Ⅰ.阅读
(2020·贵阳市普通高中高三年级摸底考试)Many of us think, wrongly, that the moon doesn't change. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ruoxu once wrote that “Generations have come and passed away; From year to year the moons look alike, old and new.”
However, a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience shows that the moon is in fact slowly shrinking over time. For the study, a group of US scientists examined and analyzed thousands of photographs taken by the NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (月球勘测轨道飞行器照相机). They found that there were lots of faults (断层) on the surface of the moon. These faults were formed by recent movement on the moon.
According to NASA, the moon is made up of pieces of rocks with a hot core. The moon continued to expand as it was born. But in this process, it released energy and cooled down. Then it began to shrink, in a way comparable to the shrinking of a grape into a raisin. Over the past several hundred million years, it has become 46 meters “skinnier”. But due to its hard and rocky layer, the moon's surface continues to push up. “Some of these quakes can be fairly strong, around five on the Richter scale (里氏震级)，” said Thomas Watters, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in the US.
But does that mean the moon is a dangerous place that human shouldn't try to explore and live on in the future? Maybe not, reported The Telegraph.“This isn't anything to worry about. The moon may be shrinking, but not by much. It's not going anywhere，” Watters comforted us.
The new discovery proves that the idea that the moon is a dead, boring place is wrong. “We have been to the moon and we've done some great science, but there is still a lot we don't know. The moon is shrinking—we didn't really realize that until recently. It's a much more active and interesting place than we thought and we should explore that，” NASA scientist Nathan Williams said.
篇章导读：本文是一篇说明文。一项最新的科学研究表明，月球正在随着时间慢慢地缩小。此外，这项研究还表明月球还有许多我们不了解的东西，它是一个比我们认为的更活跃、更有意思的地方，值得我们探索。
1．Which point of view about the moon may the writer agree to?
A．It stays the same as before.
B．It is becoming slightly smaller.
C．It is getting older and older.
D．It has passed away.
答案：B 细节理解题。根据第二段第一句“However, a new study ... shows that the moon is in fact slowly shrinking over time.”可知，一项新的发表在《自然·地球科学》上的研究表明，月球正在随着时间慢慢地缩小，据此可知B项正确。
2．What can we learn about the moon from the third paragraph?
A．It has become 46 meters fatter due to expanding.
B．It has changed from a grape into a raisin in recent years.
C．It quakes even at seven on the Richter scale.
D．It has a hot core and releases energy during expanding.
答案：D 细节理解题。根据第三段前三句中的“the moon is made up of pieces of rocks with a hot core” “The moon continued to expand as it was born. But in this process, it released energy”可知，月球由带有一个热核的岩石块组成，自它形成时月球就在持续膨胀，在这个过程中它会释放能量，故D项正确。
3．Who thinks that we needn't worry about the moon?
A．Zhang Ruoxu. B．Thomas Watters.
C．Nathan Williams. D．The journalist.
答案：B 细节理解题。根据第四段中Thomas Watters说的话“This isn't anything to worry about ... It's not going anywhere”可知，Thomas Watters认为我们不必担心月球，尽管月球在缩小，但它并没有缩小很多，故B项正确。
4．What does Nathan Williams think of the moon?
A．It is a dead and boring place.
B．It has lots of faults on the surface.
C．It is valuable to do more science.
D．It isn't a place where we can live.
答案：C 推理判断题。根据最后一段中Nathan Williams说的话“We have been to the moon and we've done some great science ... we should explore that”可知，Nathan Williams认为月球有许多我们不了解的东西，值得我们去探索。据此可推知，他认为研究月球是有价值的，故C项正确。
【词汇积累】 ①shrink v. 收缩，缩小 ②raisin n. 葡萄干
③quake n. 地震 ④push up增加；提高；向上推
【佳句背诵】 Generations have come and passed away; From year to year the moons look alike, old and new.
人生代代无穷已，江月年年望相似。
