单选题 With human footprints on the moon, radio telescopes listening for messages from alien creatures (who may or may not exist), technicians looking for celestial and planetary sources of energy to support our civilization, orbiting telescopes' data hinting at planetary systems around other stars, and political groups trying to figure out how to save humanity from nuclear warfare that would damage life and eliminate on a planet-wide scale, an astronomy book published today enters a world different from the one that greeted books a generation ago. Astronomy has broadened to involve our basic circumstances and our mysterious future in the universe. With eclipses and space missions broadcast live, and with NASA, Europe, and the USSR planning and building permanent space stations, astronomy offers adventure for all people, an outward exploratory thrust that may one day be seen as an alternative to mindless consumerism, ideological bickering, and wars to control dwindling resources on a closed, finite Earth.
Today's astronomy students not only seek an up-to-date summary of astronomical facts: they ask, as people have asked for ages, about our basic relations to the rest of the universe. They may study astronomy partly to seek points of contact between science and other human endeavors: philosophy, history, politics, environmental action, even the arts and religion.
Science fiction writers and special effect artists on recent films help today's students realize that unseen worlds of space are real places—not abstract concepts. Today's students are citizens of a more real, more vast cosmos than conceptualized by students of a decade ago.
In designing this edition, the Wadsworh editors and I have tried to respond to {{U}}these developments.{{/U}} Rather than jumping at the start into murky waters of cosmology, I have begun with the viewpoint of ancient people on Earth and worked outward across the universe. This method of organization automatically (if loosely) reflects the order of humanity's discoveries about astronomy and provides a unifying theme of increasing distance and scale.
单选题 This passage is most probably taken from
  • A.an article of popular science.
  • B.the introduction of a book of astronomy.
  • C.a lecture given by the author to astronomy students.
  • D.the preface of a piece of science fiction.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 综观全文，尤其是从最后一段第一句中的“In designing this edition. the Wadsworh editors and I have tried to respond to these developments...”可推知，本文是某部天文学著作的导言部分，故选B，而A，C及D与原文内容不符。
单选题 The author's purpose in presenting the first paragraph is
  • A.to explain the background and new features of today's astronomy.
  • B.to discuss in detail the most recent achievements in space research.
  • C.to introduce some newly established space stations.
  • D.to illustrate that the world today is different in many aspects from that of a generations ago.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第一段倒数第二句“Astronomy has broadened to involve our basic circumstances and our mysterious future in the universe.”可推知，第一段的作用在于提供天文学发展的历史背景和现在发展的新特点，故选A。
单选题 The author thinks that the growing interest in space exploration among people on Earth will probably lead to
  • A.all people having chances of travelling in space.
  • B.the realization of permanent settlement on other planets.
  • C.more disturbance not only on Earth but also in outer space.
  • D.orders, harmony and peace on our planet Earth.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第一段最后一句“...an outward exploratory thrust that may one day be seen as an alternative to mindless consumerism, ideological bickering, and wars to control dwindling resources on a closed, finite Earth.”，可以看出正确答案为D。
单选题 The author believes that today's astronomy students
  • A.are much brighter than students of a generation ago.
  • B.no longer care about astronomical facts.
  • C.are better-informed about the unseen worlds of space.
  • D.may learn more about man and his research in various fields through the study of astronomy.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 根据第二段“Today's astronmy students not only seek an up-to-date summary of astronmical facts: they ask...philosophy, history, politics, environmental action, even the arts and religion.”，可以看出正确答案为D。其他选项与原文明显不符。
单选题 In the last paragraph, the underlined expression "these developments" refers to all of the following EXCEPT
  • A.the development of science fiction and special effects of films.
  • B.the new concepts about the universe acquired by today's astronomy students.
  • C.the world-wide involvement in space exploration.
  • D.humanity's new achievements in the field of astronomy.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 选项B与第三段第二句“Today's students are citizens of a more real, more vast cosmos than conceptualized by students of a decade ago.”相符；C与第一段最后一句中的“...astronomy offers adventure for all people, an outward exploratory thrust that may one day be seen as an alternative...”相符；而D与第二段第一句“Today's astronomy students not only seek an up-to-date summary of astronomical facts”明显相符。而A原文未提及，故选A。