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The plan：turn the Mars into a blue world with streams and green fields, and then fill it with creatures from the earth.
This idea may sound like something from science fiction, but it is actually being taken seriously by many researchers.
This suggests the future for the “red planet” will be the main topic for discussion at an international conference hosted by NASA this week. Leading researchers as well as science fiction writers will attend the event. It comes as NASA is preparing a multibilliondollar Mars research programme.
“Turning the Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction，”said Dr.Michael Meyer, NASA's senior scientist. “Now, with scientists exploring the reality, we can ask what are the real possibilities of changing the Mars.”
Most scientists agree that the Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money would be needed to achieve this goal. But many experts are shocked by the idea.
“We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed and now we are talking about ruining another planet，” said Paul Murdin from the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK.
Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident they will find Martian life forms. Europe and America's robot explorers have found the proof that water, mixed with soil, exists in large amounts on the planet.
In addition, two different groups of scientists announced on March 28 that they had found signs of methane (甲烷) in the Martian atmosphere; the gas is a waste product of living creatures and could be produced by microbes (微生物) living in the red planet's soil.
But scientists such as Dr.Lisa Pratt, a biologist at Indiana University, say that these microbes will be put in danger by the little earth project.
“Before we have even discovered if there is life on the Mars, we are talking about carrying out projects that would destroy all these native life forms, all the strange microbes that we hope to find buried in the soil，” said Dr. Pratt.
Monica Grady, a planetary scientist at the Natural History Museum, London, shares this view.“We cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious information we are looking for，” she said. “This is just wrong.”
【语篇解读】 本文是一篇科普说明文。在太空开拓人类新的生存领地一直是科幻小说的主题，也是人类一直希望实现的梦想。如今，美国的一部分科学家想把红色火星改造成蓝色的“生命天堂”。就这一提议科学家们展开了讨论。
1．The passage is about .
A．a plan turning the Mars into a little earth
B．the necessity of changing the Mars
C．finding water on the Mars
D．the Mars supporting life
解析：选A 主旨大意题。由第一段可以看出，人们计划将火星变为一个小地球。后文就这一计划是否应该实施进行了探讨。故文章是围绕将火星变为小地球这一话题展开的。
2．Why is Dr. Lisa Pratt against the plan?
A．Water has been found on the Mars.
B．It will cost too much money and work.
C．The native life forms on the Mars would be destroyed.
D．The earth is being destroyed at an unbelievable speed.
解析：选C 细节理解题。由倒数第三段中的“... these microbes will be put in danger by the little earth project.”可知，莉萨博士反对该计划的原因是担心火星上的微生物会受到破坏。
3．What could prove the existence of microbes living in the Mars' soil?
A．Liquid water on the Mars.
B．Some creatures on the Mars.
C．A lot of good soil on the Mars.
D．Signs of methane in the Mars' atmosphere.
解析：选D 推理判断题。由倒数第四段可以看出，科学家在火星上发现了甲烷，而甲烷是生物排放出的一种气体。由此科学家认为火星上有生物存在。
4．We can infer from the passage that .
A．water is a key factor for life; without it, living on the Mars would be impossible
B．the project won't affect the native life forms supposed to live on the Mars
C．the idea turning the Mars into a little earth is nothing but science fiction
D．Monica Grady is in favour of carrying out the little earth project
解析：选A 推理判断题。由倒数第五段可知，科学家对于能够在火星上发现生物非常有自信，因为欧洲和美国的机器人已经发现了水存在的证据。由此我们可推知，水是生命存在的重要因素。
