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.

【小题2】The underlined word “generate” is similar in meaning to the word “________”.

A．heat

B．produce

C．spread

D．form

【小题3】What makes Venus a worse place for human exploration than Mars?

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.

【小题4】According to the last two paragraphs, the new computer equipment ________.
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