1、专业英语八级（阅读）练习试卷 39及答案与解析 0 Was the Red Planet once a wet planet? A plucky Martian rover finally delivers some hard evidence. Giovanni Schiaparelli could have told you there had been water on Mars. It was Schiaparelli who peered through his telescope one evening in 1877 and discovered what he took to
2、be the Red Planets famous canals. As it turned out, the canals were an optical illusion, but as more powerful telescopes and, later, spacecraft zoomed in for closer looks, there was no shortage of clues suggesting that Mars was once awash in water. Photographs shot from orbit show vast plains that r
3、esemble ancient sea floors, steep gorges that would dwarf the Grand Canyon and sinuous surface scars that look an awful lot like dry riverbeds. Given all that, why were NASA scientists so excited last week to announce that one of their Mars rovers, having crawled across the planet for five weeks, fi
4、nally determined that Mars, at some point in its deep past, was indeed “drenched“to use NASAs termwith liquid water? Part of their excitement probably stems from sheer failure fatigue. NASA has had its share of setbacks in recent yearsincluding a few disastrous missions to Mars. So it was with some
5、relief that leading investigator Steve Squyres announced that the rover Opportunity had accomplished its primary mission. “The puzzle pieces have been falling into place,“ he told a crowded press conference, “and the last piece fell into place a few days ago.“ But there was also, for the NASA team,
6、the pleasure that comes from making a genuine contribution to space science. For despite all the signs pointing to Mars watery past, until Opportunity poked its instruments into the Martian rocks, nobody was really sure how real that water was. At least some of the surface formations that look water
7、 carved could have been formed by volcanism and wind. Just two years ago, University of Colorado researchers published a persuasive paper suggesting that any water on Mars was carried in by crashing comets and then quickly evaporated. The experiments that put that theory to restand nailed down the p
8、resence of water for goodwere largely conducted on one 10-in.-high, 65-ft.-wide rock outcropping in the Meridiani Planum that mission scientists dubbed El Capitan. The surface of the formation is made up of fine layerscalled parallel laminationsthat are often laid down by minerals settling out of wa
9、ter. The rock is also randomly pitted with cavities called vugs that created when salt crystals form in briny water and then fall out or dissolve away. Chemical analyses of El Capitan, performed with two different spectrometers, support the visual evidence. They show that it is rich in sulfates know
10、n to form in the presence of water as well as a mineral called jarosite, which not only forms in water but also actually contains a bit of water trapped in its matrix. The most intriguing evidence comes in the form of the BB-size spherulesor “blueberries,“ as NASA calls themscattered throughout the
11、rock. Spheres like these can be formed either by volcanism or by minerals accreting under water, but the way the blueberries are mixed randomly through the rocknot layered on top, as they would have been after a volcanic eruptionstrongly suggests the latter. None of these findings are dispositive, b
12、ut their combined weight persuaded NASA scientists to summarize their findings in unusually explicit language. “We have concluded that the rocks here were soaked with liquid water,“ said Squyres flatly. “The ground would have been suitable for life.“ Does that mean that there wasor still islife on M
13、ars? The fossil record on Earth suggests that given enough time and H20, life will eventually emerge, but theres nothing in the current findings to prove that this happened on Mars. Without more knowledge of such variables as temperature, atmosphere and the length of time Martian water existed, we c
14、ant simply assume that what happened on our planet would necessarily occur on another. Opportunity and its twin robot Spirit are not equipped to search for life. Their mission is limited to looking for signs of water. But theres still a lot for them to do. Just knowing that rocks were wet doesnt tel
15、l you if the water was flowing or stationary, if it melted down from ice caps or seeped up through the ground. And if water was once there in such abundance, where did it go? Opportunity, which is very likely to exceed its planned 90-day mission, is already looking for those answers, toddling off to
16、 investigate other rocks farther and farther from its landing site. Spirit is conducting its own studies in Gusev Crater, on the opposite side of the planet. The next stepthe search for lifewill have to wait until 2013 or so. Thats when NASA has tentatively scheduled the first round trip to Marsa mi
17、ssion that will pluck selected rocks off the Red Planet and bring them back home for closer study. Whether humans will ever follow those machinesPresident Bushs January announcement notwithstandingis impossible to say. 1 Which of the following provides the hard evidence that Mars was once a wet plan
18、et? （ A） Schiaparelli （ B） spacecraft （ C） photographs shot from orbit （ D） Martian rover Opportunity 2 The fact that there was water on Mars brings NASA the following with the exception of _. （ A） relief （ B） fatigue （ C） excitement （ D） pleasure 3 According to the passage, the formations on the su
19、rface of Mars could have been formed by the following except _. （ A） wind （ B） volcanoes （ C） earthquakes （ D） water brought by comets 4 Which of the following is NOT true about the “blueberries“ on the surface of Mars? （ A） They were scattered everywhere on the top of the rock. （ B） They were scatt
20、ered here and there through the rock. （ C） They may have been formed by minerals that accreted in water. （ D） They are actually the size of BB spherules. 5 The rover Opportunity is doing the following except _. （ A） It needs to search for life. （ B） It needs to know where the water came from. （ C） I
21、t needs to know where the water on Mars went. （ D） It needs to make clear the state of the water on Mars. 5 Even if prices shoot back toward $50 a barrel, that wont wean the world from oil. Only government can do that. Is the internal-combustion engine dead? Listening to all the voices calling hybri
22、d vehicles the future of transportation, you might think so. Alternative energy is back in style among the chattering classes. But oil prices would have to go a lot higher to make so-called renewablessuch as solar and wind energycommercially viable. That means their future wont be decided by changin
23、g consumer tastes or market conditions, but by government policy. These are facts. Any oil company will use Whatever energy source makes economic sense, since its basic mission is not to pump oil. Its to create value from energy. We figure the cost of one kilowatt of solar power at a minimum of five
24、 times the cost of oil power, even when oil is hovering near $50 a barrelthe recent record high, which we never expected to hold up for long. Solar power is even less competitive against cheaper fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, and relies on mature technology. A radically new technologyperhap
25、s replacing the silicon in photovoltaic cells with polymerswill be needed to make solar cost-effective. That day is at least 20 years off. Wind is closer than solar to becoming competitive with fossil fuels, but its capacity to supply large amounts of energy is limited. And even the most modern wind
26、mills have inspired a popular backlash on esthetic grounds. Many energy industrialists think nuclear is the answer, but they rely on a misleading analysis of its cost competitiveness. Even if you ignore the political concerns surrounding nuclear waste, producers often fail to correctly calculate the
27、 real price of electricity produced from nuclear energy. It costs about as much to close a nuclear plant as it does to build a new one, which is why nuclear power companies are now lobbying worldwide to delay planned plant closings. Moreover, it seems the height of folly to think that highly sensiti
28、ve industrialized countries, where not-in-my-backyard outrage flourishes, will make it possible to site a single new plant, let alone create an entire energy-development plan. Theres also a lot of fuzzy talk about things like hybrid homes and cars. Many analysts note that while consumers still pay a
29、 lot more for hybrid cars than they can make back in gas savings, this gap is closing. What this line of reasoning ignores is that no technology competes only against itself, and combustion engines are rapidly evolving, too. The rush to innovate is led by the makers of diesel engines, which nearly m
30、atch the gas efficiency of hybrids, but at much lower cost to consumers. Diesel also cuts greenhouse emissions by 30 to 40 percent compared with gas. The conclusion is that even with real oil prices at their highest levels in 20 years, no alternative can compete head-to-head with fossil fuels on a s
31、cale broad enough to challenge their market dominance. Given this outlook, market forces wont wean society away from oil, gas and coal. Only government can do this. And since the late 1970s and early 1980s, public funding for R more rigid mileage and emissions standards for automakers, and incentive
32、s to retire old cars and buy cleaner new ones. The transportation sector is crucial, since it will account for about 80 percent of the growth in world oil consumption over the next 25 years. These measures would motivate automakers to step up research, development and production of new cars and enco
33、urage consumers to buy them. But knowing the best road doesnt guarantee that society will take it. 6 Which of the following about solar power is NOT true? （ A） It is cost inefficient. （ B） It needs high technology. （ C） Solar energy even cannot compete with wind. （ D） Todays high oil prices make sol
34、ar power commercially feasibl 7 Which of the following is TRUE about nuclear? （ A） Nuclear is cost efficient. （ B） Nuclear is the alternative energy to oil. （ C） Industrialized countries are not likely to build any new plant. （ D） Industrialized countries will make a nuclear energy-development plan.
35、 8 Which of the following is NOT true about sport utility vehicle? （ A） The increase in oil demand in America is largely due to SUV. （ B） It consumes more oil than other passenger vehicles. （ C） No politicians would attack the use of SUV. （ D） SUVs are a kind of light trucks. 9 “Outlays“ in the seve
36、nth paragraph is closest in meaning to _. （ A） taxes （ B） money （ C） incentives （ D） tax increases 10 What does the last paragraph suggest? （ A） It is not likely that new energy resources will be adopted. （ B） More tax will be levied on oil products. （ C） People will become less dependent on oil. （ D） People will buy cleaner new cars. 专业英语八级（阅读）练习试卷 39答案与解析
