09雅思阅读实战训练(六)

　　Search begins for ‘Earth‘ beyond solar system

　　Staff and agencies

　　Wednesday December 27， 2006

　　Guardian Unlimited

　　1. A European spacecraft took off today to spearhead the search for another Earth among the stars.

　　2. The Corot space telescope blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan shortly after 2.20pm.

　　3. Corot， short for convection rotation and planetary transits， is the first instrument capable of finding small rocky planets beyond the solar system. Any such planet situated in the right orbit stands a good chance of having liquid water on its surface， and quite possibly life， although a leading scientist involved in the project said it was unlikely to find any little green men.

　　4. Developed by the French space agency， CNES， and partnered by the European Space Agency ， Austria， Belgium， Germany， Brazil and Spain， Corot will monitor around 120，000 stars with its 27cm telescope from a polar orbit 514 miles above the Earth. Over two and a half years， it will focus on five to six different areas of the sky， measuring the brightness of about 10，000 stars every 512 seconds.

　　5. At the present moment we are hoping to find out more about the nature of planets around stars which are potential habitats. We are looking at habitable planets， not inhabited planets. We are not going to find any little green men， Professor Ian Roxburgh， an ESA scientist who has been involved with Corot since its inception， told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

　　6. Prof Roxburgh said it was hoped Corot would find rocky planets that could develop an atmosphere and， if they are the right distance from their parent star， they could have water.

　　7. To search for planets， the telescope will look for the dimming of starlight caused when an object passes in front of a star， known as a transit. Although it will take more sophisticated space telescopes planned in the next 10 years to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet with oxygen and liquid water， Corot will let scientists know where to point their lenses.

　　8. Measurements of minute changes in brightness will enable scientists to detect giant Jupiter-like gas planets as well as small rocky ones. It is the rocky planets - that could be no bigger than about twice the size of the Earth - which will cause the most excitement. Scientists expect to find between 10 and 40 of these smaller planets.

　　9. Corot will also probe into stellar interiors by studying the acoustic waves that ripple across the surface of stars， a technique called asteroseismology.

　　10. The nature of the ripples allows astronomers to calculate a star‘s precise mass， age and chemical composition.

　　11. A planet passing in front of a star can be detected by the fall in light from that star. Small oscillations of the star also produce changes in the light emitted， which reveal what the star is made of and how they are structured internally. This data will provide a major boost to our understanding of how stars form and evolve， Prof Roxburgh said.

　　12. Since the discovery in 1995 of the first exoplanet - a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun - more than 200 others have been found by ground-based observatories.

　　13. Until now the usual method of finding exoplanets has been to detect the wobble their gravity imparts on parent stars. But only giant gaseous planets bigger than Jupiter can be found this way， and they are unlikely to harbour life.

　　14. In the 2010s， ESA plans to launch Darwin， a fleet of four or five interlinked space telescopes that will not only spot small rocky planets， but analyse their atmospheres for signs of biological activity.

　　15. At around the same time， the US space agency， Nasa， will launch Terrestrial Planet Finder， another space telescope designed to locate Earth-like planets.

　　Choose the appropriate letter from A-D for question 1.

　　1. Corot is an instrument which

　　can help to search for certain planets

　　is used to find planets in the orbit

　　can locate planets with human beings

　　can spot any planets with water.

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? For questions 2-5 write

　　TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

　　FALSE if the statement contraicts the information

　　NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

　　2. Scientists are trying to find out about the planets that can be inhabited.

　　3. BBC Radio 4 recently focuses on the broadcasting of Corot.

　　4. Passing objects might cause a fall in light.

　　5. Corot can tell whether there is another Earth-like planet.

　　Based on your reading of the passage， complete the sentences below with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

　　With measurements， scientists will be able to search for some gaseous and rocky planets. They will be extremely excited if they can discover some small 6. __________， the expected number of which could be up to 7. __________ .

　　Corot will enable scientists to study the 8. __________ of stars. In this way， a star’s mass， age and chemical composition can be calculated.

　　According to Prof Roxburgh， changes in light can be caused by passing planets or star 9. __________. The related statistics can gain us a better 10. __________ of the star formation and evolvement.

　　Observatories have found many exoplanets， which are 11. __________ other stars than the Sun. The common way used in finding exoplanets can only detect huge gas planets， which do not 12. ___________ .

　　With the launching of Darwin， astronomers will be able to analyse whether those rocky planets have 13. __________ for life.

　　Answer keys:

　　1. 答案：A (第3段第1句：Corot， short for convection rotation and planetary transits， is the first instrument capable of finding small rocky planets beyond the solar system. A项中的certain planets指small rocky planets beyond the solar system.)

　　2. 答案：TRUE (第5段第1、2句： At the present moment we are hoping to find out more about the nature of planets around stars which are potential habitats. We are looking at habitable planets， not inhabited planets. 问题中的“that can be inhabited”意思就是inhabitable.)

　　3. 答案：NOT GIVEN (文中没有提及该。)

　　4. 答案：TRUE (第7段第1句：To search for planets， the telescope will look for the dimming of starlight caused when an object passes in front of a star， known as a transit.)

　　5. 答案：FASLE (第7段第2、3句：Although it will take more sophisticated space telescopes planned in the next 10 years to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet with oxygen and liquid water， Corot will let scientists know where to point their lenses. )

　　6. 答案：rocky planets (第8段第2句：It is the rocky planets - that could be no bigger than about twice the size of the Earth - which will cause the most excitement.)

　　7. 答案：40

　　8. 答案：interiors (第9段第1句： Corot will also probe into stellar interiors by studying the acoustic waves that ripple across the surface of stars， a technique called asteroseismology. 单词probe”的词义是“探查，探索”。)

　　9. 答案：oscillations (第11段第2句：Small oscillations of the star also produce changes in the light emitted， which reveal what the star is made of and how they are structured internally.)

　　10. 答案：understanding (第11段第3句：This data will provide a major boost to our understanding of how stars form and evolve.)

　　11. 答案：orbiting (第12段第1句：Since the discovery in 1995 of the first exoplanet - a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun - more than 200 others have been found by ground-based observatories.)

　　12. 答案：harbour life (第13段：Until now the usual method of finding exoplanets has been to detect the wobble their gravity imparts on parent stars. But only giant gaseous planets bigger than Jupiter can be found this way， and they are unlikely to harbour life.)

　　13. 答案：atmospheres

　　雅思阅读的题型一直是考生比较关注的问题，分析认为主要有以下两个原因：

　　1. 有相对简单和相对费时的题型;

　　2.每个考生都有自己擅长的和较害怕的题型。具体来说：对于词汇不足的考生可能最害怕段落标题匹配题及摘要归纳填空题;对于词汇量较大的考生来说，是非无判断题，段落标题匹配题和摘要归纳填空题可能是比较简单的。选择题和其它匹配题是相对来说比较费时的，所以大部分考生都很害怕这类题型。

　　那么，面对上面所提到的这些情况，考生应该在题型方面怎样备考呢?

　　首先，专家认为考生必须从心理上准备迎接所有的题型，在备考中要尽可能喜欢所有题型。有的考生会一次次地祈祷：“希望这次考试不要有选择题或段落细节信息定位题!”这样做，其实是无形中给自己制造了负面的影响。考试题型不是我们所能预料和控制的，一旦有了上述心理，很有可能一看到题型就慌了，一开始就没有一个好的状态。还有一部份考生喜欢跟着考题回忆和机经走，看到上次考了什么题就在备考中只关注那些题型。考题回忆和机经可以看看，但只能做参考，考生千万不要被它们所左右。否则就是自己给自己制造障碍。

　　其次，考生必须对各类题型的题型特点和答题注意事项了如指掌。雅思阅读考试时间之短，文章之学术性，题量之大，题型之多等特点决定了考生势必会感觉时间不够。考生要在有限的时间内答完所有的题并尽可能地保证较高的正确率确实不是一件容易的事情。考生除了要有一定的词汇量和阅读速度之外，常见的雅思阅读技巧和解题策略是必须的。而解题策略很多时候是建立在考生熟悉题型特点的基础之上的。比如说，考生拿到一篇文章绝不是从第1题接到13题，而是应该分析各组题型的特点和难易，由易到难。同样，考生也可以根据3篇各自的题型来初步判断哪一篇的题型可能对自己比较有利，那篇可能较难，以便能灵活地采取合适的策略。

　　最后，专家建议考生在考前进行练习时，不要光做套题，而应该偶尔穿插一些专题的练习，重点练习自己没什么把握的题型。注意练习时时间的掌控是很重要的，不要给自己30分钟完成6道是非无，那样不能达到训练的目的，不能保证良好的效果。