Earth Rocks on Most of the time, the ground feels solid beneath our feet. That's comforting. But it's also misleading because there's actually a lot going on underground. Masses of land(called plates)slip, slide, and bump against each other, slowly changing the shape of continents and oceans over millions and billions of years. Scientists know that Earth formed about 4. 5 billion years ago. They also know that our planet was hot at first. As it cooled, its outermost layer, called the crust(地壳), eventually formed moving plates. Exactly when this shift happened, however, is an open question. Now, an international group of researchers has an answer. They've found new evidence suggesting that Earth's crust started shifting at least 3. 8 billion years ago. The new estimate is 1.3 billion years earlier than previous ones. Not long before 3. 8 billion years ago, lots of asteroids(小行星)were hitting Earth, keeping its crust in a hot, melted state. After the hard crust formed, much of it sank at various times into the planet's hot insides. There, it melted before returning to the surface. In some places, however, the crust never sank. One of the oldest such places is in Greenland, in an area called the Isua supracrustal(上地壳)belt. The rocky crust there is between 3. 7 and 3. 8 billion years old. The belt was once part of the seafloor, but now it is exposed to air. The researchers recently took a close look at the Isua supracrustal belt. They noticed long, parallel cracks in the rock that have been filled in with a type of volcanic rock. To explain this structure, the scientists propose that tension in the crust caused the seafloor to crack open long ago. Hot, liquid rock, called magma(岩浆), flowed up slowly from deep inside Earth to fill the cracks. Finally, the whole area cooled, forming what we see today. That explanation, plus chemical clues inside the rock, suggests that the Isua supracrustal belt was once part of a plate under the ocean, beginning around 3. 8 billion years ago.(2011年)

单选题 The ground beneath our feet is indeed still.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：题干大意：我们脚下的地面是静止的。文章第一段提到：Most of thetime．the ground feels solid beneath our feet．That’s comforting．But it’s also misleadingbecause there’s actually a lot going on underground．很多时候，我们感觉脚下的地面是坚实的。这是一种安慰。但它也有误导，因为地下发生着很多事。也就是说离我们最近的地面也不是静止的，它是一直都处在变化之中。题干所述与文章信息相反，故答案选B。

单选题 The shape of lands and oceans are slowly changed with the movements of plates.

单选题 Earth cooled down shortly after it was formed.

单选题 Scientists once estimated that Earth's crust started shifting three billion years ago.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】解析：题干大意：科学家估计，地壳在30亿年前就开始变化。文章第三段第二句提到：They’ve found new evidence suggesting that Earth’s crust started shifting atleast 3．8 billion years ago．他们发现新证据——地壳至少在38亿年前就开始变化。题干所述把文章信息的年份缩短了，故答案选B。