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Who Owns the Moon?
Within the next ten years, the US, China, Israel, and a crowd of private companies plan to set up camp on the moon. So if and when they plant a flag, does that give them property rights?
A NASA working group hosted a discussion this week to ask: Who owns the moon? The answer, of course, is no use. The Outer Space Treaty, the international law signed by more than 100 countries, states that the moon and other celestial bodies(天体) are the province of all mankind. No doubt that would annoy all of the people throughout the ages, like monks from the Middle Ages, who have tried to claim the moon was theirs.
But ownership is different from property rights. People who rent apartments, for example, don’t own where they live, but they still hold rights. So with all of the upcoming missions(派遣团) to visit the moon and beyond, space industry thought leaders are seriously asking themselves how to deal with a potential land rush.
“This is a very relevant discussion right now. We’ve got this wave of new lunar missions from around the world,” said William Marshall, a scientist in the small-spacecraft office at NASA, but who spoke this week at an event hosted by NASA’s Co Lab, a collaborative(协力的) public-private working group. He was peaking from his personal interest and not on behalf of the agency.
To be sure, the United States aims to send astronauts back to the moon by as early as 2015, in a mission that would include a long-term settlement. China and Israel, among others, are also working on lunar projects. And for the first time, several private groups are building spacecraft to land on the moon in an attempt to win millions of dollars in the Google Lunar X Prize. Some participants say that they plan to gain some property rights in the mission.
1.In the passage the writer seems to be worrying that .
A. the US will live on the moon forever
B. the moon will not be able to hold all mankind
C. the potential land rush will become more and more frequent
D. no one can answer the question “Who owns the moon?”
2.The “Google Lunar X Prize” aims to .
A. encourage private groups to land on the moon
B. help NASA host a discussion about land rush on the moon
C. help some developing countries complete their lunar projects
D. reward some countries or private groups which haven’t stepped on the moon
3.The underlined word “that” in the first paragraph refers to .
A. the Outer Space Treaty B. if and when they plant a flag
C. the NASA working group D. monks from the Middle Ages
4.What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A. The US astronauts will live on the moon for a longer time.
B. Many countries and private groups plan to go to the moon.
C. Why some private groups wish to land on the moon.
D. It is easy to gain some property rights on the moon.
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Who Owns the Moon?
Within the next ten years, the U. S., China, Israel, and a crowd of private companies plan to set up camp on the moon. So if and when they plant a flag, does that give them property rights?
A NASA working group hosted a discussion this week to ask: Who owns the moon? The answer, of course, is no use. The Outer Space Treaty, the international signed by more than 100 countries, states that the moon and other celestial bodies (天体) are the province of all mankind. No doubt that would annoy all of the people throughout the ages, like monks from the Middle Ages, who have tried to claim the moon was theirs.
But ownership is different from property rights. People who rent apartments, for example, don’t own where they live, but they still hold rights. So with all of the upcoming missions (派遣团) to visit the moon and beyond, space industry thought leaders are seriously asking themselves how to deal with a potential land rush.
“ This is a very relevant discussion right now. We’ve got this wave of new lunar missions from around the world,” said William Marshall, a scientist in the small-spacecraft office at NASA, but who spoke this week at an event hosted by NASA’s Co Lab, a collaborative(协力完成的) public-private working group. He was speaking from his personal interest and not on behalf of the agency.
To be sure, the United States aims to send astronauts back to the moon by as early as 2015, in a mission that would include a long-term settlement. China and Israel, among others, are also working on lunar projects. And for the first time, several private groups are building spacecraft to land on the moon in an attempt to win millions of dollars in the Google Lunar X Prize. Some participants say that they plan to gain some property rights in the mission.
1.In the passage the writer seems to be worrying that ________.
A．the US will live on the moon forever
B．the moon will not be able to hold all mankind
C．the potential land rush will become more and more frequent
D．no one can answer the question “ Who owns the moon?”
2.“ The Google Lunar X Prize” aims to ________.
A．encourage private groups to land on the moon
B．help NASA host a discussion about land rush on the moon
C．help some developing countries to complete their lunar projects
D．reward some countries or private groups which haven’t stepped on the moon
3.The underlined word “ that” in the first paragraph refers to ________.
A．the Outer Space Treaty
B．if and when they plant a flag
C．the NASA working group
D．monks from the Middle Ages
4.What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
A．The U. S. astronauts will live on the moon for longer time.
B．Many countries and private groups plan to go to the moon.
C．Why some private groups wish to land on the moon.
D．It is easy to gain some property rights on the moon.
5.We can infer from the passage that ________.
A．it’s a waste of time to work on the lunar project
B．“ The Outer Space Treaty” forbids private groups to land on the moon
C．all mankind has the right to land on the moon
D．whenever you come to the moon, you’ll get some property rights on it
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Most people who travel from China to the US find that, despite having studied English for years, they have to “re-learn” it upon arriving.
Words that we learned in English classes are not pronounced the same way here. To truly be part of the “melting pot”, fluency in English is not enough. You need an accent to stand out.
When I first came to the US for graduate school, I was a nervous foreigner. I felt so out of place that I wanted to hide everything about me that was “different”. To talk like an American became one of my goals.
During my first term as a teaching assistant (TA), my students complained they could not understand me. I learned later from a study that this complaint was common among US students with an international TA．It is called the “Oh, no!” syndrome (情绪、举动): “Oh，no! Not another international TA, and not that accent again!’’
So I imitated（模仿）the way native speakers talk and, over time, I made such good progress that American friends started to praise my English as having “almost no accent’’. I took this as a sign of my success. Ever since, people have often mistaken me for someone from many places: the Midwest, the West Coast, China, Japan, South Korea. Most frequently, people think I am from California.
Suddenly, conformity ( 一致) was no longer a praise: If I talk like an American ， am I still Chinese? If I lose my Chinese accent, do I also lose my cultural identity? Am I denying my past by being absorbed into a new culture?
Now I realize that a person’s accent is a permanent record of their past cultural experience and it is amark of one’s experience and exposure to different cultures.
As a fourth-year student in the US，I am no longer a nervous foreigner. My nervousness has been replaced by a desire to hold on to my cultural origins. Now I consciously add some Chinese“accent” when I speak．I do not wish to speak “perfect” English because I am proud of who I am.
1.Why does the author think people have to “re-learn” English upon arriving? ( No more than 10 words).
2.How did the author feel when others praised her English? (No more than 5 words)
3.Why did the author decide to speak with a bit of a Chinese “accent”? (No more than 10 words)
4.Please explain the underlined part in English in another way. (No more than 8 words)
5.What is the article mainly about? (No more than 8 words)
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听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.What does the man want to do in the store within the next year?
A.To wash cars. B.To sell cars. C.To fill cars with gas.
2.What is the most possible relationship between the two speakers?
A.Friends. B.Colleagues. C.Salesman and customer.
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At this rate, the forest will be completely _______________ within the next 30 years．
| A．damaged | B．ruined | C．spoiled | D．destroyed |
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The first robot rover to land on the Moon in nearly 40 years, China's Jade Rabbit, has begun sending back photos, with shots of its lunar lander(登月飞行器). Jade Rabbit rolled down a ramp lowered by the lander and on to the volcanic plain known as Sinus Iridum at 04：35 Beijing time on Saturday (20：35 GMT)．It moved to a spot a few metres away, its historic short journey recorded by the lander. On Sunday evening the two machines began photographing each other. A Chinese flag is clearly visible on the Jade Rabbit as it stands deployed on the Moon's surface.
Ma Xingrui, chief mander of China's lunar programme, declared the mission (任务)a “plete success”. The first soft landing on the Moon since 1976 is the latest step in China's ambitious space programme, says BBC science reporter Paul Rincon.
The lander will operate there for a year, while the rover is expected to work for some three months. The Chang'e3 mission landed some 12 days after being launched atop a Chinesedeveloped Long March 3B rocket from Xichang in the country's south. The official Xinhua news service reported that the lander began its descent(下降)on Saturday just after 13：00 GMT, touching down in Sinus Iridum (the Bay of Rainbows) 11 minutes later. “I was lucky enough to see a prototype rover(原型月球车) in Shanghai a few years ago it's a wonderful technological achievement to have landed，” Prof Andrew Coates, from UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory, told BBC News.
Chang'e3 is the third unmanned rover mission to touch down on the lunar surface, and the first to go there in more than 40 years. The last was an 840kg (1,900lb) Soviet vehicle known as Lunokhod2, which was kept warm by polonium(钋)210. But the sixwheeled Chinese vehicle carries a more sophisticated payload(复杂的有效负荷), including groundpenetrating radar which will gather measurements of the lunar soil and crust.
1.What does the text mainly talk about?
A．China's space and aeronautics industry develops quickly.
B．The importance of China's space and aeronautics industry.
C．China's Jade Rabbit Moon rover sends back first photos.
D．Chang'e3 is the third unmanned rover mission to touch down on the lunar surface.
2.After ________ years' hard and scientific work, the first soft landing on the Moon has made such great progress.
A．nearly 40 B．37
C．64 D．more than 40
3.The purpose that the Chinese moon rover has visited the moon is to ________.
A．do some research about the moon
B．be the first settler on the moon
C．to plant the Chinese flag onto the moon
D．send a lovely jade rabbit onto the moon
4.From the text, we know that the lander began its descent on Saturday just after ________ Beijing time.
A．13：00 B．20：00
C．22：00 D．21：00
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The moon may shine white above us most nights of the year, but how much do we know about Earth’s neighbor and what lies beneath its surface? Scientists are aiming to find out.
On Jan 3, 2019, China’s Change 4 spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon a first for humanity. It released a small probe（探测器）,Yutu 2, or Jade Rabbit 2, which began to search beneath the moon’s surface using Lunar Penetrating Radar（探测雷达）. These radio signals can reach 40 meters underground, three times the depth of the Chang’e 3 lunar probe launched in 2013 for the near side of the moon, China Daily reported.
In a study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers found that the lunar soil’s top layer on the far side of the moon was much thicker than expected ﹣ about 40 meters. Other scientists only expected about 6 millimeters of soil based on NASA observations during the Apollo moon landings, according to The New York Times.
“It’s a fine, dusty, sandy environment, said one of the authors of the study, Elena Pettinelli, a physics and mathematics professor at Rome Tre University, Rome.
Yutu 2 is specifically exploring the Von Karman crater（大坑）,a large hole that’s 180kilometers wide and also the landing site of Chang’e 4. It’s part of an even larger, older crater spanning more than 1,770 kilometers.
“The subsurface at the Chang’e 4 landing site is very complex,” said Li Chunlai, a research professor and deputy director﹣general of National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Observations suggest that the subsurface material is totally different than the previous landing site of Chang’e 3, she said.
Radar waves revealed various layers beneath the moon’s surface: grainy（ 颗粒状的）material, boulders（岩石）,and further layers of fine and coarse（粗糙的）particles. This information is helping scientists to gain new understanding of the moon’s history and formation, as well as volcanic activity and lunar impacts.
Yutu 2 is the longest﹣working rover（巡视器）on the moon, but it won’t last forever. China plans to launch the Chang’e 5 probe later this year, Xinhua News Agency reported. The spacecraft is expected to bring pieces of the moon back to Earth for closer study.
1.What can we learn about the Chang’e 4 probe?
A.It was the first to land on the moon’s near side.
B.It explored areas as wide as 1,770 kilometers.
C.Its signals could reach 40 meters beneath the moon’s surface.
D.It is three times as large as the Change 3 lunar probe.
2.What does the lunar soil’s top layer on the moon’s far side look like, according to the text?
A.It looks like a large hole.
B.It is about 6 millimeters thick.
C.It goes farther down than expected.
D.It is covered by boulders and fine and coarse particles.
3.According to the passage, why is the Chang’e 4 probe exploration is important?
A.It observed material beneath the moon’s surface which is helping scientists to know the moon better.
B.It has offered us relevant information on the near side of the moon.
C.It told scientists the landing site is very complex.
D.It revealed the surface material on the moon which is helpful to know the moon’s activity and impact.
4.What is the Chang’e 5 probe expected to do?
A.Explore the Von Karman crater.
B.Replace Yutu 2 to explore the moon.
C.Identify the moon’s various layers.
D.Bring lunar samples back to the Earth.
5.What is the text mainly about?
A.A history of Chinese lunar missions.
B.How Yutu 2 explored beneath the moon’s surface.
C.report on the Chang’e 4 probe’s findings.
D.A comparison of the Change 3 and 4 probes.
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The man said that the car ____ day after day by him for ten years by the end of next year.
A. would be driven B. would be driving
C. would have been driven D. would have been driving
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Ten years ago, with only about 1, 000 pandas left in the world, China was desperately trying to clone(克隆)the animal and save the endangered species(物种). That was a move similar to what Texas A & M University researchers had been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark”(诺亚方舟).
Noah’s Ark was aimed at collecting eggs, embryos(胚胎), semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A & M’s College of Veterinary Medicine, said there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.
It was estimated that as many as 2, 000 species of mammals, birds reptiles would become extinct in over 100 years. The panda, native only to China, was in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They were then trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nucleus transfer(核子移植)of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available(capable of being used)panda eggs could be a major problem,”Kraemer believed. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy(having a baby). It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort, ”added Kraemer, who was one of the leaders of the project at Texas A& M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly appreciate their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed. ”
At present, the project has worked. The number of the pandas has increased to more than 1, 500.
1.The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project was to .
A. make efforts to clone the endangered pandas
B. save endangered animals from dying out
C. collect DNA of endangered animals to study
D. transfer the nucleus of one animal to another
2. According to Professor Kraemer, the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of .
A. available panda eggs B. host animals
C. qualified researchers D. enough money
3. The best title for the passage may be .
A. China’s Success in Pandas Cloning
B. The First Cloned Panda in the World
C. Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas
D. China—the Native Place of Pandas Forever
4.From the passage we know that .
A. Kraemer and his team had succeeded in cloning a dog
B. scientists tried to implant a panda’s egg into a rabbit
C. Kraemer would work with Chinese scientists in clone researches
D. about two thousand species would probably die out in a century
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China’s new term, tuhao, may be in next year’s Oxford English Dictionary. The word caught the attention of the dictionary's editing team after BBC’s recent program on influential Chinese words. “If its influence continues, it is very likely to appear on our updated list of words,” said Julie Kleeman, project manager with the editing team.
In Chinese tu means uncouth (笨拙的) and hao means rich. It has traditionally been referred to rich people who throw their weight around in China’s countryside. The word became more popular in September with the launch of Apple’s new gold-colored iPhone, which is loved by China’s rich people. The color became known as “tuhao gold.” The word is now also used by the online community to refer to people who have the cash but lack the class to go with it. Kleeman also mentioned two other Chinese words — dama and hukou — which may also make it into the dictionary.
People can have an intuitive (直观的) grasp of the meanings if they see pinyin, Kleeman said, adding that people avoid using an English word to keep the original meaning.
“We have nearly 120 Chinese-linked words now in Oxford English Dictionary,” she said. Some of them are: Guanxi, which means “connection”; Taikonaut, a mix of taikong, meaning outer space, and astronaut.
The new words will be first uploaded on the official website before the dictionaries arrive. The online version is also renewed every three months. “It at least broke our old rules. It used to take 10 years to include a new word but now we keep the pace with the time,” according to a statement from ex-chief-editor John Simpson.
1.Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
A. Dama and hukou have made it into Oxford English dictionary.
B. Some influential Chinese words appeared on one of BBC’s recent programs.
C. tuhao refers to people who have both the cash and the class.
D. John Simpson thinks that it is not good to break old rules.
2.What does the underlined part in paragraph 2 mean?
A. Give orders to others. B. Get ready to help others.
C. Go on a diet. D. Put on weight.
3.Tuhao be
comes more popular in September partly because ______.
A. it is very likely to appear in Oxford English Dictionary
B. it is often used by the online community
C. people use Chinese pinyin to keep the original meaning
D. Apple launched a new gold-colored iPhone
4.The main idea of the text is that ______.
A. tuhao may end up in Oxford English Dictionary
B. sometimes pinyin makes Chinese words better understood
C. tuhao has a new meaning at the present time
D. Oxford English Dictionary Includes new words faster than before
comes more popular in September partly because ______.