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What science fiction once told of other worlds far away, is now a fact. Astronomers prove the existence of another solar system like ours with some planets in the constellation Andromeda(仙女座) .
Geoffrey Marcy is a professor of astronomy and physics at San Francisco State University and says, “What we have found now, for the first time ever, is indeed a fully-grown system of planets around the star Upsilon Andromeda, in which there are three planets, one close in, one at a middle distance, and one farther out.” The star is slightly larger than our sun. The planets are huge, like our Jupiter (木星)
Marcy’s partner in this research, Debra Fischer, describes the solar system, “Here’s the inner planet that goes around every 46 days, the middle planet that goes around every 242 days, and then the outer planet that goes around every three and a half to four years.”
Astronomically, it’s not far away, 44 light years. The sun of that solar system, Upsilon Andromeda, is so near and bright that it can be seen by using no equipment during summer and fall.
For twelve years astronomers searched the skies in the belief that if our sun has planets around it, surely others do, too. Geoffery Marcy says, “And then starting three and a half years ago, we began finding for the first time planets singly, one planet here around one star.”
“When I look up at the stars now at night, I can imagine easily that every one of them has planets around them,” says Debra Fischer.
It was the tremble in the star that led Marcy to discover the planets. “The star rocks around due to the gravity of the planet much like a dog owner gets pulled around by a little dog.”
Can they support life? We don’t know, because present technology is not advanced enough to determine what the planets are made of. That, Marcy says, is astronomy’s next challenge.
1.Which of the following can best show the relationship between Andromeda (A), Upsilon Andromeda system (U) and the three mentioned planets (P) ?
A B C D
2.What led to Marcy’s discovery of the planets?
A. That he found a dog owner was pulled by his dog.
B. The tremble of Upsilon Andromeda
C. That any planet has gravity
D. That he believes any star has its planets
3.We can infer from the text that scientists are _______________
A. to find out whether the planets can support life
B. to find means to communicate with the living beings on the planets
C. to find means to travel to the planets
D. soon to be able to find another planet for life to live on
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Automated cars—once a far-off dream—have in recent years left the field of science fiction and come closer to the American garage. Leading U.S. automakers say that real self-driving cars are coming within two decades and they’re fighting to stay competitive.
These advances promise relief to people sick of two-hour driving and heavy traffic, but they leave open questions for a society shaped around the automobile for the past century. Perhaps no area is more uncertain than the environmental impact of automated vehicles. One report from the Department of Energy found that automated vehicles could reduce fuel consumption(油耗) for passenger cars by as much as 90%, or increase it by more than 200%.
That’s a huge difference considering that more than a quarter of U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions(排放) come from transportation, according to an expert. And scientists say reducing that figure will be the key to dealing with man-made climate change.
“There’s a great energy influence possible,” says Jeff Gonder, a transportation researcher. “But there remains great uncertainty in the degree and even direction.”
Depending on various factors, it remains to be seen how a future with automated cars will take shape. Most importantly, researchers expect that automated cars will lead to a sharp increase in the average miles traveled by a given vehicle. Key problems with driving a car, such as tiredness, age or drunkenness(醉酒), will disappear, and car owners will be free to travel further and more frequently. Workers may choose to live even further away from the office, deciding to sleep in the car or use that time to work out in it. And, once in the city, car owners might guide their vehicle to drive around in circles rather than pay for parking.
“A lot of the uncertainty comes from not knowing how the value of people’s time is going to change,” says Don MacKenzie, a researcher at the University of Washington. “There will be some kind of cost connected with the travel, but it’s much less than it is today.”
Researchers have tried to create a model of how humans might respond to automated driving using surveys, driving data and lab experiments, but eventually the great number of choices and assumptions involved in transportation has made reaching exact conclusions about driving behavior difficult.
Engineers say that the largely accident-free vehicles can remove safety equipment, such as antilock brakes and airbags, which has increased the weight—and fuel consumption—of vehicles. Automated cars can also travel closer together, allowing them to take advantage of aerodynamics(气体力学). Trucking fleets(车队) are already trying to take advantage of this fuel-saving measure.
1.What message can we get from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2?
A. Some automated cars have better qualities than others.
B. One automated vehicle may consume much less fuel than another.
C. We are not sure about the environmental impact of automated cars.
D. We cannot make sure of the quality of automated cars.
2.Which is not the reason for a sharp increase in the miles run by a certain self-driving car?
A. More convenient roads and fewer traffic jams.
B. Workers’ living further away from the office.
C. Choosing not to pay for parking but to drive around.
D. The disappearance of various limits on drivers.
3.The missing sentence “Besides changed driving behaviors, simple technology advances will reduce the environmental damage of automated cars” should be put at the beginning of_______.
A. Para. 5 B. Para. 6 C. Para. 7 D. Para. 8
4.After reading the passage, one may safely conclude that________.
A. self-driving cars need less safety equipment because of receiving little damage in accidents
B. those who have to drive a long distance to work are less likely to choose a self-driving car
C. with more safety equipment, automated cars are much heavier than traditional ones
D. traveling the same distance, a self-driving car consumes less fuel than a traditional one
5.The author writes this passage in order to ________.
A. remind us of a bright future about the future of automated cars
B. explain to us why self-driving cars might not need less fuel
C. argue that self-driving cars are beneficial to the environment
D. advise the readers not to be in a rush to buy an automated car
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Anna was reading a piece of science fiction，completely ________to the outside world.
A.having been lost B.to be lost C.losing D.lost
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____can help but be attracted by the world into which he is taken by the science fiction.
| A．Everybody | B．Anybody | C．Somebody | D．Nobody |
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阅读理解
English is fast becoming the language of science around the world, but what is its future among everyday speakers? One expert points out that the percentage(比率) of native English speakers is declining(降低) while the languages of other rapidly growing regions are being spoken by increasing numbers of people. But English will continue to remain widespread and important.
However, British language scholar David Graddol says English will probably drop in dominance(主导) by the middle of this century to rank after Chinese, about equally with Arabic, Hindi, and Urdu. “The number of people speaking English as a first language continues to rise, but it isn’t rising nearly as fast as the numbers of many other languages around the world, simply because the main population group has been largely in the less developed countries where languages other than English have been spoken,” he says.
In a recent article in the journal Science, Mr. Graddol noted that three languages that are not near the top of the list of the most widely spoken now might be there soon. These are Bengali, Tamil, and Malay, spoken in south and southeast Asia.
David Crystal, the author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, says about 1.5 billion of the world’s six billion people speak it as a second language compared to the 400 million native speakers. But another expert on the English language says Mr. Graddol underestimates (低估) the future of its dominance. “All the evidence suggests that the English language snowball is rolling down a hill and is getting faster, but nobody quite knows what’s going to happen because no language has been in this position before.” he said.
1.In David Graddol’ s opinion, English will _______.
A．remain widespread and important
B．be more important than any other language
C．lose its dominant position
D．die away in the near future
2.The underlined sentence in the last paragraph implies that ______.
A．more and more language users will choose English
B．the English language snowball is rolling down faster than any time in the past
C．English language will soon drop in dominance
D．snowballs will roll down faster than language balls
3.How many experts does the passage mention who express their ideas about the future of English?
A．2. B．3. C．4. D．5.
4.What should be the best title for the passage?
A．English Remaining in the Dominant Position
B．The Future of English? Who Knows?
C．Opinions from Different Experts
D．The English Language Snowball Rolling Down
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You may think that an underground town of 3,500 people is something out of a science-fiction film. You may not believe that such a town has shops car parks, hotels, restaurants, cafes and much more. Well, Coober Pedy in Australia is just such a place.
Miners and their families choose to live like this, hoping to get rich looking for the precious stones that Australia is famous for --- opals(蛋白石). Living underground is the only way to be away from the sandstorms and the high temperatures above ground. Deep down in the town far below the desert surface, the temperature is between 19℃ and 20℃ and life is cool.
Mary Deane and her husband Jim are among the lucky ones. They live in a home, built with money from the opals Jim has found. “Whenever people hear we live underground, they always imagine a dusty cave,” says Mary, “but they are amazed at my clean kitchen, our furniture and electrical appliances in here.”
However, not everything is perfect in Coober Pedy. Mary has a tiny garden that she is very proud of, but the grass is not real. Plant life is rare. Water is five times more expensive underground than it is overground. Recycling is a way of life, so Jim usually washes his car with bath water and they have a special system to reuse the water from the dishwasher and washing machine.
Even so, most families enjoy life in Coober Pedy. The children can make as much noise as they want and there are no complaints from the neighbors because the thick walls stop sounds from traveling. Adults enjoy the peace and quiet away from the world above.
1.People in Coober Pedy live underground______.
A. because of their secret identities
B. because it is warmer underground
C. so that they can save some money
D. due to the terrible natural environment.
2.Which word can best describe Mary’s life underground according to Paragraph 3?
A. Comfortable. B. Exciting. C. Healthy. D. Lonely.
3. Which is the biggest problem people in Coober Pedy have to face?
A. High living expenses.
B. The awfully dusty environment.
C. Shortage of water and greenery.
D. The extremely high temperatures
4. Children enjoy the life in Coober Pedy mainly because they _____.
A. enjoy traveling around with their parents
B. can get many expensive toys from their parents
C. enjoy the peace and quiet while doing their homework
D. can enjoy themselves without disturbing their neighbors[
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____ printed, this science fiction will be popular among the students.
A．Before B．Unless C．When D．Once
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____ printed, this science fiction will be popular among the students.
A.Before B.Unless C.When D.Once
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Many science fiction stories tell about explorers arriving in a new world. The explorers then use some kind of high-tech device to test for breathable air or signs of life. But here on Earth, science fiction is becoming reality through a new sampling technology called environmental DNA, or e-DNA for short. Scientists can use it to identify rare species or estimate fish populations with just a little air or water.
Environmental DNA can be used in two ways. One is to identify the creatures that live in a certain place. The other is to confirm the presence or lack of a specific creature.
Caren Goldberg is one of the first biologists in the northwestern United States to take the technology from the testing stage to actually using it. She sees e-DNA as a way to get answers more efficiently, and with less destruction compared to traditional survey techniques. Until recently, scientists depended on diving deep, netting or using an electric current to temporarily catch fish.
This newer way to identify what lives in the environment is becoming popular around the world. Animal experts in Vietnam are using the e-DNA to find the last, wild Yangtze giant softshell turtles. One researcher on the Caribbean island of Trinidad is using the sampling technology to find endangered golden tree-frogs. And in Madagascar, it is being used to identify amphibian (两栖动物) diseases.
Ms. Goldberg has used e-DNA testing to confirm the local extinction of a leopard frog in the American state of Idaho. She has also been asked to document the spread of the New Zealand mud-snail in the state of Washington. The creature has been found in lakes and other waterways across the state.
Scientists working with the technology say they do not expect robots to replace field biologists anytime soon. But the old-fashioned field work could soon be more targeted.
1.By using e-DNA, Caren Goldberg has ________.
A.succeeded in catching many fishes.
B.found the existence of golden treefrogs.
C.documented the spread of softshell turtles.
D.proved the disappearance of the leopard frog in Idaho.
2.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.Robots will replace scientists soon.
B.Some scientists are against using e-DNA.
C.The old-fashioned field work may disappear.
D.Many biologists are unwilling to do the field work.
3.The passage can be sorted as a(n) ________.
A.science fiction B.experiment report
C.science report D.bio-diversity discovery
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Science fiction writers often write about _______will happen in “tomorrow’s world”.
A. why B. that C. what D. how
