题目内容
Edmund Halley was an English scientist who lived over 200 years ago. He studied the observations of comets（彗星）which other scientists had made. The orbit of one particular comet was a very difficult mathematical problem. He could not figure it out. Neither could other scientists who deal with such problems.
However, Halley had a friend, named Isaac Newton, who was a brilliant mathematician. Newton thought he had already worked out that problem, but he could not find the papers on which he had done it. He told Halley that the orbit of a comet had the shape of an ellipse（椭圆形）.
Now Halley set to work. He figured out the other orbits of some of the comets that had been observed by scientists. He made a surprising discovery. The comets that had appeared in the years 1531, 1607, and 1682 all had the same orbit. Yet their appearances had been 75 to 76 years apart.
This seemed very strange to Halley. Three different comets followed the same orbit. The mare Halley thought about it, the more he thought that there had not been three different comets, as people thought. He decided that they had simply seen the same comet three times. The comet had gone away and had come back again.
It was an astonishing idea! He decided that his comet would appear in the year 1758. There were 53 years to go before Halley's prediction（预言）could be tested.
In 1758 the comet appeared in the sky. Halley did not see it, for he had died some years before. Ever since then that comet had been called Halley's comet, in his honor.
(1) Edmund Halley figured out the orbit of _________.
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A．some different comets appearing several times
B．the same comet appearing at different times
C．three different comets appearing three times
D．several comets appearing at the same time
(2) Halley made his discovery ________.
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A．by doing experiments
B．by means of his own careful observation
C．by using the work of other scientists
D．by chance
(3) Halley made a surprising, but correct prediction in the year ________.
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(4) This passage in general is about ________.
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A．Halley and other scientists
B．the orbit of a comet
C．Newton and Halley
D．Halley and his discovery
(5) Which of the following is true?
A．Edmund Halley was an American scientist.
B．Halley made his discovery by doing experiments.
C．Isaac Newton was a famous mathematician.
D．The orbit of a comet had the shape of a round.
解析：
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(1) 文章第四段中提到“He decided that they bad simply seen the same comet three time.”（他觉得他们只看见了同样的彗星三次）．而且上段也提到看到彗星的时间分别是1531年、1607年、1682年．可见，B项为正确答案．(2) 根据文章第一段中的“He studied the observations of which other scientists had made.”可见哈雷的发现是在研究其他科学家们的观察中得出来的，所以正确答案是C．(3) 通过文中的“He decided that his comet would appear in the year 1758.There were 52years to go before Halley's prediction could be tested.”这句话告诉我们；他预言彗星出现的时间是1758年，而在这个预言得到证实之前过了53年．由此可推知哈雷做出这个预言的时间是1705年．所以正确的答案为B．(4) 综观全文，不难看出，文章的中心就是讲埃德蒙·哈雷以及他的发现，所以选D项．(5) 此题可采取排除法解．从文章首句中可以看出A项错误，哈雷是个英国科学家，并非美国人；从第二题的分析中，我们可知B项错误；牛顿告诉哈雷彗星的轨道是椭圆形的，由可排除D项；只有C项为正确的答案． |
