Question

【題目】 NASA said its Kepler spacecraft has spotted 'Earth's bigger, older cousin': the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Though NASA can’t say for sure whether the planet is rocky like ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet found.

The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 60% bigger than Earth, NASA says, and is located in its star's habitable zone, where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.

A visitor there would experience gravity about twice that of Earth's, and scientists say the possibility of it having a rocky surface are 'better than ever'. While it's a bit farther from its star than Earth is from the sun, its star is brighter, so the planet receives about the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does from the sun.

Kepler researcher Jeff Jenkins said, 'The planet almost certainly has an atmosphere, although scientists can't say what it's made of. But if the assumptions are correct, kepler-452b's atmosphere may be thicker than Earth's. '

It takes 385 days for the planet to orbit its star. 'Because it has spent so long orbiting in this zone—6 billion years—it's had plenty of time to brew life,' Jenkins said.

'That's an opportunity for life to arise, if all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet, ' he said in a statement.

Kepler-452b is too far away for humans to visit. But the discovery of this new Earth-like planet can tell us a lot about what’s possible for the future of space travel. 'The next step in the process is to do follow-up missions to find planets similar to kepler-452b, but much closer to Earth, ' said Peter Coughlin, a Kepler research scientist. 'We could do a lot more research into those planets, and even start to think about visiting one day. '

【1】The researchers are sure that Kepler-452b ________．

A.is larger than EarthB.has an atmosphere

C.has air and waterD.has many rocks

【2】What is the similarity between Kepler-452b and the Earth?

A.They are both located in the sun's habitable zone．

B.Their distances from the sun are almost the same．

C.Their atmospheres are made of the same compositions．

D.They get almost the same amount of energy from their stars.．

【3】The underlined word 'brew' in paragraph 6 most probably means ________.

A.improveB.endanger

C.produceD.protect

【4】What should be the best title for the text?

A.Kepler-452b Is Compared to the Earth.

B.NASA Discovers a New Earth-Like Planet.

C.A Spacecraft Was Launched to Find Super-Earth.

D.A New Planet With Life Is Discovered.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】A

【2】D

【3】C

【4】B

【解析】

這是一篇說明文。本文主要介紹了NASA 發(fā)現(xiàn)的近似于地球的行星——Kepler-452b，并且科學家猜測該行星上很有可能有生命體存在。

【1】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段的The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 60% bigger than Earth, NASA says,可知，美國航天總局現(xiàn)在可以確定的是這顆行星——Kepler-452b比地球大60%。A. is larger than Earth(比地球大)符合以上說法，故選A項。

【2】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第四段的While it's a bit farther from its star than Earth is from the sun, its star is brighter, so the planet receives about the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does from the sun.(盡管它離自己的恒星比地球離太陽遠，但它的恒星更亮，所以這顆行星從它的恒星接受到的能量和地球從太陽接受到的能量相差無幾)可知，Kepler-452b從它的恒星接受的能量與地球從太陽接受的能量差不多。D. They get almost the same amount of energy from their stars.(它們從各自星恒接受的能量差不多)符合以上說法，故選D項。

【3】詞義猜測題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第三段的'Because it has spent so long orbiting in this zone—6 billion years—it's had plenty of time to brew life,' Jenkins said.( Jenkins說，因為它在這個區(qū)域運行了60億年之久，它有足夠的時間brew生命。)和倒數(shù)第二段的'That's an opportunity for life to arise, if all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet, ' he said in a statement.(如果這顆行星上存在生命的所有必要成分和條件，那就是生命出現(xiàn)的機會)結(jié)合上下文，猜測劃線部分的意思是“孕育”。C. produce(生產(chǎn))和以上推測最接近，故選C項。

【4】主旨大意題。根據(jù)文章的主要內(nèi)容，尤其是第一段的NASA said its Kepler spacecraft has spotted 'Earth's bigger, older cousin': the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.(美國航天總局說它的開普勒飛船已經(jīng)看到“地球的大表弟”：第一顆近似地球大小的行星在恒星的宜居帶，類似于我們自己的)可知，本文主要介紹了NASA 發(fā)現(xiàn)的近似于地球的行星——Kepler-452b。B. NASA Discovers a New Earth-Like Planet.( NASA發(fā)現(xiàn)了一顆和地球類似的新行星)可以作為本文標題，故選B項。