Question

【题目】 Many of us think, wrongly, that the moon doesn’t change. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ruoxu once wrote that “Generations have come and passed away; From year to year the moons look alike, old and new.”

However, a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience shows that the moon is in fact slowly shrinking over time. For the study, a group of US scientists examined and analyzed thousands of photographs taken by the NASA orbiter Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. They found that there were lots of faults (断层) on the surface of the moon. These faults were formed by recent movement on the moon.

According to NASA, the moon is made up of pieces of rocks with a hot core. The moon continued to expand as it was born. But in this process, it released energy and cooled down. Then it began to shrink, in a way comparable to the shrinking of a grape into a raisin (葡萄干) . Over the past several hundred million years, it has become 46 meters “skinnier”. But due to its hard and rocky crust (外壳), the moon’s surface continues to push up. “Some of these quakes can be fairly strong around five on the Richter scale,” said Thomas Watters, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in the US.

But does that mean the moon is a dangerous place that human shouldn’t try to explore and live on in the future? Maybe not, reported the Telegraph, “This isn’t anything to worry about. The moon may be shrinking, but not by much. It’s not going anywhere,” Watters comforted us.

The new discovery proves that the idea that the moon is a dead, boring place is wrong. “We have been to the moon and we’ve done some great science, but there is still a lot we don’t know. The moon is shrinking — we didn’t really realize that until recently. It’s a much more active and interesting place than we thought and we should explore that,” NASA scientist Nathan Williams said.

【1】Why does the writer quote the poem?

A.To praise the beauty of the moon.

B.To show people’s long-standing idea of the moon size.

C.To arouse people’s interest in the topic.

D.To get readers familiar with the poem.

【2】Which point of view about the moon may the writer agree to?

A.It is becoming slightly smaller.B.It stays the same as before.

C.It is getting older and older.D.It may disappear one day.

【3】What can we learn about the moon from the third paragraph?

A.It has become 46 meters fatter due to expanding.

B.It has changed from a grape into a raisin in recent years.

C.It quakes even at seven on the Richter scale.

D.It has a hot core and releases energy when expanding.

【4】Who thinks that we needn’t worry about the moon?

A.Zhang Ruoxu.B.Thomas Watters.

C.Nathan Williams.D.The journalist.

【5】What does Nathan Williams think of the moon?

A.It is a dead and boring place.B.It has lots of faults on the surface.

C.It is worth exploring moreD.It isn’t a place where we can live.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】A

【3】D

【4】B

【5】C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。月球并非如唐代诗人张若虚在诗中描绘的那样是亘古不变的。一项最新的科学研究表明，月球正在随着时间慢慢地缩小。此外，这项研究还表明月球还有许多我们不了解的东西，它是一个比我们认为的更活跃、更有意思的地方，我们应该探索它。

【1】推理判断题。作者在第一段内引用了张若虚的诗句“Generations have come and passed away; From year to year the moons look alike, old and new.（人生代代无穷已，江月年年只相似）”。根据语篇结构，段落内的举例一定是服务于段落中心意思的。根据第一段首句“Many of us think, wrongly, that the moon doesn’t change.（我们很多人都认为，月亮是不变的）”可知，这个诗句就是用来证明人们对于月亮的大小的长久以来的观点。故选B。

【2】细节理解题。根据第二段第一句“However, a new study... shows that the moon is in fact slowly shrinking over time（然而，一项新的发表在《自然地球科学》上的研究表明，月球实际上正在随着时间慢慢地缩小）以及第二段内对于月亮上断层的解释可知，作者引用这些研究发现，证明月亮正在慢慢变小，说明作者也是这样认为的。故选A。

【3】细节理解题。根据第三段前三句中的“According to NASA, the moon is made up of pieces of rocks with a hot core. The moon continued to expand as it was born. But in this process，it released energy（美国宇航局认为，月亮由带有一个热核的岩石块组成，当它形成时月球在持续膨胀，在这个过程中它会释放能量。）”可知，月球有一个热核并且膨胀时释放能量。故选D。

【4】细节理解题。根据第四段中Thomas Watters 说的话“This isn’t anything to worry about. The moon may be shrinking, but not by much. It’s not going anywhere（没有什么担心的。月亮在缩小，但是不多。不会缩小到哪里去的。）”可知，Thomas Waters认为我们不必担心月球。故选B。

【5】细节理解题。根据最后一段中Nathan Williams说的话“It’s a much more active and interesting place than we thought and we should explore that（它是一个比我们想象的更加活跃和有趣的地方，我们应该探索它）”可知，Nathan Williams认为月球是有价值的，值得探索。故选C。