单选题
"My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas." Many American school children are taught this sentence to help them remember the order of the planets of the solar system. Soon though, this may change because, on July 29th, a team of astronomers announced the discovery of a very distant celestial body larger than Pluto. The researchers claim that the new body—which they are informally calling Xena—should be classified as a planet. The new body—temporarily named 2003UB313—orbits the Sun once every 560 years. It is currently over 14 billion kilometres away, about three times farther out than Pluto, making it the most distant object ever discovered in the solar system. The researchers think it is part of the Kuiper belt, a ring of rocky objects that extends beyond Neptune. Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory and David Rabino witz of Yale University discovered the object in data recorded at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego in October 2003, but its motion did not become apparent until they reanalysed the data in January 2005. The question of whether or not the new body should be considered a planet has rekindled the debate over what exactly counts as a planet. A handful of objects of similar size to, but smaller than, Pluto have been discovered in the Kuiper belt over the past few years. These have not been considered planets, mainly because they were smaller than Pluto. But 2003UB313 is larger than Pluto. If Pluto is a planet, shouldn't it be as well? The case is not so clear cut. Many astronomers argue that Pluto should not be considered a planet. It is more like a large asteroid, they hold. Meanwhile, Dr. Brown asserts that as Pluto has historically been considered a planet, anything larger should also be considered one. Ultimately, the International Astronomical Union, a group of professional astronomers, will end this existential anxiety. Dr. Brown expects the process to take months, and the team is not allowed to reveal its suggested name until then. Since most Greek and Roman names have already been used, he and his colleagues have previously drawn upon Native American and Inuit mythology for names. He will only hint that the new name comes from a different tradition altogether. Time will tell whether mother wilt be serving "nine polished xylophones", "nine pizzas" or just "noodles".
单选题
The first sentence in Para. 1 is used by American school children because ______. A. it represents typical American culture B. it represents nine planets in the solar system C. it is often used in teaching astronomy D. it is a good example of mnemonics
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[考点] 事实细节题 由题干直接定位至首段第一句，该句提到：My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas. 紧接着第二句对该句做出解释：许多美国学生都通过这句话来记住太阳系中各行星的顺序。故B为答案。该句后面没有出现有关美国文化的内容，排除A；虽然第三句出现了astronomers(天文学家)，但文中没有指明教学上使用这句话，C属于主观臆断；虽然第二句出现remember，但全文都没有出现mnemonics一词，与主题无关，排除D。
单选题
According to the passage, when was the new planet first detected? A. On July 29th 2005. B. In October 2003. C. In January 2005. D. On March 13th 2003.
单选题
The standards of planet are open to question because ______. A. Pluto is now one of the nine planets B. Pluto is a historical mistake C. objects of size similar to Pluto are not recognized D. 2003UB313 is larger than Pluto
单选题
We can learn from the passage that the name of the 2003UB313 ______. A. might be given by the International Astronomical Union B. might be revealed by the research team soon C. might be chosen from list of Greek and Roman names D. might be chosen from Native American and Inuit myth
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[考点] 事实细节题 结合题干中的关键词name和选项中出现的专有名词，再考虑到只有最后三段还没有设题，在这三段进行回归定位，确定考点在倒数第二段第三句：he and his colleagues have previously drawn upon Native American and Inuit mythology for names。可见D为答案。倒数第二段首句提到the International Astronomical Union，没有内容表明该机构与新行星名字有关，排除A；该段第二句指出：该研究小组要在几个月之后才被允许公布行星的名字，这与B矛盾，排除；第三句指出多数希腊和罗马名字已经被使用过了，所以研究小组才通过其他渠道取名，排除C。
单选题
In which ease will mother be serving "noodles"? A. The new planet is named after noodles. B. The new object is not counted as a planet. C. Both Pluto and the new object are not counted as planet. D. Both Pluto and the new object are counted as planet.