高三英语主题阅读材料3---地球与宇宙

主题：the earth and the universe编写：莘庄中学AIn it’s 4.5 billion years, Earth has evolved from its hot, violent birth to the celebrated watery blue planet that stands out in pictured from space .But in a new book, two noted University of Washington astrobiologists say the planet already bas begun the log process of devolving into a burned-out cinder, eventually to be swallowed by the sun.By their reckoning, Earth’s ―day in the sun‖ has reached 4:30 a.m., corresponding to its 4.5 billion-year age. By 5 a.m., the 1 billion-year reign of animals land plants will come to an end. At 8 a.m. the oceans will vaporize. At noon-after 12 billion year-the ever-expanding sun, transformed into a red gain, will engulf the planet, melting away any evidence it ever existed and sending molecules and atoms that once were Earth floating off into space.―The disappearance of our plane is still 7.5 billion years away, bu t people really should consider the fate of our world and have a realistic understanding of where we are going.‖ Sa id UW astrophysicist Donald Brownlee. ―We live in a fabulous place at a fabulous time. It’s a healthy thing for people to realize what a treasure this is in space and time , and fully appreciate and protect their environment as much as possible.‖The prosp ects of humans surviving by moving to some other habitable planet or moon aren’t good, Brownlee and Ward contend, because event if such a place were found, getting there would be a huge obstacle. Various probes sent into space could survive Earth’s demise, and just a few grams of material could arguably carry a DNA sample from every human, they say, but it’s not likely the human species itself will survive. Long before the planet’s final end, life will become quite challenging, and finally impossible, for humans.As the sun gets hotter and grows in size, it will envelop Mercury and Venus. It is possible it will stop just short of Earth, the authors say, but the conditions still would make this a most inhospitable planet. More likely, though, the sun will consume earth as well, severing all the chemical bonds between molecules and sending its individual atoms out into space, perhaps eventually to form new planes. That would leave Mars as the nearest planet to the sun, and on Mars the fading sun’s glow would be like that of Earth’s moon.That end is still some 7.5 billion years distant, but by then Earth will have faced a variety of ―ends‖ along the way, the authors say. The dinosaur perished long ag o. Still to come are the last elephant, the last tree, the last flower, the last glacier, the last snowflake, the last ocean, the last life.―it’s a healthy thing go think of the place of Earth among the other planets, and its place in the sun. The sun gave life and ultimately it will bring death.‖Word Bank1. evolve v. 进展, 进化, 形成e.g. He has evolved a new theory after many years of research.Many Victorians were shocked by the notion that Man had evolved from lower forms of life. * evolution n. 进化, 发展, 演变theory of evolution 进化论2. reckon v. 计算, 认为, 估计e.g. We didn't reckon for such bad weather.Did you reckon in the cost of the taxi?3. contend v. 竞争, 争斗, 争辩, 坚决主张e.g. A hundred schools of thought contend.Three armed groups were contending for power.4. perish v. 毁灭, 消失, 腐烂e.g. We must plan our civilization or we must perish.Even the best quality rubber will perish with age.5. ultimately adv. 最后, 最终e.g. All wealth comes ultimately from human labor1. according to the new book, the life expectancy of the Earth is ___.A. 1 billion yearsB. 4.5 billion yearsC. 7.5 billion yearsD. 12 billion years2. It can be inferred from this passage that____.A. life is nothingB. the world is preciousC. man can never conquer natureD. the future of human species is gloomy3. The authors if the new book believe that the human species will___.A. disappear long before the disappearance of the EarthB. Survive in the universe even if the Earth disappearsC. Find a place to live after the disappearance of the EarthD. Be sent into space by various spacecrafts4. All of the following things would come to an end before the final end of the earth, except___.A. MarsB. animalsC. plantsD. oceans5.The authors of the new book intend to tell readers primarily that___.A. the Earth is nothing but one planet in the solar systemB. nothing can survive for everC. we should cherish our life and environment of EarthD. the sun gave life and ultimately it will bring death.key: D,B,A,A,CThe Kepler orbiting observatory was launched with a simple mission - to find other Earths. NASA describes it as 'a search for habitable planets.'And ____1____of its first 136 days of data has already begun - with scientists combing through scans of 150,000 stars, and evidence of 1,235 potential planets.Such information is fascinating in itself - but it also allows scientists to work out projections using statistical analysis.One analysis has ____2____that one-third of 'sun-like' stars - stars with the classification F, G or K - will have planets similar to Earth.Traub s ays, ―About one-third of FGK stars are predicted to have at least one terrestrial, habitable-zone planet.‖Traub used statistical analysis to 'predict' planets that had not been _____3__by Kepler, and whether they would be within the 'habitable zone'. Traub's analysis hints that there may be even more ____4_____'Earths' orbiting them than previously thought - and that this 'principle' would extend to stars not yet scanned by Kepler. MSome commenters felt that Traub's 'habitable zones' were too___5______, it included planets shrouded in icy clouds of carbon dioxide.The $600 million Kepler spacecraft, which was_____6______ in March 2009, is staring continuously at a patch of sky containing about 150,000 stars in the Cygnus constellation.The high-tech equipment analyses each stars' light every 30 minutes, ___7_____for telltale dips in brightness which may indicate a planet is ______8_____its path.Sophisticated sifting software is used to send the data to earth-bound scientists, who scour the results. As Kepler continues to scan, data - and analyses such as Traub's paper - will continue to become more____9_____.Word bank1. orbiting observatory n. 天文台, 气象台, 了望台2. projection n. 投影, 投射 ,规划, 发射3. terrestrial adj. 陆地的, 陆生的, 地球的4. shroud v. 用某物覆盖或遮蔽某物5. telltale迹象6. scour v. 擦洗, 搜寻The Fermi ParadoxBack in 1950, the Nobel prize-winning physicistEnrico Fermi was having lunch with friends.Conversation turned to the___1___of extraterrestrial life.According to the popular story, Fermi fell silent for amoment and then asked the simplebut profound question: ―Where Is Everybody?‖That question is now known as the Fermi Paradox.A version____2____ like this. There are a few hundredbillion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. Suppose evenhalf those stars have planets.Then suppose only one or two of, say, ten planets per star is conducive to the formation of life, __3___is the case with our own solar system. Suppose life takes a billion years to get started, as happened on earth. __4_____the evolution of higher life forms takes another couple billion years, as it did here.None of that would matter. The Milky Way galaxy is around ten billion years old. Even with very conservative____5____, it should still be swarming with life–even intelligent life. The late Carl Sagan calculated that there should be something like a million advanced__6____ out there right now.So where are they? Tabloid stories aside, there’s no scientific evidence from any corner to suggest we aren’t alone in the Milky Way. But why not? The evidence s hould be__7___.That’s Fermi’s paradox. It has nothing to do with whether you believe in flying saucers or not. It’s a simple estimation: __8____what we know about our star, our planet, and how life evolved here, we can extrapolate to what __9____happens e lsewhere. And yet: there’s no sign of alien civilizations.Something must have gone wrong in our thinking. But what? More next time.Word bank1. Paradox n. 悖论, 似非而是的论点, 自相矛盾的话2. extraterrestrial adj. 地球(或其大气圈)外的, 行星际的3. swarming adj. 成群移动的, 挤满的4. extrapolate v. 推测, 推知key: JBHCI GDEALaunching people into space may make headlines but it does little useful science. So when George Bush redirected America's space agency, NASA, away from scientific research and towards a manned return to the moon in 2004, many scientists were disappointed. Now the agency has finally offered some small morsels of comfort in the form of four projects that could accompany efforts for a lunar return.The most exciting of these is the plan for a radio telescope that could be placed on the far side of the moon. Such a device would look back at the early universe to the time when large-scale structures such as galaxies and stars formed. A lunar-based radio telescope would be able to detect long wavelengths that cannot be sensed on Earth because they are absorbed by the outermost layers of the planet's atmosphere. Moreover by pointing the telescope away from the din of shorter-wavelength radio waves that are used for communication on Earth, astrophysicists would be able to see the early universe in unprecedented detail.Finding alien life might also be possible with such a telescope. It would be able to map the magnetic fields of stars and exoplanets (planets that circle stars outside the solar system). It is the magnetic field of the Earth that protects its inhabitants from being bombarded by high-energy particles from space that would otherwise leave the planet sterile. Detecting a magnetic field surrounding an Earth-like exoplanet would prove a promising sign for finding extraterrestrial life. The proposal, led by Joseph Lazio, of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, is to create an array of three arms arranged in a Y-shape, each of which would be 500 metres long and contain 16 antennae. Each arm would be made of a plastic film that could be rolled out onto the surface of the moon, either by robots or by astronauts.A second project, headed by Michael Collier, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, would examine how the solar wind—a stream of charged particles ejected from the sun—interacts with the tenuous lunar atmosphere close to the moon's surface. Such bombardment produces low-energy X-rays that would be detected on the surface of the moon. The third and fourth projects are similar both to each other and to earlier ventures dropped on the moon by the Apollo and the Soviet Luna missions in the late 1960s and 1970s. Some 35 years on, reflectors placed on the lunar surface are still used by scientists interested in geophysics and geodesy(for example, how the moon's gravitational field shifts over time). Most of the reflectors are clustered close to the lunar equator. The proposals, led by Stephen Merkowitz, also of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, and Douglas Currie, of the University of Maryland, are to sprinkle some more sophisticated versions over more of the moon's surface.Such efforts may attract little attention compared with the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour this week. Nevertheless, when NASA argues that putting people into space inspires young people to study science, it is precisely these endeavours that it wishes to encourage.1. By ―Launching people into space may make headlines but it does little useful science‖ (Line 1, paragraph 1), the author means _______.A. Launching people into space is very important.B. Newspaper only cares about whether humans can travel into space.C. Humans’ travel to outside space is against scientific rules.D. Lauching peple into space is not of great scientific value.2. The most distinctive feature of a lunar-based radio telescope mentioned in the second paragraphis that _______.A. it is able to capture long wavelengthsB. it possesses better functions than the telescopes on earthC. it can escape from the magnetic field of the EarthD. it can detect all galaxies in the universe3. How does the author feel about the four new moon plans?A. ObjectiveB. AffirmativeC. CarefreeD. Panicked4. Which of the following is NOT a feature of the last two projects discussed in the fourth paragraph?A. The two projects are of less importance than the other two.B. The two plans are of similarity with each other.C. The purpose of the plans is to add some equipment on the moon.D. These plans is a continuance of previous studies carried out decaded ago.5. To which of the following is the author likely to agree?A. The radio telescope will be able to find extraterrestrial life.B. The second project focuses on the interaction between solar wind and Earth atmosphere.C. Joseph Lazio’s proposal is part of the radio telescope project.D. The four projects are closely related to the recently launched space shuttle Endeavour. Word bankmorsel n. 小量；一点 antenna n. 天线lunar adj. 月的, 月亮的eject v. 驱逐, 喷射galaxy n. 星系, 银河 tenuous adj. 纤细的wavelength n. [物][无]波长 geophysics n. 地球物理学bombard vt. 炮轰；轰击 geodesy n. 测地学sterile adj. 贫脊的, 不育的 gravitational adj. 重力的extraterrestrial adj. 地球外的sprinkle v. 洒, 喷撒array v. 天线阵题目分析1．D. 语义题。