to collect pure water.
3.How can heat-sensitive instruments tell the location of buried ice?
A.By measuring the surface temperature of Mars.
B.By digging up the surface of Mars.
C.By collecting the data of rocket fuel.
D.By calculating the amount of liquid in the air.
4.In which section of a website may this text appear?
A.Education. B.Travel.
C.Sport. D.Technology.
高三英语阅读理解困难题
NASA has big plans for returning astronauts to the moon in 2024, a stepping stone on the path to sending humans to Mars. But where should the first people on the Red Planet land? While there are lots of places on Mars scientists would like to visit, few would make practical landing sites for astronauts. Thanks to the researchers, their newly-published paper in Geophysical Research Letters will help by providing a map of water ice believed to be as little as an inch (2. 5 centimeters) below the surface.
Water ice will be a key consideration for any potential landing site. With little room to spare aboard a spacecraft, any human missions to Mars will have to harvest what’s already available for drinking water. Liquid water can’t last in the thin air of Mars. With so little air pressure, it turns from a solid to a gas when exposed to the atmosphere. On this planet, water ice is locked away underground. Buried water ice changes the temperature of the Martian surface, so the study’s authors relied on heat-sensitive instruments to find ice that astronauts could easily dig up. The authors of the new paper make use of data from spacecrafts to locate water ice that could potentially be within reach of astronauts on the Red Planet.
The paper’s lead author, Sylvain Piqueux of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California said, ‘‘We’re continuing to collect data on buried ice on Mars, aiming to find the best places for astronauts to land.” Piqueux is planning a comprehensive campaign to continue studying buried ice across different seasons, watching how the abundance of this resource changes over time.
1.What’s the benefit of the study?
A.To produce a map of the surface of Mars.
B.To help decide where to land on Mars.
C.To speed up the harvest of ice deep inside Mats.
D.To arouse attention to seasonal changes on Mars.
2.Why is water ice important for any landing site?
A.Because it is the source of power.
B.Because water only exists in the form of solid on Mars.
C.Because it can serve as drinking water.
D.Because astronauts are too busy to collect pure water.
3.How can heat-sensitive instruments tell the location of buried ice?
A.By measuring the surface temperature of Mars.
B.By digging up the surface of Mars.
C.By collecting the data of rocket fuel.
D.By calculating the amount of liquid in the air.
4.In which section of a website may this text appear?
A.Education. B.Travel.
C.Sport. D.Technology.
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
After being brought up in the countryside for a decade, the daughter returned to the big city, ________ worked his parents.
A．which B．/ C．where D．when
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Nowadays in China many teenagers have no dream _________to be an astronaut and fly to the moon.
A. rather than B. more than C. other than D. less than
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
Nowadays in China many teenagers have no dream _________to be an astronaut and fly to the moon.
A. rather than B. more than C. other than D. less than
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has called for a return to the classics of English literature in schools, but are they still appropriate for today’s children?
A quick scan of any list of the most read children’s books will reveal(揭示) that today’s young people are growing up in a very different literary environment from their parents.
Gone from bedroom bookshelves are the Famous Five and the Chronicles of Narnia. And in their places are the likes of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid. And as for the 19th Century classics of English literature, such as Emily Bronte and Charles Dickens, many children simply have not heard of them.
One south London mother, Geri Cox, explained how her daughter’s Year 5 class was to be named this year after the literary giant, Jane Austen. But the class teacher soon had second thoughts when the suggested name was met with blank stares. “My daughter came back and said they weren’t going to be called Austen class anymore, because not many people had heard of her. Instead, the class was to be named after Rowing, the Harry Potter author.”
Ms. Morgan argues that children will miss out if they do not have access to “our rich heritage(遗产) of world-famous children’s literature”. But perhaps these more modern books are able to do the job of lighting the literary touch paper just as well. A spokesman for Penguin Random House Children’s books said: “Millions of children are readers because of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Jeff Kinney’s work is perfect for turning unwilling readers on to books.”
According to Seni Glaister, children’s books expert, the mix of type-face and art is a big part of the attraction. “It means the text does not look frightening and that it will therefore appeal to unwilling readers.”
1.Who enjoys the greatest popularity among children?
A. Jeff Kinney. B. Jane Austen.
C. Emily Bronte. D. Charles Dickens
2.What does the story of Geri Cox’s daughter suggest?
A. Teachers learn less about their students.
B. Children often stare blankly at their teachers.
C. Year 5 class should select their own literary giant.
D. Children don’t like reading literary classics today.
3.What’s Ms. Morgan’s attitude towards literary classics?
A. Unclear. B. Positive.
C. Doubtful. D. Confused.
4.What do we learn about Diary of a Wimpy Kid?
A. It belongs to one of literary classics
B. It was written by a writer in 19th century.
C. It turns out to be a great success among children.
D. It isn’t well-received by experts on children’s books.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
New Mexico has announced a plan to make public colleges and universities free for all people in the state, a Proposal considered one of the most ambitious attempts in education these years.
The plan, if approved, would allow students, regardless of household income, to attend any of the 29 states public colleges and universities. State officials estimate that the program, officially called the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship, will help 55,000 students each year attend college.
Calling the plan “the moonshot for higher education,” New Mexico Gov. Michelle LujanGrisham announced it on Wednesday at the New Mexico Higher Education Summit in Albuquerque. “It means better enrollment (注册). It means better students' success. In the long run, it means economic growth, improved outcomes for New Mexico workers and thinkers and parents,” Lujan Grisham said, “It means a better trained workforce.”
Twenty other states have set up tuition free education programs for two-year community colleges. And New York created a scholarship program to allow students to go to public colleges and universities without paying tuition. But there are household income requirements and other rules, including that receivers live and work in New York for several years after graduating. The New Mexico proposal has no such restrictions. And some experts wonder if the lack of program regulations is one of its disadvantages.
Wil Del Pilar, the vice president for higher education at The Education Trust, said there is a risk that wealthier students will benefit the most in the program, since there are no income requirements. “When you have limited state dollars, I would argue that we should target those dollars toward those who struggle the most to pay,” Del Pilar told NPR.
Like the New York s scholarship program, New Mexico's covers just tuition, not other living costs. To Del Pilar that is a problem. He said the promise of free college takes more than eliminating (取消) tuition. Paying for housing, meals, books and transportation are still challenges for many low-income students, he said.
1.What's the purpose of the New Mexico plan?
A.To reform the system of education.
B.To improve the quality of education.
C.To attract more students around the world.
D.To make higher education more accessible.
2.What was Lujan Grisham’s attitude towards the New Mexico plan?
A.A little doubtful. B.A little confused.
C.Full of curiosity. D.Full of confidence.
3.Compared with the New Mexico plan, the New York program .
A.has fewer restrictions B.benefits more students
C.has more requirements D.covers more living costs
4.What is the problem with the New Mexico plan according to Del Pilar?
A.It is limited to tuition. B.It doesn't include tuition.
C.It opens to all college students. D.It's only available to poor students.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Russia has announced that it is developing a specialized washing machine for astronauts to use in space. The announcement came from a missile, spaceship and space station manufacturer RKK.
Normal washing machines require gravity to function, not to mention significant amounts of water that has to be stored somewhere and increases weight — they are not suitable for space missions (任务). This means that astronauts cannot wash their clothes and either have to pack enough for their whole trip or rely on costly resupply missions and throw used items into space.
Crewmembers taking part in long-term missions on the International Space Station (ISS) often end up wearing the same garments for several continuous days and just change into new ones when they get dirty. Aside from this issue, wearing dirty clothes can be uncomfortable for the astronauts and could also provide perfect conditions for dangerous bacteria to grow and spread.
RKK has previously outlined plans for a space washing machine in a Russian space industry journal paper published in 2017. In the paper, the authors estimated (估计) that 1,450 pounds of clothes are surprisingly transported to the ISS every year to cover the requirements of just three astronauts. And this quantity could increase to three tons for a two-year voyage to Mars involving six crewmembers and could increase the costs and complexity of a mission.
The Russian scientists said that, instead of water, the washing machine would use the carbon dioxide produced by the astronauts’ breathing in the spaceship. Special technology would then turn the gas into a liquid under high pressure in order to clean the clothes.
The Russian designs are not the first proposals for a space washing machine. NASA has previously made a model of a low-power, low-water washing device (设备) which was designed to work in the microgravity of low-Earth orbit or that of the moon or Mars.
1.Normal washing machines are not suitable in the spaceship mainly because __________.
A.they lead to serious space pollution
B.they make some bacteria spread
C.they require gravity to function
D.they increase the weight of the spaceship
2.What might be the biggest advantage of the specialized washing machine?
A.Helping astronauts dry their clothes.
B.Having a competition against NASA.
C.Making the missions cheaper and easier.
D.Getting astronauts to adapt to the environment.
3.Where can astronauts get the liquid for washing clothes in the spaceship?
A.From the water tank in the spaceship. B.From the outer space.
C.From the recycling water in the spaceship. D.From the gas carbon dioxide.
4.What does the text mainly talk about?
A.Russia is developing a space washing machine.
B.A space washing machine has been used in Russia.
C.NASA’s made a model of a space washing machine.
D.RKK transports tons of clothes to astronauts in space.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
It was in 1969 ___ the American astronauts first succeeded in landing on the moon.
| A．that | B．when | C．which | D．in which |
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
NASA has a new job listing, and it’s no joke. The US space agency is looking for a “joker” to join their planned mission to Mars.
A mission to Mars is no laughing matter. On average, the red planet is 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) away from Earth. A trip there would take around eight months in a small spacecraft. And Mars has a communications delay of 20 minutes. This means that astronauts will have to wait 20 minutes for a reply, when an emergency happens.
“When you’re living with others in a confined space for a long period of time, such as on a mission to Mars, problems are likely to occur,” Jeffrey Johnson, a scientist at the University of Florida, told the Guardian.
This is probably why NASA wants an astronaut with a sense of humor. “These are people that have the ability to pull everyone together,” Johnson said.
In stressful situations, perhaps humor is a way to know we aren’t alone. By laughing together, we share our stress. Then we can focus on our jobs instead of just worrying.
There are other examples of team “clowns”. One example is the journey to the South Pole led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. It was a difficult journey, full of danger. Adolf Lindstrom, a cook at Amundsen’s team, was a “clown”. He made people laugh through the whole journey. Amundsen later wrote that Lindstrom was the most valuable member of the team.
But if you’re hoping that your favorite TV comedian will fly to Mars, that probably won’t happen.
“Being funny won’t be enough to land somebody the job,” Johnson said. “They also need to be an excellent scientist and engineer.”
Besides, they must be in top physical condition.
1.What is NASA’s new job listing?
A. A funny engineer. B. A talented clown.
C. A good cook. D. A popular comedian.
2.What does “a confined space” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. A crowded space. B. An empty space.
C. An open space. D. A small space.
3.How does the author think humor can help astronauts?
A. It can stop them from feeling worried.
B. It can encourage teamwork on a mission.
C. It can help them feel less homesick.
D. It can help them know themselves better.
4.What point does the author want to make with the example of the cook?
A. What explorers eat on their journey is very important.
B. An amateur can play a more important role than a professional.
C. Humorous people can cheer people up in difficult situations.
D. A mission to Mars is more difficult than a journey to the South Pole.
5.What could be the best title of the passage?
A. Keeping the Spirits Up
B. A Mission to Mars
C. A New Job Listing of NASA
D. Humorous Astronauts in NASA
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Was it in 1969 ____ the American astronaut succeeded ____ landing on the moon?
A. when; on B. that; on
C. that; in D. when; in
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析