Question

The town of Green Bank, West Virginia, is the site of the largest radio telescope in the world, so Internet connections and anything else that can create electromagnetic(電磁的) waves, such as smart phones and microwave ovens, are banned.

Green Bank is frozen in time, somewhere in the 1950s, because there’s a 33,000-square-kilometer zone of silence due to the telescope. Cell phone towers are forbidden.

The closer you get to the telescope, the greater the restrictions. There’s a 16-kilometer radius(半徑) around the observatory where radio-controlled items, even toys, cannot be used.

Telescope employees even work in a special room that blocks electromagnetic waves from leaving it. “Here imagine a submarine(潛艇), water cannot get inside, and so this room is an electric submarine. No electromagnetic waves can get into this room, just as you can’t go beyond it,” Michael Holstein, an observatory officer, said.

The size of a football field, the telescope is so sensitive that it could pick up signals sent from an alien world. And scientists can’t wait for that to happen.

“All the signals that we now receive with the help of telescopes are signals that come from cosmic objects — stars, galaxies. We have not yet received anything from intelligent civilizations,” scientist Richard Lynch said.

Local people respect the work of the scientists. “Yes, we are different. Many would say that we live the old-fashioned way, in the past. But for us, it’s just the way of life that we have always lived,” Sherry said.

“When we want to meet friends, we just call each other on a wire phone. And instead of sitting in front of your screen, we talk, we go fishing, to the mountains,” resident Sherry said.

For the latest news, residents read the weekly local newspaper. When she’s looking for a phone number, Sherry reaches for the phone book.

And instead of Facebook, Sherry enjoys daily conversations with her customers. In this town, everyone knows each other and communication is face to face.

1.Why do people in Green Bank live an old-fashioned life?

A. The town is economically less developed.

B. Electronic products will affect the radio telescope.

C. They have got used to it and don’t want to change.

D. The radio telescope stops electronic products working properly.

2.What can we learn about the radio telescope?

A. It was set up about in the 1950s.

B. It is in a room without electromagnet.

C. It is 16-kilometer in radius.

D. It has picked up signals from aliens.

3.How do the local people feel about their life?

A. Inspired. B. Unhappy.

C. Content. D. Worried.

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A. High tech with traditional life at Green Bank

B. Radio telescope to receive alien signals

C. The largest radio telescope in the world

D. Old-fashioned life at Green Bank

Answer 1