B
The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, the US space agency insisted Monday in a rare campaign to dispel widespread rumors fueled by the Internet and a new Hollywood movie.
The latest big screen offering from Sony Picture, 2012, arrives in theaters on Friday, with a 200-million-dollar production about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar.It is claimed that the end of time will come as a Planet X---or Nibiru---heads toward or collides with the Earth.
Some websites accuse NASA of hiding the truth on the planet’s existence, but the US space agency condemned such stories as an “Internet hoax”.“There is no factual basis for these claims,” NASA said in a question-and-anwser posting on this website.“If such a collision were real, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye.Obviously, it does not exist.Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” it insisted.“After all, our planet has been getting along just well for more than four billion years,” added NASA.
There is another planet, Eris, floating in space.But the small planet similar to Pluto will remain safely fixed in the outer solar system and it can come no closer than four billion miles to the Earth, according to NASA.
Earlier theories set the disaster for May 2003, but when nothing happened the date was moved forward to the winter in 2012 to coincide with the end of a cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar.
NASA insisted the Mayan calendar in fact does not end on December 21, 2012, as another period begins immediately afterward.
And even if the planets were to line up as some have forecast, the effect on our planet would be “negligible(unimportant)”, NASA said.
“And while comets and asteroids (小行星) have always hit the Earth, big hits are very rare,” NASA noted.The last major impact was believed to be 65 million years ago, resulting in the end of dinosaurs.
“We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs,” the space agency said.
49.______ played a key role in the spread of the rumors.
A.A new book B.The Internet and a new Hollywood movie
C.NASA D.An Indian calendar
50.We can infer that ______.
A.people didn’t take the rumor seriously
B.Planet X --- or Nibiru does exist
C.astronomers have been tracking Planet X for over ten years
D.the rumor caused a panic among some people
51.NASA thinks that Eris ______.
A.might have a threat to the Earth B.doesn’t have any threat to the Earth
C.is too far away to be visible D.is similar to our planet, where life might exist
52.Which of the following is the best title?
A.New Hollywood movie 2012
B.December 21, 2012, Not the end of the world
C.End of the ancient Mayan calendar
D.How rumors came into being
科目:高中英语 来源: 题型:053
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest ocean in the worl D.Only the Pacific and the Atlantic are larger.More than one-fifth of all the world’s water supply is in the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Ocean touches four different continents.To the south is Antarctica and to the east is Australi A.Africa lies to the west and Asia lies to the north.There are several important islands in the Indian Ocean.These include Madagascar,the largest one,which is near Africa,and Sri Lanka,which is near Indi A.There is also a group of islands called the Seychelles near the African coast.
The Indian Ocean is extremely important to the countries in Southeast Asi A.Strong winds from the Indian Ocean bring warm weather and heavy rains which are necessary for growing foo D.
1.We may conclude that ______.
[ ]
A.India is larger than Antarctica
B.the Indian Ocean is to the east of Australia
C.Madagascar is larger than Sri Lanka
D.the Indian Ocean is larger than the Atlantic
2.Sri Lanka lies near ______.
[ ]
A.Madagascar
B.Africa
C.the African coast
D.India
3.Of all the oceans in the world,the Indian Ocean contains more than ______.
A.5 percent of the world’s water
B.15 percent of the world’s water
C.20 percent of the world’s water
D.50 percent of the world’s water
4.The word “supply” in the third sentence means ______.
[ ]
A.liquid or wet
B.big or large
C.store or saving
D.amount or quantity
5.A good title for this passage is ______.
[ ]
A.The Indian Ocean
B.An Interesting Continent
C.Warm Weather from an Ocean
D.The World’s Water Supply
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科目:高中英语 来源: 题型:
Obviously TV plays an important part in people's lives, for it brings us ____ images from around the worl.
A. casual B. visual C. gradual D. spiritual
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