英語六級沖刺閱讀訓練原文

　　Yet a small group of advanced life-forms on Earth begs to differ. and theorizes that bizarremicrobial ecosystems might have once populated Venus and. in fact. may be there still.Members of this loose band of researchers suggest that their colleagues have water too muchon the brain, and are, in a sense, H2O chauvinists(盲目的愛國者).

　　"Astrobiologists are neglecting Venus due more io narrow thinking than actual knowledge of theenvironment,or environments. where life can thrive." says Dirk Schulze-Makuch, ageobiologist at the University of Texas at El Paso who recently co-authored a Venus-boostingpaper in Astrobiology wich colleague Louis Irwin.

　　The bias against life on Venus is partly rooted in our own biology. Human experience instructsthat liquidwater, preferably lot of it. is essential for life. In search for extraterrestrial life, weobsess over small rivers in Mars' surface apparently carved by ancient gushes of water. anddelight in hints of permafrost (永久凍結帶) just underneath its surface. (By comparison. Venusisn't even that interesting to look at:A boring cue ball (臺球的白色母球) for backyardastronomers, its clouds reflects 75% of visible light.) Attention and then funding follow thewater: Three more landers will depart for Mars this spring. and serious plans for sample-returnmissions hover in the midterm future.

　　"If you have limited resources, you base exploration on what you know." says Arizona StateUniversity planetary geologist Ronal Greeley. It's like losing your keys on the way home alnight: The first place you look is under the streetlights not because they're more likely to bethere. but because if they are. you’llspot them. For astrobiologists. the streetlights are thespectral (光譜的) lines for water. and they've spotted that potential on Mars, Jupiter's moonEuropa. even Neptune's moon Triton. Not on the baking rocky flats of Venus.

　　英語六級沖刺閱讀訓練題目

　　1. Venus is the hottest of all the nine planets in the solar systembecause_____________.

　　A) it is not so close to the sun as Mercury

　　B) many volcanoes spread the whole planet

　　C) it is covered by a thick layer of cloud

　　D) greenhouse effect is uncontrollable on it

　　2. Some planetologists believed there had never been lives on Venusbecause____________.

　　A) they couldn't find any trace of water on it

　　B) they found Venus is too hot for any Jives

　　C) Venus is covered by dirty and poisonous cloud

　　D) Venus is the second nearest planet to the sun

　　3. It can be inferred from the passage that the small group of advanced lifeforms onEarth believed that_____________.

　　A) life could exist in hot environment

　　B) life could exist without water

　　C) there are still lives on Venus

　　D) There used to be lives on Mars

　　4. What do we learn from the passage about Venus and Mars?

　　A) The atmospheric pressure of Venus is stronger than that of Mars.

　　B) Venus attracts more attention and funding than Mars.

　　C) Venus is closer to the sun than Mars.

　　D) Venus looks more beautiful than Mars.

　　5. The purpose of the co-authored paper by Dirk Schulze-Makuch and Louis Irwin wasto_______.

　　A) introduce their findings about Venus

　　B) promote the exploration of Venus

　　C) convince others that there used to be lives on Venus

　　D) criticize omer scientists that they are narrow-minded

　　英語六級沖刺閱讀訓練答案

　　1.金星是太陽系九大行星里面最熱的，因為__________________。

　　A)它不像水星一樣離太陽這么近

　　B)整個行星上有太多的火山了

　　C)它被一層很厚的云層所籠罩

　　D)金星上的溫室效應無法得到控制

　　[D]從首段第3、4句可以推斷，金星比其他行星都熱，是因為溫室效應肆虐，因此本題選D。A關于金星離太陽的距離，B關于金星上的火山，C關于覆蓋金星的云層，都在這一段中提到，雖然按照常理，這些因素都可能使某個地方的溫度上升，但它們均無原文依據，故可排除。

　　2.一些行星學家認為，金星上不曾存在過生命，因為_____________。

　　A)他們沒有發現金星上有水的遺跡

　　B)他們認為金星溫度太高，不可能存在任何生命

　　C)金星被骯臟有毒的云層所籠罩

　　D)金星是離太陽第二近的行星

　　[A]文中多處從正面和反面表明，一些科學家相信Venus上沒有生命是因為那里沒有水。正面的依據如第5段開頭兩句及末段;反面的依據如第3段中的那個研究地球高級生命形式的小團體對認為Venus上沒有生命的看法的駁斥;由此可見，本題答案應為A。

　　3.從文章中可以推斷，一個研究地球高級生命形式的小團體認為______________。

　　A)生命是可以在很熱的環境里存在的

　　B)沒有水也可以存在生命

　　C)金星上現在還有生命

　　D)火星上曾經存在過生命

　　[B]第3段末句表明，這一個小團體的研究人員認為那些宣稱Venus上沒有生命的科學家是H20 chauvinists 即他們太盲目認為水是生命存在的基本條件。)也就是說，這個團體相信生命的存在不一定需要水，因此B為本題答案。A無原文依據，C、D將文中并不肯定的猜測(文中有might，may)轉變為肯定的事實，顯然不符。

　　4.從文章中我們知道了關于金星和火星的什么信息?

　　A)金星的氣壓比火星高。

　　B)金星研究得到的關注和資金比火星要多。

　　C)金星比火星更靠近太陽。

　　D)金星比火星看上去更漂亮。

　　[C]從首段第3句可以知道水星是離太陽最近的行星，而金星只比它離太陽遠一點，也就是說金星比其他七個行星離太陽都要近，當然也就比火星離太陽近了，因此C為本題答案。

　　5.由Dirk Schulze-Makuch和Louis Irwin共同撰寫的論文是為了要________________。

　　A)介紹他們關于金星的研究發現

　　B)提倡探索金星

　　C)讓別人相信金星上曾經存在過生命

　　D)批判其他的科學家，認為他們坐井觀天

　　[B]第4段中的a Venus-boosting paper說明這篇文章的目的是推動(boost)金星研究或探索，而不是A所說的introduce(介紹)，因此B為本題答案。