Zhurong, China’s first Mars rover, sends back a photo of the planet’s surface.
On May 15, China’s Tianwen 1 probe made a historical landing on Mars! People all over the world applauded the successful landing, as it was very hard to pull off.
In July 2020, Tianwen 1 was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center. In February, the probe entered Mars’ orbit. Experts said the difficulty of sending the probe into orbit was equal to hitting a golf ball from Paris and landing it in a hole in Tokyo. But it still couldn’t match the difficulty of the final landing stage, which is also called the “nine minutes of terror(恐怖)”. How did Tianwen 1 do it? Let’s take a look.
Nine minutes of terror:
Within nine minutes, the probe had to slow its speed from 20,000 km per hour to zero, landing from 125 km above Mars. Since the probe was 320 million km away from Earth, there was a signal delay (延迟) of over 10 minutes if the research team tried to control it from Earth. So the probe had to carry out the landing by itself!
The drag(空气阻力) created by the atmosphere slowed it down first. During this process, the surface of the craft heated up to 2,100°C, which could melt the craft! Fortunately, it had a heat shield(抗热涂层) to protect it.
Next, a parachute(降落伞) opened to further reduce the craft’ s speed. This was also a dangerous process, as the parachute’ s ropes could break due to(由于) the craft’ s high speed. Researchers used special materials to make the ropes strong enough to stay in one piece.
At 1.5 km above Mars, the craft fired its retrorockets(反向火箭) as another way to help it slow down. At 100 meters, the craft stayed in the air and used its sensors(传感器) to check the landing area. It had to move away from obstacles(障碍物) such as rocks before finally touching down.
Following the US and Russia, China is now the third country in the world to successfully land a probe on Mars. It will give Chinese scientists their first opportunity to closely study the Red Planet, Tianwen 1 makes it to Mars.
1. The underlined phrase “pull off” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to “____”.
2. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 3 probably mean?
3. Why did China launch the Tianwen 1 probe?
4. Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?
5. This passage is most likely to appear in ______.
问题1选项
A.study
B.fail
C.check
D.achieve
问题2选项
A.The distance from Earth to Mars is the same as that from Paris to Tokyo.
B.The experts recalled that their study on the probe was exciting like playing golf.
C.The cost to launch a probe is too expensive.
D.It is rather difficult to send the probe correctly into the expected orbit.
问题3选项
A.To test its newly invented material.
B.To acquire entertainment from the universe.
C.To do research and pave the way for further study on Mars.
D.To be the third country succeeding in exploring Mars.
问题4选项
A.The landing stage is more difficult than the former one.
B.The probe has to land on Mars under the control of researchers to ensure safety.
C.The heat shield on the surface of the craft can protect it from being melted by temperature.
D.There are another two countries that have already landed a probe on Mars before China.
问题5选项
A.a science magazine
B.a comic book
C.fiction
D.an advertisement
第1题:D
第2题:D
第3题:C
第4题:B
第5题:A
第1题:
【原文考查】词语理解题
【选项释义】
第二段中带下划线的短语“pull off”的含义最接近_____.
A. 研究
B. 失败
C. 检查
D. 实现
【解题思路】根据文章第二段“On May 15, China’s Tianwen 1 probe made a historical landing on Mars! People all over the world applauded the successful landing, as it was very hard to pull off.”，5月15日，中国“天问一号”探测器历史性地登陆火星！全世界的人们都为这次成功着陆鼓掌，说明这本是一件难以实现的事情，“pull off”的含义与“实现”最接近。故本题选D。
第2题:
【原文考查】推理判断题
【选项释义】
第三段中带下划线的句子是什么意思？
A. 从地球到火星的距离与从巴黎到东京的距离相同。
B. 专家们回忆说，他们对探测器的研究就像打高尔夫球一样令人兴奋。
C. 发射探测器的费用太贵了。
D. 将探测器正确送入预期轨道相当困难。
【解题思路】根据文章第三段，划线句子“Experts said the difficulty of sending the probe into orbit was equal to hitting a golf ball from Paris and landing it in a hole in Tokyo.”的意思是：专家表示，将探测器送入轨道的难度相当于从巴黎打高尔夫球并将其送入到东京的一个洞里，表达的是将探索测器送入轨道的难度很大。故本题选D。
第3题:
【原文考查】推理判断题
【选项释义】
中国为什么发射天问一号探测器？
A. 测试其新发明的材料。
B. 从宇宙中获得娱乐。
C. 进行研究，为进一步探索火星铺路。
D. 成为第三个成功探索火星的国家。
【解题思路】根据文章最后一段“Following the US and Russia, China is now the third country in the world to successfully land a probe on Mars. It will give Chinese scientists their first opportunity to closely study the Red Planet, Tianwen 1 makes it to Mars.”可知，继美国和俄罗斯外，中国现在是第三个成功将探测器降落在火星上的国家，这将使中国科学家首次有机会仔细研究这颗红色星球。因此中国发射天问一号探测器的原因是为进一步探索火星铺路。故本题选C。
第4题:
【原文考查】推理判断题
【选项释义】
根据短文，哪个说法是不正确的？
A. 着陆阶段比前一阶段更难。
B. 探测器必须在研究人员的控制下降落在火星上，以确保安全。
C. 飞行器表面的隔热罩可以保护它不被温度融化。
D. 在中国之前，还有两个国家已经在火星上着陆了探测器。
【解题思路】根据文章第三段第三句和第四句“Experts said the difficulty of sending the probe into orbit was equal to hitting a golf ball from Paris and landing it in a hole in Tokyo. But it still couldn’t match the difficulty of the final landing stage...”，专家表示，将探测器正确送入预期轨道相当困难，但它仍然无法与最后着陆阶段的难度相媲美，所以A选项“着陆阶段比前一阶段更难”正确；根据第五段第二、三句话“Since the probe was 320 million km away from Earth...So the probe had to carry out the landing by itself!”可以得出，如果研究小组试图从地球上控制探测器的话，会出现超过十分钟的信号延迟，所以探测器必须自己着陆，B选项错误；根据第六段最后一句“Fortunately, it had a heat shield(抗热涂层) to protect it.”可知，飞行器表面的隔热罩可以保护它不被温度融化，所以C选项正确；根据最后一段第一句可知，中国是继美国和俄罗斯后，第三个成功将探测器降落在火星的国家，所以D选项正确。故本题选B。
第5题:
【原文考查】推理判断题
【选项释义】
这篇文章最有可能出现在_____.
A. 科学杂志。
B. 一本漫画书。
C. 小说。
D. 广告。
【解题思路】通读全文可知，文章主要讲述的是中国“天问一号”探测器登陆火星，包括登陆时间、操作难度等，所以本篇文章最可能出现在科学杂志。故本题选A。
