Question

【题目】 Is there anybody out there? For centuries human beings have been wondering. As we've gained greater understanding of the universe, however, our searches have taken on a more concrete form. Questions about aliens have become a subject for science rather than science fiction and philosophy.

Now a new cooperation(合作)between the Very Large Array observatory in New Mexico and the privately funded Seti Institute in California could mean that our curiosity about aliens is closer than ever before to being satisfied. Data from the VLA's 28 giant radio telescopes will be fed through a special supercomputer that will search for distant signals. Scientists who work at the Seti Institute said the announcement means their research is now “almost mainstream".

How likely it is that a signal will be found, and what this might mean, are hard questions to answer. Seti's existing projects haven't detected any life signals from other planets so far. But recent discoveries in space and Earth sciences have provided some encouragement to those who are enthusiastic about the likelihood, however remote, of detecting other civilizations.

While once it was thought that our solar system could be unique, since the discovery of the first exoplanet (a planet in another solar system) in the 1990s, thousands more have been located(确定位置). Around one in five stars are now thought to have a planet in their orbit in a so-called “habitable zone"—that is at a distance from the star where the temperature(neither too hot nor too cold) means that life is theoretically feasible.

If there is another life form somewhere, could it be as intelligent as us? Or cause a risk to us, as the physicist Stephen Hawking once warned? As investigations of Mars continue, our interest in the possibility of alien life appears clear—especially when conditions in our own earth appear even more unstable.

【1】What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?

A.Global cooperation helps to study aliens.

B.Searching for aliens is becoming a trend.

C.Aliens have caught wide attention globally.

D.There are many uncertainties about aliens study.

【2】What is the encouraging news to searchers for distant civilizations?

A.VLA has developed new radio telescopes.

B.Seti has detected signals from other planets.

C.More and more exoplanets have been found.

D.Other civilizations have been located in a habitable zone.

【3】What does the underlined word “feasible" in paragraph 4 most probably mean?

A.Possible.B.Tough.

C.Easy.D.Certain.

【4】In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A.Literature.B.Health.

C.Education.D.Science.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】C

【3】A

【4】D

【解析】

本文为说明文。如今，随着科技和人类对宇宙认知水平的提高，人们对是否存在外星人的兴趣越来越大，有关外星人的问题已经成为一个科学主题。

【1】

主旨大意题。文章一开始质疑外星人的存在，根据第一、第二段主要语句Is there anybody out there? For centuries human beings have been wondering. As we've gained greater understanding of the universe, however, our searches have taken on a more concrete form(有人在吗?几个世纪以来，人类一直在思考这个问题。然而，随着我们对宇宙有了更深入的了解，我们的探索也有了更具体的形式) 和Scientists who work at the Seti Institute said the announcement means their research is now “almost mainstream"(在Seti研究所工作的科学家说，这一声明意味着他们的研究现在几乎是主流了)可知，文章前两段主要论述寻找外星人正成为一种趋势。故选B。

【2】

细节理解题。根据第三段But recent discoveries in space and Earth sciences have provided some encouragement to those who are enthusiastic about the likelihood, however remote, of detecting other civilizations.(但是最近在空间和地球科学上的发现给那些对探测其他文明的可能性充满热情的人们提供了一些鼓励)和下文While once it was thought that our solar system could be unique, since the discovery of the first exoplanet (a planet in another solar system) in the 1990s, thousands more have been located(确定位置)(虽然人们一度认为我们的太阳系可能是独一无二的，但自从20世纪90年代发现第一颗系外行星以来，又发现了数千颗系外行星)可知，对于寻找遥远文明的人来说，越来越多的系外行星被发现是一个令人鼓舞的消息，故选C。

【3】

词义猜测题。根据Around one in five stars are now thought to have a planet in their orbit in a so-called “habitable zone"—that is at a distance from the star where the temperature(neither too hot nor too cold) means that life is theoretically feasible. (目前，大约五分之一的恒星被认为在其所谓的宜居带的轨道上有一颗行星---在距离恒星较远的地方，温度（既不太热也不太冷）意味着生命在理论上是可行的)，可知，那里温度不太热也不太冷，因此得知在理论上，河外星系中存在生命是可能的，此处feasible意为“可行的，有可能的”，选项A符合语境，故选A。

【4】

推理判断题。本文是一篇关于探讨外星人是否存在的科学类说明文，应该出现在报纸的科学版面上，故选D。