题目内容

Scientists said they have found evidence of a giant planet far out in our solar system. In a statement, the California Institute of Technology(Caltech) said this planet travels a strange “highly elongated orbit in the distant solar system”.

The discovery was made by two researchers at Caltech; Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown. They used mathematical modeling and computer simulations (模拟)to find the planet. So far, there have not been any direct observations of the planet. “My jaw hit the floor,” said astronomer Mike Brown, the moment he realized there might be a ninth planet.

The scientists said it would take this planet 10,000to 20,000 years just to make one full orbit around the sun. The new planet, called “Planet Nine” has a mass about 10 times the size of Earth.

It is believed that the planet orbits, or travels, around the sun from a great distance. The planet Neptune’s average distance to the sun is about 4.5 billion kilometers. But “Planet Nine” could be 20 times farther away from the sun than that. While they did not get a picture of “Planet Nine” yet, the scientists say they are using the biggest and best telescopes on Earth to try to find it.

Brown and Batygin reported their finding in The Astronomical Journal. They say that this new planet is so large that there should be no doubt that it is a true planet, once they confirm it.

Robert Massey is with the Royal Astronomical Society in London. He told AFP that planets have been predicted before, and then were not found. But, he said the work of the these researchers is definitely worth following up. “It would be a really exciting thing to find. At the moment it’s simply a prediction.”

1.How was the evidence of the ninth planet found?

A. Through a special telescope

B. Through researchers’ direct observation

C. Through studying its special orbit in the solar system

D. Through mathematical modeling and computer simulations

2.What can we know about “Planet Nine” from the text?

A. It is much smaller than the earth

B. It travels a normal orbit like other planets

C. Its distance to the sun is about 90 billion kilometers

D. Its picture has been caught by the biggest and best telescope

3.What’s Robert’s attitude towards the discovery of “Planet Nine”?

A. Worried B. Supportive

C. Indifferent D. Opposed

4.What’s the best title for the text?

A. The discovery of the largest planet

B. A big prediction of the solar system

C. A ninth planet may be in the solar system

D. The ninth planet has been found in the solar system

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Laughter is a universal way to express joy. But as it turns out, your laughter reveals a lot more than the fact that you are happy. It enables listeners, even those that cannot observe you, immediately to realize if you are having a good time with a close friend or laughing politely with a complete stranger.

At least that is the conclusion reached by a team of scientists led by Greg Bryant, an associate professor of Communication Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. The researchers began by requesting participants from across the globe to send them audio clips(音频片段) of people laughing. The 48 tapes they received ranged from recent recordings of laughter between two college friends to ones from conversations that occurred a decade ago. The clips also had all possible combinations — interactions between friends, strangers, all-male groups, all-female groups, as well as a mix of both genders(性别).

The team then played the short recording, each lasting less than a second, to 966 people spread across 24 different cultures around the world. The listeners ranged from people living in remote areas to those living in some of the world’s most modern cities. To the team’s astonishment, despite the cultural and regional differences, the listeners were able to identify the difference in laughter between friends and strangers, 61% of the time.

The scientists, who published their findings in the Scientific Journal, say that the accuracy was even higher when it came to recordings of only women laughing. The researchers think that this is probably because women are more transparent in expressing their feelings than men.

Bryant says that the results of this cross-cultural examination show that people all over the world perceive laughter in similar ways. As Neuroscientist Carolyn McGettigan at the Royal Holloway University of London puts it, “A laugh among friends is a special sound, no matter where you live!”

1.What can we learn about Greg Bryant’s research?

A. It was based on tapes from 966 people.

B. Its findings were beyond the team’s expectations.

C. It proved that laughter is a universal way to express joy.

D. Most of his findings were published in the Scientific Journal.

2.Why did the listeners identify all-female laughing more accurately?

A. Women are sensitive to interesting things.

B. Women are less likely to hide their feelings.

C. Women prefer to express their joys by laughing.

D. Women are good at communicating with others.

3.What does the underlined word “perceive” probably mean?

A. Understand. B. Receive.

C. Explain. D. Spread.

In a tiny room, Jenny was lying in bed waiting for an operation, nervous and worried. ______, another patient was squeezed in. After a gentle greeting, they _____ the chatting. The 80-year-old newcomer was named Susan. Her son ____ ran a company as CEO and her daughter worked on a TV station as director. Since her children were too ____ to take care of Susan, she lived in an old people’s home. Susan was proud of her children who had wonderful ___ . Jenny really______Susan. Compared with Susan, Jenny was ____ but an ordinary country woman whose children were just ordinary workers.

Soon, it was supper time, Jenny’s daughter cooked _____ dishes which were her favorite. Jenny invited Susan to share her supper, but she ____ .Susan was ____ her daughter when she received a call. ____ ,her children couldn’t come to visit her. Worse still, Susan had ____ the mealtime in the hospital. She lay in bed, _____ and silent. Jenny’s daughter offered to buy her some food but she had no appetite ____ .

The next day, Jenny and Susan would go through a series of regular medical checks before the operation. Jenny’s daughter ____ to her carefully while Susan was still alone. Out of sympathy, Jenny’s daughter offered to queue(排队) up, fill in different ____ and register for Susan. For several days in hospital, even during her _____,Susan’s children didn’t show up. Susan really envied Jenny whose daughter looked after her all the time ____ she recovered and moved out of hospital.

Care from the loved ones when ill can really make one happy and encouraged, especially for a(n)____ parent. So while devoted to your career, don’t forget your role in your ____ .

1.A. Respectably B. Unexpectedly C. Delightedly D. Patiently

2.A. succeeded in B. turned into C. brought about D. participated in

3.A. unnamedly B. successfully C. technically D. independently

4.A. guilty B. rough C. unwilling D. busy

5.A. improvements B. documents C. occupations D. conservations

6.A. respected B. impressed C. envied D. aroused

7.A. something B. nothing C. anything D. everything

8.A. an amount of B. a great deal C. a great many D. a plenty of

9.A. rejected B. paid C. misunderstood D. struggled

10.A. disturbing B. praising C. expecting D. inviting

11.A. Possibly B. Strangely C. Generally D. Unfortunately

12.A. knew B. missed C. followed D. ignored

13.A. disappointed B. anxious C. astonished D. nervous

14.A. in fact B. at once C. at all D. in length

15.A. obeyed B. examined C. attended D. protected

16.A. forms B. gaps C. positions D. surveys

17.A. checks B. recovery C. stay D. operation

18.A. unless B. although C. until D. because

19.A. ordinary B. loving C. careful D. aged

20.A. family B. health C. friendship D. growth

A group of cultural calendars, with creative designs, informative content and delicate printing, were hot sellers last year and now posting photos of the calendars has become a new fad on social networks. Many people posted photos of their cultural calendars with their comments to arouse memories of traditional knowledge. Though the cultural calendars are a return to traditions, designers are racking their brains to make the calendars appear more attractive.

What’s black and white and fun all over? Penguins, of course! These friendly, odd-looking creatures have a universal appeal. Twelve vivid, full color photographs show us various species of penguins surviving in their harsh environment. The Penguins 2016 Wall Calendar features daily grids(格子) with ample room for notes and reminders. U.S. and international holidays are also included.

Most of the typeface(字体) for The Palace Museum’s Datebook came from the ancient copies of Kai calligraphy and Li calligraphy, as well as pictures of classic Chinese paintings and artworks. More than 50,000 volumes of it were sold on the November 11 Singles Day, and since then it has remained a best-seller among the art books on JD.com, an online marketplace.

The cover for The Red Chamber Dream Calendar was made using a special kind of paper with a red woven design, which symbolizes the joyous and prosperous new year. Inside the datebook, poems, ancient paintings from the classic novel, Dream of the Red Chamber, as well as the inclusion of traditional customs, festivals and solar terms make the datebook seem elegant and informative.

Calendar: Beauty of Chinese Characters, however, has 12 themes for the year and tells about the origin of Chinese characters, other interesting information about Hanzi, the name for the characters. By reading the whole book, one can gain a complete knowledge of Hanzi’s history.

1.The underlined word “fad” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “________”.

A. invention B. content

C. design D. fashion

2.If you are interested in conventional customs, which calendar should you refer to?

A. The Red Chamber Dream Calendar

B. The Palace Museum Datebook

C. Calendar: Beauty of Chinese Characters

D. The Penguins 2016 Wall Calendar

3.According to the description of The Palace Museum’s Datebook, ________.

A. you can find the information about the origin of Chinese characters

B. it has been and remains a best-seller on online marketplaces

C. ancient paintings and poems are included inside the datebook

D. you can appreciate ancient Chinese calligraphy in it

The exact work of ancient astronomers has led to a modern observation --- our days are longer than they used to be. Not that you’d noticed: The new research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A shows that it takes the Earth a tiny bit longer these days to complete a single rotation (转动) than it did millions of years ago. It’s the kind of stuff that’s measured in milliseconds per century, but those milliseconds add up. Over the last thousands of years, they’d totaled several hours, which the Los Angeles Times puts this way, “If humanity had been measuring time with an atomic clock that started running back in 700 BC, today that clock would read 7 p.m. when the sun is directly overhead rather than noon. The atomic clock won’t lose a second for 15 billion years.” Maybe more remarkable is that the work is the result of a tireless 40-year research into ancient timekeeping records dating back 2,700 years.

Scientists led by Richard Stephenson of the UK’s Durham University have been studying Babylonian clay tablets, Chinese observations made through the use of water clocks, and Arab astronomical records that tracked solar and lunar eclipses(日/月食). “The most astonishing thing about this study is the fact that we have this information at all,” said a geographer not involved in the study. Researchers are still hoping to find observations from the Incas and the Maya, and to fill in their largest hole between 200 and 600 AD, but they’ve measured the Earth’s deceleration at 1.8 milliseconds per day per century. Given the moon’s gravitational effect on our oceans, the discovery that Earth is decelerating isn’t a surprise, notes the Christian Science Monitor, though astronomers had previously estimated a higher rate.

1.Why are days longer than before according to the text?

A. The earth rotates more and more slowly.

B. Humanity has got incorrect timekeeping records.

C. It takes longer for the earth to turn around the sun.

D. The lost milliseconds for centuries are added to our present days.

2.How did researchers come to the conclusion of the study?

A. By resetting the rotating time of the earth.

B. By referring to ancient timekeeping records.

C. By studying the moon’s gravitational effect on the oceans.

D. By measuring time again with an atomic clock.

3.What can we infer about the study from what the geographer said?

A. Geography theory supports the result of the study.

B. The geographer disagrees to the research conclusion.

C. The scientists’ research is meaningless.

D. It’s right to get geographers involved in the study.

4.What is the meaning of the underlined word “deceleration” in Paragraph 2?

A. Evolution. B. Slowdown.

C. Enlargement. D. Development.

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