發(fā)布時(shí)間： 2016年06月15日

2016年新托福考試閱讀訓(xùn)練：沒有水的水星

2016年新托?？荚囬喿x訓(xùn)練：沒有水的水星

水星 (Mercury )，中國(guó)古代稱為辰星。是太陽系中的類地行星，其主要由石質(zhì)和鐵質(zhì)構(gòu)成，密度較高。自轉(zhuǎn)周期很長(zhǎng)為58.65天，自轉(zhuǎn)方向和公轉(zhuǎn)方向相同，水星在88個(gè)地球日里就能繞太陽一周,平均速度47.89千米,是太陽系中運(yùn)動(dòng)最快的行星。無衛(wèi)星環(huán)繞。它是八大行星中是最小的行星，也是離太陽最近的行星。水星在直徑上小于木衛(wèi)三和土衛(wèi)六，水星上的太陽看上去要比在地球上大二倍半，太陽光比地球赤道的陽光還要強(qiáng)六倍。水星朝向太陽的一面，溫度非常高，可達(dá)到400℃以上。這樣熱的地方，就連錫和鉛都會(huì)熔化，何況水呢。但背向太陽的一面，長(zhǎng)期不見陽光，溫度非常低，達(dá)到-173℃，在這里也不可能有液態(tài)的水。1974年3月、9月和1975年3月，美國(guó)發(fā)射的“水手10號(hào)”探測(cè)了水星，向地面發(fā)回5000多張照片。水星地貌酷似月球，大小不一的環(huán)形山，還有輻射紋、平原、裂谷、盆地等地形。水星是太陽系中僅次于地球，密度第二大的天體。

Ever wonder what it's like on other planets? On this Moment of Science, find out what it's like on Mercury.

The great astronomer(天文學(xué)家) Carl Sagan used to say that if he were transported anywhere in the solar system he would know which planet he was on just by looking around. In this spirit of knowing your neighborhood, here’s something we call . . . What’s It Like There?

Today we ask: What’s it like . . . on Mercury?

You’re standing at the equator(赤道) on Mercury just before sunrise. We’d better put you in a protective shelter, because it’s mighty(很，非常) cold–something around three hundred degrees below zero, Fahrenheit(華氏溫度計(jì)的). That’s cold enough to freeze methane(甲烷，沼氣).

But things are looking up–by midmorning(上午中段時(shí)間，上午十點(diǎn)左右) it should be a (1)balmy(溫和的) eighty degrees outside. Of course, because of its rotation(自轉(zhuǎn)) and orbit(公轉(zhuǎn)), midmorning on Mercury comes twenty Earth days later, so you have a long wait.

When it finally arrives, though, you step outside in a protective suit and (2)bounce(跳) around in the low gravity. The ground is rocky and covered in craters(火山口). There’s no atmosphere at all, so the sky overhead(在頭頂上) is black, even though the sun is perfectly visible.

In fact, the sun is far bigger, and brighter, than you’ve ever seen it on Earth–imagine a sun eleven times as bright! Not only that, the temperature is still climbing(上升的). By high noon it will be up to eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt zinc(鋅). Clearly this is no place for humans.

Every Mercurial day, which lasts one hundred and seventy six Earth days, the planet undergoes the same unbelievable temperature fluctuation(溫度波動(dòng)) from super-cold to super-hot. Makes you glad to have a nice, temperate planet like Earth to come back to.

NOTES:

(1)balmy

adj. 芳香的;溫和的;止痛的

1.A balmy breeze was blowing across the beautiful lake.

一陣柔和的微風(fēng)輕吹過那美麗的湖面。

2.Love is balmy wind that soothes pain and anxiety from the tempests of the life.

愛是一絲溫暖的微風(fēng)，它能化解繁亂生活中梅花鹿焦慮和傷痛。

(2)bounce

n. 跳;彈力;活力

vt. 彈跳;使彈起

vi. 彈跳;彈起，反跳;彈回

1.The ball bounced off the wall and he caught it.