科普英语第一篇
It all started with a big bang!
The universe is everything that exists, the planets, stars, galaxies, and all the contents of space. It is thought that the universe was created about 13.7 billion years ago with a huge explosion known as the Big Bang. The Big Bang is a theory about the beginning of the universe. Since the Big Bang the universe has been growing all the time. It is said to be at least 10 billion light years in diameter. A light year is a unit of length. It is about 9.5 trillion km the distance light can travel in a year.
A galaxy is a system of millions or billions of stars, with gas and dust, held together by gravity. There are three kinds of galaxies, spiral, elliptical, and irregular. The only difference between the three is their shape.
We live in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is the home of our solar System and of Earth. It is a spiral galaxy containing 100-400 billion stars and has about 50 billion planets. Galaxies often crash into one another. Even our own galaxy has had others pass right through it. But don’t worry stars are so far apart that the chance of two crashing into each other is very unlikely.
I. Word List
1. universe 宇宙
2. exist 存在
3. planet 星球
4. galaxy 银河
5. space 空间
6. It is thought that 人们认为
7. create 创造
8. explosion 爆炸
9. the Big Bang 大爆炸10. light year 光年
11. diameter 直径
12. a unit of length 长度单位
13. distance 距离
14. trillion万亿
15. millions 百万
16. billions 十亿
17. gas 气体
18. dust 尘埃
19. gravity 重力
20. spiral 螺旋形的
21. elliptical 椭圆形的
22. irregular 不规则的
23. shape 形状
24. solar system 太阳系
25. crash 撞击
26. unlikely 不可能的
II. Fill in the blank without referring back to the text:
universe space least years of
Since length explosion ago travel
The ___________ is everything that exists, the planets, stars, galaxies, and all the contents of ___________. It is thought that the universe was created about 13.7 billion years ___________ with a huge ___________ known as the Big Bang. The Big Bang is a theory about the beginning ___________ the universe. ___________ the Big Bang the universe has been growing all the time. It is said to be at ___________ 10 billion light ___________ in diameter. A light year is a unit of ___________. It is about 9.5 trillion km the distance light can ___________ in a year.
III. Cloze
A galaxy is a system of millions or billions of stars, with gas and dust, held together __1__ gravity. There are three __2__ of galaxies, spiral, elliptical, and irregular. The only __3__ between the three is __4__ shape.
We live in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is the home of our solar __5__ and of Earth. It is a spiral galaxy containing 100-400 billion __6__ and has about 50 billion planets. Galaxies often __7__ into one another. Even our own galaxy has had others pass right through it. But don’t __8__ stars are so far apart __9__ the chance of two crashing into each other is very __10__.
1. A. by B. in C. on
2. A. kind B. kinds C. kindness
3. A. different B. differently C. difference
4. A. their B. there C. theirs
5. A. system B. calendar C. eclipse
6. A. star B. stars C. start
7. A. crashes B. crashed C. crash
8. A. worry B. worried C. worrying
9. A. that B. which C. where
10. A. likely B. possible C. unlikely
IV. Choose the right answer:
1. The universe contains the following except __________.
A. planets B. stars C. the big bang
2. People think the universe is created about _______ years ago.
A. 13.7 billion B. 13.7 million C. 13.7 trillion
3. The universe is has been _________ all the time since the big bang.
A. growing B. quiet C. noisy
4. It is said to be at least 10 billion light years in _________.
A. weight B. diameter C. depth
1个
5. A galaxy is a system of millions or billions of stars, with _________.
A. gas B. dust C. Both A and B
6. The only difference among spiral, elliptical, and irregular galaxies is their _________.
A. shape B. area C. weight
7. The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy containing _________ billion stars and has about 50 billion planets.
A. 100-400 B. 10-40 C. 1-4
8. We ________ worry about the stars passing and crashing into the Earth.
A. needn’t B. must C. mustn’t
VI. Supplementary Reading:
UFO (不明飞行物)
A UFO is the reported sighting of an object or light seen in the sky or on land, whose appearance, trajectory(轨迹), actions, motions, lights, and colors do not have a logical, conventional, or natural explanation, and which cannot be explained, not only by the original witness, but by scientists or technical experts who try to make a common sense identification after examining the evidence. UFOs (sometimes called flying saucers) became widely discussed only after the first widely publicized U.S. sighting in 1947. Many thousands of such observations have since been reported worldwide.
At least 90 percent of UFO sightings can be identified as conventional objects, although time-consuming investigations are often necessary for such identification. The objects most often mistaken for UFOs are bright planets and stars, aircraft, birds, balloons, kites, aerial flares, peculiar clouds, meteors, and satellites. The remaining sightings most likely can be attributed to other mistaken sightings or to inaccurate reporting, hoaxes(恶作剧), or delusions, although to disprove all claims made about UFOs is impossible.
From 1947 to 1969 the U.S. Air Force investigated UFOs as a possible threat to national security. A total of 12,618 reports was received, of which 701 reports, or 5.6 percent, were listed as unexplained. The air force concluded that “no UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever given any indication of threat to our national security.” Since 1969 no agency of the U.S. government has had any active program of UFO investigation.
In 1997 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) admitted that the U.S. military had deceived the American public in an effort to hide information about high-altitude spy planes. These planes, the Lockheed U-2A(美国头号军火商洛克西德-马丁公司(Lockheed Martin)生产的侦察机) and the Lockheed SR-71, accounted for over half of the UFO reports during the late 1950s and 1960s.
Some persons nevertheless believe that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft, even though no scientifically valid evidence supports that belief. The possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations is not the stumbling block; most scientists grant that intelligent life may well exist elsewhere in the universe. A fully convincing UFO photograph of a craftlike object has yet to be taken, however, and the scientific method(科学方法论) requires that highly speculative explanations should not be adopted unless all of the more ordinary explanations can be ruled out.
UFO enthusiasts persist, however, and some persons even claim to have been abducted and taken aboard UFOs. No one has produced scientifically acceptable proof of these claims.
2010年科普英语初赛回顾总结：
http://ww123.net/viewthread.php? ... D1%26cycleid%3D1008
科普英语初赛周六16：30-18：30，周日13：00-15：00科普英语低年级组各还有1个名额。
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