Launching people into space may make headlines but it does little useful science. So when George Bush redirected America's space agency, NASA, away from scientific research and towards a manned return to the moon in 2004, many scientists were disappointed. Now the agency has finally offered some small morsels of comfort in the form of four projects that could accompany efforts for a lunar return.

   The most exciting of these is the plan for a radio telescope that could be placed on the far side of the moon. Such a device would look back at the early universe to the time when large-scale structures such as galaxies and stars formed. A lunar-based radio telescope would be able to detect long wavelengths that cannot be sensed on Earth because they are absorbed by the outermost layers of the planet's atmosphere. Moreover by pointing the telescope away from the din of shorter-wavelength radio waves that are used for communication on Earth, astrophysicists would be able to see the early universe in unprecedented detail.

   Finding alien life might also be possible with such a telescope. It would be able to map the magnetic fields of stars and exoplanets (planets that circle stars outside the solar system). It is the magnetic field of the Earth that protects its inhabitants from being bombarded by high-energy particles from space that would otherwise leave the planet sterile. Detecting a magnetic field surrounding an Earth-like exoplanet would prove a promising sign for finding extraterrestrial life. The proposal, led by Joseph Lazio, of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, is to create an array of three arms arranged in a Y-shape, each of which would be 500 metres long and contain 16 antennae. Each arm would be made of a plastic film that could be rolled out onto the surface of the moon, either by robots or by astronauts.

   A second project, headed by Michael Collier, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, would examine how the solar wind—a stream of charged particles ejected from the sun—interacts with the tenuous lunar atmosphere close to the moon's surface. Such bombardment produces low-energy X-rays that would be detected on the surface of the moon. The third and fourth projects are similar both to each other and to earlier ventures dropped on the moon by the Apollo and the Soviet Luna missions in the late 1960s and 1970s. Some 35 years on, reflectors placed on the lunar surface are still used by scientists interested in geophysics and geodesy (for example, how the moon's gravitational field shifts over time). Most of the reflectors are clustered close to the lunar equator. The proposals, led by Stephen Merkowitz, also of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, and Douglas Currie, of the University of Maryland, are to sprinkle some more sophisticated versions over more of the moon's surface.

   Such efforts may attract little attention compared with the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour this week. Nevertheless, when NASA argues that putting people into space inspires young people to study science, it is precisely these endeavours that it wishes to encourage.

   注（1）：本文選自Economist, 09/09/2007

   注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對象為2004年真題Text 3（題目順序稍微調(diào)整）。

   1． By “Launching people into space may make headlines but it does little useful science” (Line 1, paragraph 1), the author means _______.

    [A] Launching people into space is very important.

    [B] Newspaper only cares about whether humans can travel into space.

    [C] Humans’ travel to outside space is against scientific rules.

    [D] Lauching peple into space is not of great scientific value.

   2． The most distinctive feature of a lunar-based radio telescope mentioned in the second paragraph is that _______.

    [A] it is able to capture long wavelengths

    [B] it possesses better functions than the telescopes on earth

    [C] it can escape from the magnetic field of the Earth

    [D] it can detect all galaxies in the universe

   3． How does the author feel about the four new moon plans?

    [A] Objective

    [B] Affirmative

    [C] Carefree

    [D] Panicked

   4． Which of the following is NOT a feature of the last two projects discussed in the fourth paragraph?

    [A] The two projects are of less importance than the other two.

    [B] The two plans are of similarity with each other.

    [C] The purpose of the plans is to add some equipment on the moon.

    [D] These plans is a continuance of previous studies carried out decaded ago.

   5． To which of the following is the author likely to agree?

    [A] The radio telescope will be able to find extraterrestrial life.

    [B] The second project focuses on the interaction between solar wind and Earth atmosphere.

    [C] Joseph Lazio’s proposal is part of the radio telescope project.

    [D] The four projects are closely related to the recently launched space shuttle Endeavour.

   篇章剖析

    本文主要介紹了美國宇航局的四項(xiàng)新的月球計(jì)劃的主要內(nèi)容。文章開頭首先指出了載人登月在科研的價值上不如其他科研項(xiàng)目，從而引出話題。第二、三段介紹了第一個月球計(jì)劃的詳細(xì)內(nèi)容；第四段簡要介紹了另外三項(xiàng)計(jì)劃的內(nèi)容及其負(fù)責(zé)人；第五段總結(jié)全文，并指出了實(shí)施月球計(jì)劃所包含的一種精神所在。

   詞匯注釋

   morsel [`mC:sEl] n. 小量；一點(diǎn)                antenna [An`tenE] n. 天線

   lunar [`lju:nE] adj. 月的, 月亮的               eject [i`dVekt] v. 驅(qū)逐, 噴射

   galaxy [`gAlEksi] n. 星系, 銀河                tenuous [`tenjuEs] adj. 纖細(xì)的

   wavelength [`weivleNW] n. [物][無]波長          geophysics [9dViEu`fiziks] n. 地球物理學(xué)

   bombard [`bCmbB:d] vt. 炮轟；轟擊            geodesy [dVi:`Cdisi] n. 測地學(xué)

   sterile [`sterail] adj. 貧脊的, 不育的             gravitational [9grAvi`teiFEn] adj. 重力的

   extraterrestrial [9ekstrEtE`restriEl] adj. 地球外的   sprinkle [`spriNkl] v. 灑, 噴撒

   array [E`rei] v. 天線陣

   難句突破

   The proposal, led by Joseph Lazio, of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, is to create an array of three arms arranged in a Y-shape, each of which would be 500 metres long and contain 16 antennae.

   主體句式  The proposal is to creat an array.

   結(jié)構(gòu)分析  這個句子可以以is 為界分為前后兩個部分。其中前一個部分的主體內(nèi)容是主語the proposal，led by Joseph Lazio是用來形容主語的分詞結(jié)構(gòu)，而of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC是補(bǔ)充說明Joseph Lazio這個人的身份。后一部分包含了一個以each of which 引導(dǎo)的定語從句。

   句子譯文  該計(jì)劃由美國華盛頓特區(qū)海軍研究實(shí)驗(yàn)室的約瑟夫·拉齊奧領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，目標(biāo)是創(chuàng)造出一個以三臂狀構(gòu)成Y字形的天線陣，其中每只臂長500米，含16根天線。

   題目分析

   1．D. 語義題。文章第一句話的意思是，把人送入太空也許能成為頭條新聞，但是對科學(xué)研究卻沒有甚大幫助。Headline這里是指報(bào)紙的頭條新聞。

   2．A. 細(xì)節(jié)題。文章第二段提到，該無線電天文望遠(yuǎn)鏡的比較大特點(diǎn)在于能夠探測到那些無法在地球表面被檢測到的長波。

   3．B. 態(tài)度題。文章第二段作者用“the most exciting”來形容其中的一項(xiàng)月球計(jì)劃，說明了作者的支持態(tài)度。同樣，比較后一段中作者對這些月球計(jì)劃所代表的“奮進(jìn)”精神大加贊賞，同樣表達(dá)了一種支持的態(tài)度。

   4．A. 推理題。文章中沒有特別說明各個項(xiàng)目的重要性有大小之分，相反，縱觀全文，我們可以看出這幾個項(xiàng)目具有同等的重要性，只是作者在描述的時候有的較為具體，有的則比較簡單而已。

   5．C. 細(xì)節(jié)題。A 選項(xiàng)錯誤的原因在于尋找外星人只是一種可能性，至于結(jié)果是不確定的。B選項(xiàng)錯誤的原因在于該研究定位于太陽風(fēng)和月球稀薄的大氣層之間的關(guān)系，而不是和地球大氣層的關(guān)系。D選項(xiàng)錯誤的原因在于這四項(xiàng)研究與“奮進(jìn)”號航天飛機(jī)并沒有很大的關(guān)系。

   參考譯文

    把人送入太空也許能成為頭條新聞，但是對科學(xué)研究卻沒有甚大幫助。因此，當(dāng)喬治·布什在2004年要求美國宇航局將重點(diǎn)從科學(xué)研究轉(zhuǎn)移到載人回歸月球時，很多科學(xué)家都備感失望�，F(xiàn)在，美國宇航局為回歸月球計(jì)劃增加了四項(xiàng)科研項(xiàng)目，總算給大家?guī)�來了些許安慰。

   這些項(xiàng)目中比較激動人心的是一種可以安裝在月球背面的無線電天文望遠(yuǎn)鏡。通過這種望遠(yuǎn)鏡，人們可以了解到從宇宙早期至大規(guī)模天體結(jié)構(gòu)如星云和恒星形成的時期。安裝在月球上的無線電天文望遠(yuǎn)鏡可以探測到那些無法在地球表面被檢測到的長波，因?yàn)檫@些長波都被地球大氣層的比較外層吸收了。此外，天體物理學(xué)家們使該望遠(yuǎn)鏡遠(yuǎn)離地球上頻繁的用于通信的較短波長無線電波，從而能夠史無前例地細(xì)致觀察早期的宇宙。

   使用這臺望遠(yuǎn)鏡也許還可以尋找外星生物。因?yàn)樗�能夠描繪出恒星和太陽系外行星（太陽系之外圍繞恒星運(yùn)動的行星）的磁場圖。正是由于地球磁場的保護(hù)，地球上居住著的生物才能幸免于來自太空中高能量粒子的襲擊，否則這個星球就會變成一片不毛之地。如果能夠檢測到某個太陽系外行星也像地球一樣被磁場包圍，就有希望找到地球以外的生命。該計(jì)劃由美國華盛頓特區(qū)海軍研究實(shí)驗(yàn)室的約瑟夫·拉齊奧領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，目標(biāo)是創(chuàng)造出一個以三臂狀構(gòu)成Y字形的天線陣，其中每只臂長500米，含16根天線，用塑料薄膜制成，以便由機(jī)器人或宇航員平鋪在月球表面。

   第二項(xiàng)計(jì)劃的負(fù)責(zé)人是美國宇航局戈達(dá)德太空飛行中心的邁克爾·克里爾，該計(jì)劃將研究太陽風(fēng)——太陽噴發(fā)出的一束帶電粒子流——如何與月球表面附近稀薄的大氣相互作用。這種作用產(chǎn)生的低能量X射線可以在月球表面被探測到。第三和第四項(xiàng)計(jì)劃彼此相似，并與早前于19世紀(jì)60年代末和70年代進(jìn)行的阿波羅計(jì)劃和前蘇聯(lián)的登月計(jì)劃中也大同小異�，F(xiàn)在那些放置于月球表面的反射器已差不多工作了35年，且仍然為那些對地球物理學(xué)和測地學(xué)（如研究月球引力場如何隨時間而變化）感興趣的科學(xué)家們服務(wù)著。大多數(shù)反射器都安裝在靠近月球赤道的地方。這兩項(xiàng)計(jì)劃的主管人是美國宇航局戈達(dá)德太空飛行中心的史蒂芬·默克維茨以及馬里蘭大學(xué)的道格拉斯·奎瑞，其目標(biāo)是在月球上更大范圍安裝一些尖端反射器。

    與本周發(fā)射的奮進(jìn)號航天飛機(jī)相比，這些月球計(jì)劃可能不會引起多大關(guān)注，但是，當(dāng)美國宇航局極力主張載人航天可以激勵年輕人學(xué)習(xí)科學(xué)時，為月球計(jì)劃而“奮進(jìn)”的精神也正是它所要鼓舞的。