CHONGQING: A total

solar eclipse (日蚀） brought darkness to many places along the upper reaches of China’s

longest river, the Yangtze, at 9:15 am Wednesday. The moon’s shadow blocked out the sun, leaving only the solar corona (日冕) visible in west China’s Chongqing Municipality and Guang ’an City in neighboring Sichuan Province. The cities turned off many street lights to allow the public to better observe the total eclipse, which lasted about four minutes.

The July 22 eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st Century. It is expected to pass across China from Tibet to the coastal city of Shanghai, where 300 million people live. Millions of eclipse-watchers crowded to the banks of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers early Wednesday to observe the spectacle. However, the weather in many Chinese cities along the full solar eclipse path is not favorable for observing the phenomenon, according to the China Meteorological Administration’s (气象局) forecast at 8 am.

Zhu Jin, head of the Beijing Astronomical Observatory (天文观测台), said although overcast (阴天) conditions blocked the view along the lower stream of Yangtze, the shadow of the moon was visible moving behind the clouds. The full solar blackout could be seen at 9:30 am from an observatory site in Anji, east China’s Zhejiang Province, a site chosen by Jay Pasachoff, head of the Solar Eclipse Working Group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and more 200 astronomers from more than 20 countries. “The weather is clear enough to observe the complete duration of the solar eclipse here in Anji. The forecast of the time of the eclipse proved to be accurate, ” said Zhang Hongqi, chief researcher of the National Astronomical Observatories.

It was raining in Shanghai, when the eclipse occurred at 9:35 am. The city put extra police on streets, and more than 30 police ships patrolled (巡逻) the coast. Only street lamps were left on, as the city turned off all landscape lighting to allow people to watch the solar eclipse.

1. Which of the following is RIGHT?

A. More than 20 foreign astronomers observed the eclipse.

B. The eclipse is the longest one in the history.

C. The eclipse brought darkness to many places in China.

D. The weather was clear enough for people to observe the eclipse.

2. The best place to observe the full solar blackout at 9:30 am could be in___________.

A. Chongqing　　　 B. Sichuan

C. Zhejiang　　 D. Shanghai

3. The following has the same meaning as the underlined word EXCEPT____________.

A. went somewhere in large numbers

B. moved in a large crowd

C. gathered together

D. talked with each other excitedly

4. You can see the passage in a (n)__________.

A. newspaper 　　　　 B. guidebook

C. advertisement　　　 D. magazine

5. What can we infer from the passage?

A. Many cities turned off the lights on the streets to observe better.

B. The weather in some places isn’t favorable to observe the eclipse.

C. Shanghai sent out the police to observe the eclipse.

D. The eclipse attracted many astronomers from all over the world.