I never soon the night nor seen a star; I’ve ...

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I never soon the night nor seen a star; I’ve seen neither spring nor fall nor winter. I was born at the end of the Reining Age(刹车时代), just as the Earth’s rotation(旋转)was coming to a final stop.

The Reining lasted for 42 years, three years longer than the Unity Government had planned. My mother once told me about the time our family witnessed the last sunset. The Sun had ever so slowly crept toward the horizon, almost as if it had stopped moving altogether. In the end, it took three days and three nights to finally set. Naturally, that was the end of all “days” and all “nights”. The Eastern Hemisphere(半球)was covered in weak light for a long time then, perhaps for a dozen years or so - with the Sun hiding just beyond the horizon - its rays reflected by half of the sky. It was during that long sunset that I was born.

Dusk did not mean darkness. The Northern Hemisphere was lit up by the Earth Engines. These giant engines had been raised all across Asia and North America; only the solid plates beneath those two continents could resist the great pushing forces they exerted. There were about 12,000 Earth Engines built and distributed across the Asian and American plains.

From my home 1 could see the bright plasma plumes(等离子气柱)of several hundred Earth Engines. Just imagine a titanic palace, one as large as the Parthenon on the Acropolis. Now imagine countless titanic pillars rising from that palace, reaching to the heavens, each releasing brilliant, bluish-white light like a titanic shining tube. And then there is you; you are a microbe on the palace’s floor. This only begins to paint the picture of the world we lived in.

This picture, however, is not yet complete. In order to survive the melting temperature of the expanding sun, we have to push the Earth away from it. First, the Earth must be stopped from rotating. Only the forces acting tangentially(正切地)to the Earth’s rotation could slow it, so the Earth Engines had to be built to a specific angle. Those gigantic pillars of light were leaning to that angle. Now imagine what that meant for our palace, with its pillars all leaning on the point of falling down! Many who came from the Southern Hemisphere went mad when suddenly seeing this awesome view.

Worse than the view was the burning heat released by the Earth Engines. Outdoors the temperature was stuck at around 160 to 180 degrees, forcing us to wear special suits just to leave the house. The extremely high temperatures often brought pouring rains. It was always a terrifying scene when the beam of an Earth Engine cut through dark clouds. The clouds scattered the brilliant, bluish-white light of the beam, erupting it into endless rainbow light that covered the entire sky like white-hot magma(岩浆).

To my generation, born in the Northern Hemisphere, all of this was perfectly normal and natural, just like the Sun, stars and Moon had been to generations before the Reining Age. We called the entire history of the human race that had come before us the Pre-Solar Age; what a fascinating and golden era that had truly been!

The Reining Age left the earth with a horrifying result. The sea tides, quickened by the Earth Engines, had swallowed two out of every three cities in the Northern Hemisphere; then the global increase in temperatures melted the polar icecap, resulting in floods that spread to the Southern Hemisphere. Thirty years earlier my grandfather had witnessed giant 300-foot waves that had engulfed Shanghai. Even now, he could never tell us about it without his gaze slipping into a thousand-mile stare.

Our planet had already changed beyond recognition before it even set out on its journey. Who knew what hardships were waiting for us on our long travels through outer space?

1.What happened when the author was born?

A. The earth had stopped turning for forty-two years.

B. The sun was making its last fall towards the horizon.

C. All the Earth Engines had not been finished.

D. His family were suffering from the summer hotness.

2.Which of the following about the Earth Engines is right?

A. They were built in Asia and North America due to their huge number and weight.

B. Their light and heat provided necessary energy for people to survive.

C. They were all built to point straight upward to the sky to stop the earth rotating.

D. Their existence brought both opportunities and inconvenience to people on the earth.

3.What can we infer from the last three paragraphs?

A. People born in the Southern Hemisphere could enjoy four different seasons.

B. The author missed his Pre-Solar Age lifestyle very much.

C. Grandfather would never forget the scene of Shanghai being swallowed.

D. The author was discouraged but optimistic about the future of the earth.

4.In this excerpt(节选)we can clearly see that the author is good at __________.

A. describing mental activities B. visualizing vivid scenes

C. doing experimental analysis D. expressing personal belief

5.This excerpt is a part of __________.

A. a documentary novel B. an academic essay

C. a scientific research report D. a science fiction

6.What is the best title of this chapter?

A. The Last Sunset. B. The Earth Engines. C. The Reining Age. D. The Post-Solar Life.

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