Millions of stars are travelling about in space. A few form groups which travel together, but most of them travel alone.

And they travel through a universe which is so large that one star seldom comes near to another. For the most important part each star makes its journey in complete loneliness, like a ship on an empty ocean. The ship will be well over a million miles from its nearest neighbour. From this it is easy to understand why a star seldom finds another anywhere near it.

We believe, however, that some two thousand million years ago, another star wandering(漫游) through space, happened to come near our sun just as the sun and the moon raised its tides(潮汐) on the earth, so this star must have raised tides on the surface of the sun. But they were very different from the small tides that are raised in our oceans; A large tidal(潮汐的) wave must have travelled over the surface of the sun, at last forming a mountain so high that we cannot imagine it. As the cause of the disturbance came nearer, so the mountain rose higher and higher. And before the star began to move away again, its tidal pull had become so powerful that this mountain was torn to pieces and thrown off small parts of itself into space.

These small pieces have been going round the sun ever since. They are the planets.

1.Most stars are _________________________.

A. following a regular path in space    

B. moving about without a fixed course

C. seldom wandering about in the universe  

D. always travelling together

2.Some two thousand years ago, the mountain on the sun was raised probably because _____________.

   A. the star moved away from the sun

   B. another star happened to come near the sun

   C. the sun and the moon raised the tides on the earth

   D. a large tidal of wave travelled over the surface of the sun

3.The article suggests that _______________.

   A. how space formed     

B. our earth exists before the sun

   C. no one knows where the earth comes from  

D. our earth used to be a high mountain in the sun

4.The expression “the cause of the disturbance” refers to ________.

   A. the large tidal wave            B. the powerful tidal pull

   C. the star coming near the sun     D. one of sun’s planets

5. In the article, the writer mainly wants to tell us ______________.

   A. where the planets in the universe came from

   B. how the high mountains were formed on the sun

   C. that the universe is so large that we cannot imagine it

   D. why the tides over the surface of the sun were so powerful

 

APRIL 5 marks the 100^th anniversary(周年纪念日)of the sinking(下沉)of the Titanic. In 1997, the movie Titanic was a huge hit all around the world. Now, the 3-D version of the movie will come to Chinese theaters on April 10.
As anyone who has seen the movie knows, the Titanic struck an iceberg(冰山) and sank on its first voyage in 1912, killing 1,517 people. A century after the accident, scientists have found something new to blame(负责任) for the sinking: the moon. Donald Olson, a Texas State University physicist, led a team of astronomers(天文学家) to examine the moon’s role, according to Reuters.
Normally, icebergs stay in place and cannot move until they melt enough or a high tide(潮汐) frees them. A single iceberg can become stuck many times on its journey southward. The process can take several years.
According to Olson, a hundred years ago the moon made its closest approach to the Earth in more than 1,400 years. This caused the moon to have a much stronger pull on the Earth’s oceans than usual, which created a super-high tide. The tide pushed icebergs from shallow waters off the coasts of Canada’s provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador, into the Titanic’s way.
“Of course, the final cause of the accident was that the ship struck an iceberg,” Olson told Reuters. “It went full speed into a region with icebergs, but the lunar connection(月亮的联系) may explain how an unusually large number of icebergs got into the path of the Titanic.”
The research team will publish their research in the April issue of Sky & Telescope magazine.
根据短文内容，选最佳择答案,并在答题卡上按要求作答。
【小题1】 How many people lost their lives in this accident?

A．Over 2,000 people.	B．About 100 people.
C．More than 1,500 people.	D．We don’t know.

【小题2】 The underlined word “voyage” in the second paragraph really means ______.

A．航行

B．飞行

C．划船

D．游泳

【小题3】 Which of the following about icebergs is TRUE?

A．Icebergs move only when the tide frees them.

B．An iceberg can stop for some time during its travel.

C．An iceberg will move as soon as its melts.

D．It takes an iceberg several months to leave its place.

【小题4】 Which of the following played a role in the sinking of the Titanic?
a. the moon                 b. the tides             c. too many passengers 
d. the high speed of the ship    e. going the wrong way   f. the iceberg 

A．a,b,c,f

B．a,c,d,e

C．a,b,d,f

D．a,c,e,f

【小题5】. What is the article mainly about?

A．The main cause of the Titanic’s sinking.

B．The 100th anniversary of the Titanic.

C．The moon’s great influence on the Earth’s tides.

D．The moon’s role in the sinking of the Titanic.

The earth moves round the sun ,and the moon goes round the earth .When our part（部分）of the earth turns to the sun ,it is day ,When our part of the earth turns away from the sun ,it is night. The sun is much bigger than the moon .But sometimes the moon looks bigger than the sun, because it's much nearer to the earth. The sun is very bright .It gives a very strong light .The moon looks quite bright, too .But it doesn't give any light at all. The moon looks much bigger and brighter than the stars .But actually（事实上）, the stars are much bigger and brighter than the moon .They look smaller than the moon because they're much farther away from us.
【小题1】Sometimes the moon looks bigger than the sun, because______.

A．it is much bigger than the sun

B．it comes out only at night

C．it is much nearer to the earth than the sun

D．it doesn't give a very strong light

【小题2】The stars ______.

A．look much bigger than the sun

B．look much brighter than the moon

C．are a lot brighter than the moon, but they are not bigger than the moon

D．are much farther away from us than the moon

【小题3】When it is day, _______.

A．our part of the earth turns to（转到）the moon

B．the sun looks much smaller than the stars

C．we can't see any stars in the sky.

D．the moon turns away from the sun

 

Have you ever been to Taiwan, China’s biggest island? Do you want to pay a visit there? We’ll show you the best of Taiwan island.  A four-day tour.

Price

Only  ￥5,000 Including: Round – trip plane tickets between Beijing and Taiwan. Bus service around Taiwan. Great tour guide service.

Places

▲ Sun Moon Lake    A beautiful lake. A small island. On one side of the island, the lake looks like the sun, and on the other side it looks like the moon. That is why people call it the Sun Moon Lake. ▲Ali Mountain   The nearest mountain around the Sun Moon Lake. A nice experience to have a party with Gaoshan people. A wonderful place to see a very beautiful sunrise. ▲People Lake   A great place for swimming, fishing, boating and eating delicious fruit and fresh fish. ▲Gao Xiong   A great place to spend a full day shopping.

Book (预定) now

Office hours  Monday — Friday: 9:00 am — 7:00 pm Saturday:         9:00 am — 4:00 pm Tel: 6459-9561 Book by phone now for next month.

1.The ad wants to ___________.

   A. invite more people to take the tour         B. tell you something about Taiwan

   C. describe how beautiful Taiwan is          D. show you the best of Taiwan

2. If you go on a trip to Taiwan on September 5th, you will probably be back on _________.

A. September 7th                           B. September 8th     

C. September 10th                          D. September 11th

3. __________ is a good place for tourists to have a good time with Gaoshan people.

   A. Sun Moon Lake                          B. Ali Mountain

   C. Peng Lake                               D. Gao Xiong

4. You will visit ________ tourist spots if you take the tour.

A. 3            B. 4                    C.5         D. 6

5. If you want to take the tour to Taiwan, you can book it by phone at___________.

A. 4:00 pm on Sunday               B. 7:00am on Monday 

C. 4:00pm on Wednesday            D. 7:00 am on Saturday

 

When you look at the sky at night, the moon looks bigger than the stars. Actually, the moon is much smaller than the stars and the sun. It’s much smaller than the earth. But the moon is much closer to us than any star. That is why it looks so big. If you hold a coin close to your eye, it looks big. If you look at it across the moon, it looks small.
The moon moves around the earth. It makes one trip in about four weeks. The moon looks flat to us. But it is a round ball, like the earth.
People once thought the moon had fire on it. They thought the fire made it bright. Now we know the moon is like a mirror. It gets its light from the sun.
Our sunlight comes from the sun, too. What is the sun? The sun is a star. The stars we can see have their own light. There are many big stars we cannot see. Their light had burned out. Others are still bright, but they are so far away that we cannot see them. The sun looks bigger and much brighter than other stars because it is the nearest of all stars. The sun and the other stars we see are very hot, but the air around us saves us from the heat of the sun.
The sun gives us light and warmth. It makes plants grow and turns leaves green. It makes life possible on our earth. It is a life giving star.
【小题1】 It takes _______ for the moon to go around the earth.

A．more than a week

B．nearly a month

C．half a year

D．more than a year

【小题2】 The moon is bright because _______.

A．there is some fire on it	B．it is near the sun, too
C．there is a big mirror on it	D．it can get light from the sun

【小题3】 The passage tells us _______.

A．the sun is not the biggest star	B．the sun is bigger than any other star
C．only the sun can shine	D．the sun is one of the farthest stars to us

【小题4】 Why do we call the sun "a life giving star"?

A．Because it gives us warmth.

B．Because there are some living things on it.

C．Because plants and animals can’t live without it.

D．Because people have to live in the dark without it.