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物) from the earth.This idea may sound like something from a science fiction (科幻小说), but it is
actually being taken seriously by many researchers.
This suggested future for the "red planet" will be the main topic for discussion at an international
conference hosted by NASA (美国宇航局) this week.Leading researchers as well as science fiction
writers will attend the event.It comes as NASA is preparing a multibilliondollar Mars research programme."Turning Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction, "said Dr Michael Meyer, NASA's senior scientist for astrobiology (太空生物学). "Now, with scientists exploring the reality, we can
ask what are the real possibilities of changing Mars."
Most scientists agree that Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money
would be needed to achieve this goal.
But many experts are shocked by the idea."We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable
speed and now we are talking about ruining another planet, " said Paul Murdin, of the Institute of
Astronomy, Cambridge, UK.Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident they
will find Martian life forms.Europe and America's robot explorers have found proof that water, mixed
with soil, exists in large amounts on the planet.
In addition, two different groups of scientistsannounced on March 28 that they had found signs of
methane (甲烷) in the Martian atmosphere (大气). The gas is a waste product of living creatures and
could be produced by microbes (微生物) living in the red planet's soil.
But scientists such as Dr Lisa Pratt, a biologist at Indiana University, say that these microbes will be
put in danger by the little earth project."Before we have even discovered if there is life on Mars, we are
talking about carrying out projects that would destroy all these native life forms, all the strange microbes
that we hope to find buried in the soil, " said Dr Pratt.This view is shared by Monica Grady, a planetary
scientist at the Natural History Museum, London."We cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious information we are looking for." she said, "This is just wrong."
1. The passage is about________.
A. a plan turning Mars into a little earth
B. the necessity of changing Mars
C. Mars supporting life
D. finding water in the Mars
2. Which of the following is NOT the reason why some scientists are against the plan?
A. The project would wipe out all the native life forms on the Mars.
B. The project will cost too much money and work.
C. We would ruin Mars.
D. We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed.
3. We can infer from the passage that________.
A. water is a crucial factor for life
B. the project will have little effect on the native life forms supposed to live on the Mars
C. Monica Grady is in favour of carrying out the little earth project
D. the idea turning Mars into a little earth is nothing but a science fiction
4. Which of the following supports the conclusion of microbes living in the Mars soil?
A. Scientists found liquid water in the Mars.
B. Scientists found signs of methane in the Martianatmosphere.
C. Scientists found a lot of good soil on the Mars.
D. Scientists found some creatures living on the Mars.
being taken seriously by many researchers.
This suggested future for the "red planet" will be the main topic for discussion at an international
conference hosted by NASA (美国宇航局) this week. Leading researchers as well as science fiction
writers will attend the event. It comes as NASA is preparing a multibilliondollar Mars research
programme. "Turning Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction," said Dr Michael
Meyer, NASA's senior scientist for astrobiology (太空生物学). "Now, with scientists exploring the
reality, we can ask what are the real possibilities of changing Mars."
Most scientists agree that Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money
would be needed to achieve this goal.
But many experts are shocked by the idea.“We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable
speed and now we are talking about ruining another planet, ” said Paul Murdin, of the Institute of
Astronomy, Cambridge, UK. Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident they
will find Martian life forms.Europe and America's robot explorers have found proof that water, mixed
with soil, exists in large amounts on the planet.
In addition, two different groups of scientistsannounced on March 28 that they had found signs of
methane (甲烷) in the Martian atmosphere (大气). The gas is a waste product of living creatures and
could be produced by microbes (微生物) living in the red planet's soil.
But scientists such as Dr Lisa Pratt, a biologist at Indiana University, say that these microbes will be
put in danger by the little earth project. "Before we have even discovered if there is life on Mars, we are
talking about carrying out projects that would destroy all these native life forms, all the strange microbes
that we hope to find buried in the soil," said Dr Pratt.This view is shared by Monica Grady, a planetary
scientist at the Natural History Museum, London. "We cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious information we are looking for." she said, "This is just wrong."
B. the necessity of changing Mars
C. Mars supporting life
D. finding water in the Mars
B. The project will cost too much money and work.
C. We would ruin Mars.
D. We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed.
B. the project will have little effect on the native life forms supposed to live on the Mars
C. Monica Grady is in favour of carrying out the little earth project
D. the idea turning Mars into a little earth is nothing but a science fiction
B. Scientists found signs of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
C. Scientists found a lot of good soil on the Mars.
D. Scientists found some creatures living on the Mars.
The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to present all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his word, “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill（钻孔） deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above 0??C. The seeds will be protected behind walls a meter thick and high-security door.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will e from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below 0??C. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s safest gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first put forward the idea in the 1980s. But safety concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
The project is meant to ______.
A．increase the world’s food output in the future
B．carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C．build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
D．protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A．The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B．Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousands years ago.
C．Spitsbergen is chosen because it is free of the nuclear war forever.
D．Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
We can infer from the text that _______.
A．Norway had meant to build the storage centre about 20 years before.
B．The storage center will greatly promote world agriculture
C．People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year.
D．There haven’t been any seed storage centres in the world before.
What is probably the best title of the passage?
A．The Best Place to Store Seeds
B．Noah’s Ark（诺亚方舟）of Plant Seeds in Plan
C．Concerns of World Food Supply
D．A New Way to Feed the World
查看习题详情和答案>>The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to present all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spits Bergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his word, “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above 0ºC. The seeds will be protected behind concrete walls a meter thick and high-security door.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present al the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below 0ºC. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s most secure gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first proposed the idea in the 1980s. But security concerns delayed the plan.
1．The project is meant to ______.
A．increase the world’s food output in the future
B．carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C．protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
D．build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
2．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A．The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B．Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousands years ago.
C．Spits Bergen is chosen because it is free of the threat unclear war forever.
D．Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
3．We can infer from the text that _______.
A．People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year.
B．The storage center will greatly promote world agriculture
C．Norway had meant to build the storage centre about 20 years before.
D．There haven’t been any seed storage centres in the world before.
4．What is probably the best title of the passage?
A．The Best Place to Store Seeds
B．Noah’s Ark（诺亚方舟）of Plant Seeds in Plan
C．Concerns of World Food Supply
D．A New Way to Feed the World
查看习题详情和答案>>The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to present all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on earth.
An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his word, “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above 0ºC. The seeds will be protected behind walls a meter thick and high-security door.
The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below 0ºC. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.
Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s most reliable gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first proposed the idea in the 1980s. But security concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
64．The project is meant to ______.
A．increase the world’s food output in the future
B．carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
C．protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
D．build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
65．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
A．The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
B．Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousands years ago.
C．Spitsbergen is chosen because it is free of the threat unclear war forever.
D．Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
66．We can infer from the text that _______.
A．People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year.
B．The storage center will greatly promote world agriculture
C．Norway had meant to build the storage centre about 30 years before.
D．There haven’t been any seed storage centers in the world before.
67．What is probably the best title of the passage?
A．The Best Place to Store Seeds
B．Noah’s Ark（诺亚方舟）of Plant Seeds in Plan
C．Concerns of World Food Supply
D．A New Way to Feed the World
查看习题详情和答案>>