Astronomers (天文學(xué)家) say they are on the point of finding planets like Earth orbiting other stars, which is a key step in determining if we are alone in the universe.

A top NASA official and other leading scientists say that within four or five years they should discover the first Earth-like planet where life could develop, or may have already. A planet close to the size of Earth could even be found sometime this year.

At the annual American Astronomical Society conference this week, each discovery involving  so-called “exoplanets” —those outside our solar system — pointed to the same conclusion：Quiet planets like Earth where life could develop probably are plentiful.

NASA’s Dew Kepler telescope and a lot of new research from the suddenly hot and competitive exoplanet field caused noticeable buzz at the meeting．Scientists are talking about being at “an incredible special place in history” and closer to answering the question. “Are we alone? For the first time, there’s an optimism that sometime in our lifetimes we’re going to get to the bottom of that,” said Simon Worden，an astronomer who heads NASA’s Ames Research Center. “If I were a betting man, which I am, I would bet we’re not alone.”

“These are big questions that reflect upon the meaning of the human race in the universe,” the director of the Vatican Observatory, the Rev. Jose Funes, said Wednesday in an interview at this week’s conference.

Worden told The Associated Press: “I would certainly expect in the next four or five years we’d have an Earth-sized planet in the habitable (可居住的) zone.”

What is very important in determining if we are alone in the universe?

A. Finding an Earth-like planet.        B. Orbiting other stars.

C. Developing new telescopes.      D. Finding more exoplanets.

What’s an exoplanet?

A. It’s a planet like Earth.         B. It’s a planet outside our solar system.

C. It’s a planet orbiting the sun.   D. It’s a planet where life have developed.

The underlined phrase “get to the bottom of” probably means “__________”.

A. understand fully    B. make full use of

C. search for         D. do more research on   

From the passage we can learn that __________.

A. an Earth-like planet has been found

B. it’s been proved we are not alone in the universe

C. Jose Funes has found the meaning of the human race in the universe

D. the discovery of an Earth-like planet could happen in the near future

【小題1】A

【小題2】B

【小題3】A

【小題4】D

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But don't   1   it to be blue - the name has nothing to   2   the color of our closest celestial（天體） neighbor.

A full moon   3   on December 2. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year's countdown.

"If you're in Times Square, you'll see the   4   moon right above you. It's going to be that brilliant," said Jack Horkheimer, director emeritus of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of a weekly astronomy TV show.

The New Year's Eve blue moon will be   5   in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up  6   New Year's Day, making January a blue moon month for them.

However, the Eastern Hemisphere can celebrate with a partial lunar eclipse（月蝕） on New Year's Eve when  7   of the moon enters the Earth's shadow. The   8   will not be visible in the Americas.

A full moon occurs   9   29.5 days, and most years have 12.  10  , an extra full moon in a month - a blue moon - occurs every 2.5 years. The   11   time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. New Year's Eve blue moons are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won't   12    again until 2028.

Blue moons have no astronomical   13   , said Greg Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

"`Blue moon' is just a   14   in the same sense as a `hunter's moon' or a `harvest moon,'" Laughlin said in an e-mail.

The popular definition of blue moon   15   after a writer for Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946 misunderstood the Maine Farmer's Calendar and marked a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. In fact, the calendar   16   a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, not the usual three.

Though Sky & Telescope corrected the  17   decades later, the definition caught on. For purists（語言純正癖者）, however, this New Year's Eve full moon doesn't even qualify as a   18   moon. It's just the first full moon of the winter season.

In a tongue-in-cheek essay   19   on the magazine's Web site this week, senior contributing editor Kelly Beatty wrote: "If skies are clear when I'm    20  celebrating, I'll take a peek（瞇著眼睛看） at that brilliant orb（天體） as it rises over the Boston skyline to see if it's an icy shade of blue. Or maybe I'll just howl."

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(   ) 2. A. deal with            B. do with                   C. develop with     D. form into

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A．for；inB．a(chǎn)fter；for
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Still waiting for little green men to make contact? Don't hold your breath.
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B．We can communicate with aliens in decades.
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(D)
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