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.

If you can read a clock, you can know the time of day. But no one knows what time itself is. We cannot see it. We cannot touch it. We cannot hear it. We know it only by the way we mark its passing.

For all our success in measuring the smallest parts of time, time remains one of the great mysteries of the universe.

One way to think about time is to imagine a world without time. There could be no movement, because time and movement cannot be separated.

A world without time could exist only as long as there were no changes. For time and change are linked. We know that time has passed when something changes.

In the real world—the world with time—changes never stop. Some changes happen only once in a while, like an eclipse(月蚀) of the moon. Others happen repeatedly, like the rising and setting of the sun. Humans always have noted natural events that repeat themselves. When people began to count such events, they began to measure time.

Humans have used many devices to measure time. The sundial was one of the earliest and simplest.

A sundial measures the movement of the sun across the sky each day. It has a stick or other object that rises above a flat surface. The stick, blocking sunlight, creates a shadow. As the sun moves, so does the shadow of the stick across the flat surface. Marks on the surface show the passing of hours, and perhaps, minutes.

The sundial works only when the sun is shining. So, other ways were invented to measure the passing of time.

One device is the hourglass. It uses a thin stream of falling sand to measure time. By the eighteenth century, people had developed mechanical(机械的) clocks and watches. And today, many of our clocks and watches are electronic.

1．What makes it possible for humans to measure time?

      A．The sundial was invented.                   B．Some natural events take place regularly.

      C．The sun rises and sets every day.         D．The hourglass came into being.

2．We can learn from the passage that _______________.

      A．since we can’t feel it, we have no way to deal with time

      B．the existence of time depends on the changes of the world

      C．when the sundial was invented, people had no worry to count time

      D．electronic watches make it possible to measure time without any fault

3．Which of the following statements about the sundial is wrong?

      A．It doesn’t work well when it is cloudy.

      B．It measures the movement of the sun across the sky each day.

      C．It can only show the passing hours when the sun is shining.

      D．It was one of the earliest and simplest devices to measure time.

4．What can be the best title of the passage?

      A．Sundial, an Amazing Device                  B．The mystery of Time

      C．Value Your Time                                  D．Incredible Changes

NANJING, June 13,2009 (Xinhua) – China will see the longest total solar eclipse (日食) in 500 years on July 22, a scientist said Saturday.

The most important time of the total eclipse was expected to

begin from 9:00 a.m. to 9:38 a. m. (Beijing Time), said Wang

Sichao, a research fellow with the Nanjing – based Purple

Mountain Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“The total eclipse will l ast up to six minutes, which is the longest

one that can be seen in China in almost 500 years from 1814 to 2309,” Wang said.

He said viewers in parts of eleven provinces in China's southwestern, central-southern and eastern areas, such as Tibet, Hunan and Jiangsu, will be able to witness the total solar eclipse, while in most parts of Shanghai, viewers can see the spectacular phenomenon. For viewers in other provinces, including Beijing, they can observe a partial eclipse, he said.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is caught between the sun and the earth while each of them moves along their fixed orbits. In a total solar eclipse, the sun, the moon and the earth are directly aligned as the sun swings into the cone of shadow cast by the moon.

Wang said the next total solar eclipse that can be seen in China will fall on March 20 th, 2034.     "But it can only be seen remote provinces, such as Tibet and Qinghai. It cannot not be compared with the upcoming one -- in terms of duration and number of cities that can see the eclipse," he added. The last total solar eclipse visible in China took place on Aug. 1 last year. It was observed in northwest China and lasted two minutes in Yiwu County of northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the best place to see the phenomenon.

72．According to the report, the total eclipse on July the 22 nd will last         .

A．over a month                                                    B．about 38 minutes

C．about 6 minutes                                              D．less than 30 minutes

73．Viewers can possibly witness the total solar eclipse in            .

A．Liaoning                   B．Sichuan                    C．Beijing                      D．Xinjiang

74．When a total solar eclipse happens,          .

A．the moon goes into the shadow cast by the sun

B．the earth stays between the sun and the moon

C．the sun temporarily moves into the moon’s orbit

D．the sun is in a line with the moon and the earth

75．Which is the best title for this report?           .

A．China to witness longest total solar eclipse in 500 years

B．The most important total solar eclipse will favor China

C．The beginning time of the total solar eclipse is expected

D．China has been the best place to witness the solar eclipse

An annularity(日环食) is expected to cross China Friday afternoon, a researcher with the Purple Mountain Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences said Wednesday.
The phenomenon, predicted to be the longest annularity of the next 1,000 years, can be seen in some areas of Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Hunan,  Hubei,  Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shandong provinces as well as Chongqing.
A partial eclipse(日偏食) would be seen in most of the rest of China, except for the northeast tip of Heilongjiang Province, said Cheng.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States, the annularity will begin in Africa and pass through the Indian Ocean, where the maximum duration(持续的时间) of annularity will reach 11 minutes and 8 seconds.
It will continue into Asia through Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and China. Cheng said the annularity will end at Jiaodong peninsula in Shandong Province, China.
The longest duration of the annularity on China’s territory would be 8 minutes and 17 seconds in Ruili, Yunan Province. A sunset with the annularity would be seen in some areas of Shandong, Guangdong and Taiwan, said Cheng.
An annularity occurs when the moon does not cover the entire disc of the sun so that a ring of light encircles the shadow of the moon.
Another expert said that though an annularity was not considered as wonderful as a total solar eclipse and was of little value in scientific research. It was interesting for the general public to watch the phenomenon, though.

1. 1.

   The annularity mentioned in the passage is unusual because        .

   1. A.
      it is expected to cross all over China
   2. B.
      it begins in Africa and passes through Asia
   3. C.
      it is of great importance in scientific research
   4. D.
      it lasts the longest in the next one thousand years
2. 2.

   From the passage we may conclude that people in Fujian can only enjoy the scene of      .

   1. A.
      an annularity           
   2. B.
      a partial solar eclipse
   3. C.
      a total solar eclipse          
   4. D.
      a sunset with the annularity
3. 3.

   People       can enjoy the longest duration of the annularity on Friday.

   1. A.
      in Africa   
   2. B.
      in India     
   3. C.
      in China    
   4. D.
      on the Indian Ocean
4. 4.

   Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

   1. A.
      The annularity will end in Shandong Province.
   2. B.
      The annularity can be seen by people all over China.
   3. C.
      The phenomenon is an exciting one to the astronomers only.
   4. D.
      A partial eclipse occurs when a ring of light encircles the shadow of the moon.