NASA发现类地行星
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Leading：
人类一直努力寻找宇宙中的其他生命迹象，至今未果，但最近美国国家航空航天局的最新发现似乎意味着一些实质性进展。
For decades，looking for life elsewhere in the universe meant listening for signals that could be from distant civilizations. But recent breakthroughs in space technology refocused some of that effort toward finding planets that may harbor life，even in its primitive form.
When nasa launched the Kepler Space Telescope in 2009， scientists learned something new. “Our galaxy has at least 100 billion planets in it. And we didn’t know that five years ago，”said Matt Mountain，the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Of course，Kepler and today’s other powerful telescopes cannot actually see those planets;they are too faint against the light of their stars. But scientists can measure the change of light when they pass in front of the star and analyze the light passing through their atmosphere to determine what is in it.
“If we were looking at Earth，we would see signs of our sky，our blue sky，we would see signs of oxygen，of carbon-dioxide，of sulfur dioxide from volcanoes and we might even see signs that there was plant life，”said former astronaut John Grunsfeld. “And we see that by dissecting① the light into its component colors.”
Most of the planets discovered so far are unlike Earth. They are too big，too small，too close to their sun，or too far away to support life. But small planets the size of Earth are extremely common. “We’re looking for biological signs，gases that are produced by life，gases that don’t belong in the atmosphere，”said astrophysicist② Sara Seager.
In cooperation with the European Space Agency and scientists from other nations，NASA is building the next generation of space telescopes that may be able to find evidence of life. The James Webb Space Telescope，scheduled to be deployed in 2018，will greatly improve the spectroscopic③ analysis of distant stars and planets. NASA’s chief scientist Ellen Stofan says the agency also plans to look for life on Jupiter’s moon Europa，which may have an ocean under its ice cover. “In our own solar system we know where to go，we know how to measure it and we’re in the process of doing just that. Looking out，beyond our solar system，we’re on the right track，we’re making the right measurements and we’re learning so much，”said Stofan.
Notes：
①dissect v. 解剖;仔细分析
②astrophysicist n. 天体物理学家
③spectroscopic adj. 光谱的
1. The underlined word“harbor” in Paragraph 1 means “______”.
A. hold B. protect
C. spread D. plant
2. Which of the following statements is right？
A. Kepler discovered outer space life in 2009.
B. Our galaxy has 100 billion planets in total.
C. Kepler is powerful enough to see distant planets.
D. Scientists learned something new through Kepler.
3. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 3？
A. Scientists measure the movements of planets.
B. Scientists dissect everything on the Earth.
C. Scientists detect space objects by light analyses.
D. Scientists have clearly seen life signs on other planets.
4. What are the astrophysicists looking for？
A. Planets’ biological signs.
B. Planets’ atmosphere.
C. Planets having gases.
D. Planets as big as Earth.
5. What can we infer after reading the passage？
A. The James Webb Space Telescope will completely replace Kepler.
B. Humans will be able to know more exactly about the universe.
C. The European Space Agency also has found evidence of space life.
D. Jupiter’s moon Europa has shown signs of life.
答案与解析
1.答案为A。词义猜测题。本文是关于发现类似地球的育有生命的行星的科学报道。
2.答案为D。细节理解题。由第二段的第一句可知答案。
3.答案为C。主旨大意题。第三段主要解释科学家怎样通过对光的分析识别行星和行星上的物体。
4.答案为A。细节理解题。由第五段的最后一句可知答案。
5.答案为B。推理判断题。根据最后一段的最后一句可推出答案。
【长难句分析】
1. But recent breakthroughs in space technology refocused some of that effort toward finding planets that may harbor life，even in its primitive form.
分析：本句主句为but recent breakthroughs... toward finding planets，其余部分为that引导的定语从句，修饰先行词plants。
句意：但是太空科技的最新突破让找到孕育生命的行星成为可能，哪怕是很初级的生命形式。
2. But scientists can measure the change of light when they pass in front of the star and analyze the light passing through their atmosphere to determine what is in it.
分析：本句主干为scientists can measure the change of light ... and analyze the light ...，when引导时间状语从句，passing through their atmosphere为现在分词短语，作后置定语，to determine what is in it为不定式，作目的状语。
句意：但是当这些行星运转到恒星前时，科学家可以测量光的变化，并通过分析穿越大气所发出的光，确定行星上的物质。
【语法点拨】
1. Most of the planets discovered so far are unlike Earth.
句意：目前发现的大多数行星都并非类似地球。
2. The James Webb Space Telescope，scheduled to be deployed in 2018，will greatly improve the spectroscopic analysis of distant stars and planets.
句意：定于2018年启用的詹姆斯・韦伯太空望远镜将大大改善对遥远的恒星和行星的光谱分析能力。
分析：两句话都含过去分词（短语）作定语的用法。第一句中是discovered，修饰the planets，第二句中是scheduled to be deployed in 2018，修饰the James Webb Space Telescope，均表示被动和完成。