The radio says ________ will get warmer later.　　　

[　　]

A．the sun　　　B．the rain　　　C．the cloud　　　D．the weather

Imagine a perfect day: the weather is good and everything seems fine. When, suddenly, your cell phone loses its signal, the television has no programs, and you can't get online with your computer.

What has happened? These are just the types of problems a solar storm (太阳风暴) might  cause. You may not think of storms as putting our society in danger.  But today, a solar storm is as serious as other bad events, such as earthquakes.

A solar storm is caused by solar flares (太阳耀斑): large explosions near the sun that can give off lots of energy. The strong energy can stop the satellite systems (卫星系统) that operate our computers, telecom networks and so on. These storms can even cause the power to go out for weeks or months.

In the past few months, scientists have recorded some of the strongest sun flares in years. The most recent one happened around Valentine's Day, 2011. It caused radio and satellite signals to go down in some northern cities in China.

"Solar flare activity is going to be much worse than what we've seen in the past. We' re not talking about a few cities losing power. It could be half the country, maybe more," SolarStormWarning. com, a US website about space weather, warned.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Experts say that little can be done to predict (预测) such a storm. Governments around the world are trying to work together before the next storm, although they are not sure when that may happen.

46. Solar storms can cause many problems EXCEPT that_______.

A. TVs cannot be turned on           B. mobile phones have no signals

C. people cannot get online              D. the satellite system will be stopped

47. According to the article, what are solar flares?

A. Natural disasters like earthquakes.         B. Strong solar storms.

C. Large explosions near the sun.       D. A lot of energy around the sun.

 48. The writer wrote the article mainly to_______.

A. introduce to people what solar storms are

B. tell people how to solve the problems caused by solar storms

C. call for scientists to predict when the next storm will happen

D. ask people to work to prevent the solar storms from happening

Man-made satellites have been sent up into space by many countries. These satellites go round the earth and help us to learn more about the earth, the weather and other things. Most countries use these satellites to send and receive messages. For example, with their help China can send its TV and radio programmes to the other side of the world. Foreign countries can send their programmes to China, too. We can also use satellites to help us to make telephone calls to foreign countries.

1. These satellites go round       

   A. the earth          B. the moon          C. the sun         D. the stars

2. Man-made satellites are          to people.

   A. terrible            B. useful            C. unknown       D. not necessary

3. Without the help of man-made satellites, we couldn't see          on TV.

   A. anything interesting              B. what other people are doing

C. foreign programmes             D. colour films

4. Man-made satellites can also help us       to our friends on the other side of the world.

A. write                           B. send birthday presents

C. play visits                        D. made telephone calls

5.          countries have sent up man-made satellites into space.

   A. Few             B. All            C. Many          D. No