10.The recent crash landing (強(qiáng)行著陸)of Russian spacecraft Phobos-Grunt has focused attention on the increasing amount of space junk orbiting the planet.So does this mean the Earth has been getting lighter?The BBC's Radio 4programme More or Less turned to a group of Cambridge University academics for the answer.
There are factors that are causing Earth to both gain and lose mass(物體的質(zhì)量) over time,according to Dr Chris Smith,a medical microbiologist and broadcaster who tries to improve the public understanding of science.
By far the biggest contributor to the world's mass is the 40,000tonnes(公噸) of dust that is falling from space to Earth a year,says Dr Smith."The Earth is acting like a giant vacuum cleaner(真空吸塵器)powered by gravity in space,pulling in particles of dust,"
Another much less significant reason the planet is gaining mass is because of global warming.
"NASA has calculated that the Earth is gaining about 160tonnes a year because the temperature of the Earth is going up.If we are adding energy to the system,the mass must go up,"says Dr Smith.
This means that in total between 40,000and 41,000tonnes is being added to the mass of the planet each year.
Population growth and new buildings are not a factor,he says,because both of these are actually made up of existing matter on the planet.
But overall,Dr Smith has calculated that the Earth-including the sea and the atmosphere-is losing mass.He points to a handful of reasons.
For instance,the Earth's core (核心)is like a giant nuclear reactor (反應(yīng)堆)that is gradually losing energy over time,and that loss in energy translates into a loss of mass.But this is a tiny amount-he estimates no more than 16tonnes a year.
But there are some gases such as hydrogen escaping from the atmosphere.Dr Smith says,"The Earth is losing about three kilograms of hydrogen gas every second.It's about 95,000tonnes every year."
"The other very light gas this is happening to is helium(氦)and there is much less of that,so it's about 1,600tonnes a year of helium that we lose."
72.We can learn from the text that Phobos-Grunt most probablyA.
A.faced dangers when travelling in space B.was forced to land by a terrorist
C.bumped into a satellite D.exploded while taking off
73.What can we know about Dr Chris Smith?D
A.He is more interested in broadcasting than science.
B.He is one of the broadcasters of BBC's Radio 4.
C.He never thought the earth would become light.
D.He hopes more people can understand science
74.The underlined word"this"in the last paragraph refers to the fact thatB.
A.the weight of the Earth is changing
B.gases escape from the atmosphere
C.dust is falling from space to the Earth
D.the Earth is getting even warmer
75.We can learn from the textD.
A.the Earth lost much less energy in the past
B.humans can sense the weight loss of the Earth
C.the Earth will become heavier in the near future
D.the Earth can suck up the particles of dust in space.
分析 本文主要講述地球既可以吸收太空中的塵埃,也因?yàn)闅怏w逃離大氣層而失重.
解答 ADBD
72 A 細(xì)節(jié)題. 根據(jù)文章第一 段 The recent crash landing(強(qiáng)行著陸)of Russian spacecraft Phobos-Grunt has focused attention on the increasing amount of space junk orbiting the planet.可知強(qiáng)行著陸意味著Phobos-Grunt 在太空旅行期間面臨著很多危險(xiǎn),故選A.
73 D 細(xì)節(jié)題. 根據(jù)文章第 二段 a medical microbiologist and broadcaster who tries to improve the public understanding of science.可知Dr Chris Smith希望人們更多地了解科學(xué),故選D.
74 B 猜測詞義題. 根據(jù)文章倒數(shù)第二 段there are some gases such as hydrogen escaping from the atmosphere. 可知this指的是一些氣體從大氣中逃離,如如氫.故選B.
75 D 主旨大意題. 根據(jù)文章第三段The Earth is acting like a giant vacuum cleaner(真空吸塵器)powered by gravity in space,pulling in particles of dust,"可知地球就像吸塵器一樣可以吸收太空中的塵埃,故選D.
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