Are we alone in the universe? Scientists have spent years 【小题1】 (search) deep into space for signs of life beyond our planet. Now they’ve discovered what might be life on Venus.

Venus is the second planet from the sun in our solar system. It’s one of the brightest 【小题2】 (object) in the night sky. Several billion years ago, the surfaces of Venus and Earth may have been more similar 【小题3】 now. But today, the surface of Venus is too hot for life. And until recently, Venus’s thick clouds were thought to be too poisonous for a living thing 【小题4】 (survive) there.

【小题5】 September 14, in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists reported the discovery of a chemical 【小题6】 (call) phosphine(磷化氢 ) in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, phosphine gas 【小题7】 (give) off by living things. Scientists aren’t yet able to prove that life on Venus is 【小题8】 is producing the phosphine. But they can’t explain the source of the gas in any other way.

The discovery of life beyond Earth would teach us more about the universe 【小题9】 our place in it. To Sousa-Silva, Harvard University astrochemist, it would say something about our 【小题10】 (important). “I like finding out that we as humans aren’t that special,” she says.

Since last century, a series of missions 【小题1】(perform) to explore the moon—Earth’s only natural satellite. Among them, NASA’s Apollo 11 mission was groundbreaking as it succeeded in landing the first humans on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Several decades later, NASA announced its Artemis program. 【小题2】(name) after the Greek goddess of the moon and twin sister of Apollo, the Artemis program will send humans to the moon by the year 2024. And this time, the moon will welcome its first female astronaut.

Up until now, only 12 people, all male, have ever walked on the moon. No woman has ever walked on the lunar surface. 【小题3】 the Artemis program will change this.

Women, of course, have been involved in space projects and made valuable 【小题4】(contribute). In 1963, astronaut Valentina Tereshkova from the Soviet Union became the first woman 【小题5】(get) into space.

However, the progress toward women’s access 【小题6】 space flight programs has been slow. Women have been held back by various requirements and security concerns. For example, astronauts had to be test pilots with a certain amount of experience, 【小题7】 was a problem as the field 【小题8】(control) by males at the time.

Women have 【小题9】(remarkable) made progress in this particular area, and arguably have advantages over their male colleagues. Women tend to be 【小题10】(small), which means they use less oxygen and take up less space in small spacecrafts.

Dong Shuchang from China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region captured the solar eclipse (日蚀) on June 21, 2020, in his photography work The Golden Ring,【小题1】(become) the winner of the 2021 Astronomy Photographer of the Year【小题2】(compete) in mid-September.

【小题3】(host) by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, the contest received 4,500【小题4】(entry) from the world, among 【小题5】. Don’s image finally won the great award. The young man started to prepare for a trip【小题6】(take) the shots toward the end of 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic put【小题7】stop to his plan in early 2020. Thanks to the【小题8】(effect) pandemic control in China, Dong moved with his plan last year. More than three years of【小题9】(he) chasing the stars has brought excitement and accomplishment in his life, although the process was often mixed 【小题10】sweats and tears.