Do stars only appear at night? The answer is no. Venus (金星) is the only star that can be seen in daytime. It shone at its brightest in the night sky on Feb 17 this year.
Venus is the second planet from the sun. It is the second brightest natural object, behind the earth’s moon, in the night sky. Why is it so bright?
First of all, Venus is the closest planet to the earth. It is also covered by highly reflective (反射的) clouds, which can reflect about 70 percent of the sunlight striking (照射) it, almost twice as much as the earth does. Some people call 2017 the year of Venus, because the planet is at its brightest twice this year. Venus gets brighter when it goes further away from the sun, and nearer to the earth. The brightest moment happened once in February, and will happen again, during daylight, on April 30.
If Venus is so bright and close to us, isn’t it a better choice for human exploration (探索) than Mars? It is closer to the earth than Mars and it’s closer to the earth in size. The closer distance to the sun means solar power (太阳能) would be easier to generate as well.
However, with a temperature of about 465℃ on the surface, Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system!
But scientists never give up. Recently, a team of NASA and Russian scientists created new computer equipment that can stand temperatures of 480℃. It can work under Venus-like conditions (环境) for almost 22 days.
The next step, according to the scientists, is to send a probe (探测器) to Venus by 2025.
【小题1】Which of the following about Venus is NOT true?| A．It’s the only star that can be seen in daylight. | B．It’s the second planet from the sun. |
| C．It’s the brightest natural object in the night sky. | D．It’s the closest planet to the earth. |
| A．heat | B．produce | C．spread | D．form |
| A．The closer distance to the earth. | B．The similar size to the earth. |
| C．Too much solar power to use. | D．The extremely high temperature. |
a. was created by some UK scientists b. can stand temperatures of 480℃
c. can work for about 22 days on Venus d. will be sent to Venus by 2025
| A．ab | B．bc | C．cd | D．ad |
Do you know anything about the Moon? How much do you know about it?
The Moon is an unfriendly place. There is no air or water. There are only lots of dust and mountains around on it.
But from the Moon, you can see our beautiful Earth. It is shining more brightly than the other stars in the dark.
| A．So there are no animals or plants there. |
| B．The Moon is also a very quiet world. |
| C．Do you want to go there? |
| D．You can take some photos with your camera. |
| E．When the Sun shines in the day, the temperature is very high. |
Have you ever seen people building houses? To build a house, you need workers. They use their hands, tools and machines to put things together. Building the ISS(国际太空站) is the same. The difference is that the workers are astronauts. They walk in space and use robots' arms and hands to do their work.
In the space station, astronauts are comfortable. The temperature there is about 21℃. But outside the station, it can be too hot or cold for people. In the sunlight, it's about 120℃. In the shadow, it's about-85℃. So when astronauts walk in space, they have to wear heavy clothes—spacesuits.
Spacesuits also keep astronauts safe from flying litter in space. Astronauts should be careful because there's a lot of rubbish. Some rubbish goes a lot faster than a plane! Space walking is not easy, and it can be dangerous. So getting ready for it takes a lot of time. Astronauts will need to do 160 space walks to finish their work in the ISS. That will take about 1,900 hours of work.
【小题1】What is the temperature in the space station?| A．-85℃. | B．120℃ | C．21℃. | D．160℃ |
| A．It takes lots of time. |
| B．There's a lot of rubbish that goes a lot faster than a plane. |
| C．Astronauts will need to do 160 space walks to finish their work. |
| D．Astronauts will spend about 1,900 hours working. |
| A．太空服 | B．防暴服 | C．羽绒服 | D．雨衣 |
“The answer, is blowing in the wind,” said Michael Meyer. He is the lead scientist for Mars Exploration Program.
It turns out solar winds from the sun are slowly stripping( 除掉) away Mars' air. That is what scientists explained at a press conference.
Bruce Jakosky is the principal investigator on the MAVEN team. It is a spacecraft that collects information from Mars as it circles around the planet.
Today, Mars has a thin atmosphere. It is cold and dry. ______
"When we look at ancient Mars, we see a different type of surface. One that had valleys that looked like they were carved by water, lakes that were standing for a long period of time. We see an environment that was much more able to support liquid water."
Recently scientists found a kind of liquid water that flows with salt down a mountain area of the planet. But, it is not always there. Scientists already knew that ice exists on Mars. So why is it important to find liquid water?
"It means that we have a resource. And when we're looking at sending humans to Mars, water is one of the key things that we need to have. Not only for the astronauts to drink, but also to make oxygen and fuel."
Sending humans to Mars will be in the 2030s. Those chosen might fly any number of space vehicles still in development.
Human beings are developing rockets and spacecraft to get people to Mars. Scientists want to know how the human body reacts to being in space for long period of time.
Whether there is life on Mars remains unanswered. But some scientists think there might be some kind of microbial life on the planet. Finding life on another planet would change the way we view the whole universe.
【小题1】What was the surface of ancient Mars like?
| A．It had thin air. | B．It was dry. |
| C．It had valleys that looked like they were carved by water. | D．It had no water. |
| A．The surface of the Mars is different from it used to be. |
| B．Scientists have known whether there is life on Mars. |
| C．People can not send humans to Mars forever. |
| D．There is not any atmosphere on Mars. |
| A．Scientists | B．Rockets | C．Astronauts | D．Vehicles |
| A．But it used to be much different. | B．It was the same case in the past. |
| C．It's always like this. | D．It will be different in the future. |
组卷网是一个信息分享及获取的平台，不能确保所有知识产权权属清晰，如您发现相关试题侵犯您的合法权益，请联系组卷网
