n Janqry I9,200,6,NASA* launched a new spacecraft called New Horizons into outer space. New Horizons is expected to travel about 3 billion miles for 10 years at around 50,000 kilometers per hour and take pictures of Pluto (the last planet in the solar system*),"its" moons, and the Kuiper KY-pun) Belt. "It" will also analyze Pluto's atmosphere and temperature. Scientists say that now is our last chance to send a spacecraft to Pluto. Otherwise Pluto will become too far from Earth and it will be more difficult to get near the planet. The New Horizons mission is important because no spacecraft has ever been sent that far before. The information collected during this mission will help to explain what the outer edges of the solar system look like and how the solar system was formed 4.5 billion years ago. * NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration * the Solar System: the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, IJranus, Neptune, Pluto

the word 'its' line 3 refer to:...

the word 'it' line 3 refer to:...

n Janqry I9,200,6,NASA* launched a new spacecraft called New Horizons into outer space. New Horizons is expected to travel about 3 billion miles for 10 years at around 50,000 kilometers per hour and take pictures of Pluto (the last planet in the solar system*),its moons, and the Kuiper KY-pun) Belt. It will also analyze Pluto's atmosphere and temperature. Scientists say that now is our last chance to send a spacecraft to Pluto. Otherwise Pluto will become too far from Earth and it will be more difficult to get near the planet. The New Horizons mission is important because no spacecraft has ever been sent that far before. The information collected during this mission will help to explain what the outer edges of the solar system look like and how the solar system was formed 4.5 billion years ago. * NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration * the Solar System: the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, IJranus, Neptune, Pluto

the word 'its' line 7 refer to:...

the word 'it' line 8 refer to:...

VI.Read the passage carefully, tlien decide whot hen the following,statement are true T) or false (F)
There are nine planets in our solar system. These planets each have their atmosphere and environmental conditions. Scientists have been trying to research other planets to see if it is possible for life to exist on the other eight own bodies in space.
Mercury and Pluto are probably the most difficult to research because of their position in the solar system. Mercury is so close to the sun that with our current technology a space shuttle would burn up before it even reached its atmosphere. Pluto is so far away that some scientists believe that it may not even be a planot but a large asteroid or comet. A space shuttle can not trave that far away because it is so far away from the sun that it would freeze.
Many scientists also believe that our solar system is not alone in the uni- with us. It is difficult to know if there is life present elaewhere in the universe. for many years to come. yerse. Many believe there are several other systems that share the uhiverse .The universe is a complex structure of space that may continue to be a mysterey for many years to come
32. There are nine planets in our solar system, besides Earth.
33. It is difficult to study the planet Mercury because it is very close to the sun.
34. We don't know much about Pluto even though we can see it up close
35. Pluto may not be a planet, according to some scientists.
36. Scientists have got enough information about the universe

Read the dialogue and then decide whether the statements that follow are true or false. Write True or False in your answersheet:

A planet is a body in space that revolves around a star. There are nine planets in our solar system, and these nine planets travel around the sun. The names of the planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. Planets travel in orbits around their stars . All of the planets of the solar system revolve in elliptical orbits. In other words, their orbits are like large, flat circles. The time that it takes a planet to make one revolution around the sun is called its year. The Greek were the first people to recognize and give names to some of the planets. The word planet comes from a Greek word meaning wanderer. If a person wanders, this means that he goes from one place to another and does not have a home. The Greek thought that the planets “wandered” in the sky. However, modern scientists can predict the movement of the planets very accurately

____ 1/ A planet revolves around the Earth.

____2/ Venus, Mars and Neptune are planets and stars.

____ 3/ The Greek were the first to recognize some of the planets.

____ 4/ The planets in our solar system travel around the sun and in elliptical orbits

Read the text and answer the following questions.

SATURN

Saturn is the second-largest planet and is a gas giant like Jupiter. Under clouds of methane, hydrogen, and helium, the sky slowly turns into a giant ocean of liquid chemicals. Saturn is the least dense planet in our solar system; it is made mostly of hydrogen and helium. Because it is so lightweight and spins so quickly, Saturn is not perfectly round like the other planets. Saturn is surrounded by thousands of small rings made of rocks and ice. It also has 140 natural satellites, like moons and pieces of debris.

1. How is Saturn similar to Jupiter?

2. What are the clouds made of?

3. Describe the surface of Saturn.

4. Why is Saturn not perfectly round?

5. Describe some of the things surrounding Saturn.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

The Planets of Jupiter

 The largest of the giant gas planets, Jupiter, with a volume 1,300 times greater than Earth’s, contains more than twice the mass of all the other planets combined. It is thought to be a gaseous and fluid planet without solid surfaces, Had it been somewhat more massive, Jupiter might have attained internal temperatures as high as the ignition point for nuclear reactions, and it would have flamed as a star in its own right. Jupiter and the other giant planets are of a low-density type quite distinct from the terrestrial planets: they are composed predominantly of such substances as hydrogen, helium, ammonia, and methane, unlike terrestrial planets. Much of Jupiter’s interior might be in the form of liquid, metallic hydrogen, Normally, hydrogen is a gas, but under pressures of millions of kilograms per square centimeter, which exist in the deep interior of Jupiter, the hydrogen atoms might lock together to form a liquid with the properties of a metal. Some scientists believe that the innermost core of Jupiter might be rocky, or metallic like the core of Earth.

 Jupiter rotates very fast, once every 9.8 hours. As a result, its clouds, which are composed largely of frozen and liquid ammonia, have been whipped into alternating dark and bright bands that circle the planet at different speeds in different latitudes. Jupiter’s puzzling Great Red Spot changes size as it hovers in the Southern Hemisphere. Scientists speculate it might be a gigantic hurricane, which because of its large size (the Earth could easily fit inside it), lasts for hundreds of years.

     Jupiter gives off twice as much heat as it receives from the Sun. Perhaps this is primeval heat or beat generated by the continued gravitational contraction of the planet. Another star like characteristic of Jupiter is its sixteen natural satellites, which, like a miniature model of the Solar System, decrease in density with distance from rocky moons close to Jupiter to icy moons farther away. If Jupiter were about 70 times more massive, it would have become a star, Jupiter is the best-preserved sample of the early solar nebula, and with its satellites, might contain the most important clues about the origin of the Solar System.

According to the passage, some scientists believe Jupiter and Earth are similar in that they both have__________.

A. solid surfaces      

B. similar masses           

C. similar atmospheres 

D. metallic cores

Listen to Mark talking about the solar system. Fill in each blank with no more than TWO words.

1. Many of the planets in our solar system have ___________.

2. The four mner planets are quite small and have __________.

3. The asteroid belt has millions of rocky ___________.

4. The outer planets are _________ and mostly made up of gas.

5. These cuter planets all have thick layers of clouds and __________ around them.

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.

The Planets of Jupiter

 The largest of the giant gas planets, Jupiter, with a volume 1,300 times greater than Earth’s, contains more than twice the mass of all the other planets combined. It is thought to be a gaseous and fluid planet without solid surfaces, Had it been somewhat more massive, Jupiter might have attained internal temperatures as high as the ignition point for nuclear reactions, and it would have flamed as a star in its own right. Jupiter and the other giant planets are of a low-density type quite distinct from the terrestrial planets: they are composed predominantly of such substances as hydrogen, helium, ammonia, and methane, unlike terrestrial planets. Much of Jupiter’s interior might be in the form of liquid, metallic hydrogen, Normally, hydrogen is a gas, but under pressures of millions of kilograms per square centimeter, which exist in the deep interior of Jupiter, the hydrogen atoms might lock together to form a liquid with the properties of a metal. Some scientists believe that the innermost core of Jupiter might be rocky, or metallic like the core of Earth.

 Jupiter rotates very fast, once every 9.8 hours. As a result, its clouds, which are composed largely of frozen and liquid ammonia, have been whipped into alternating dark and bright bands that circle the planet at different speeds in different latitudes. Jupiter’s puzzling Great Red Spot changes size as it hovers in the Southern Hemisphere. Scientists speculate it might be a gigantic hurricane, which because of its large size (the Earth could easily fit inside it), lasts for hundreds of years.

     Jupiter gives off twice as much heat as it receives from the Sun. Perhaps this is primeval heat or beat generated by the continued gravitational contraction of the planet. Another star like characteristic of Jupiter is its sixteen natural satellites, which, like a miniature model of the Solar System, decrease in density with distance from rocky moons close to Jupiter to icy moons farther away. If Jupiter were about 70 times more massive, it would have become a star, Jupiter is the best-preserved sample of the early solar nebula, and with its satellites, might contain the most important clues about the origin of the Solar System.

The clouds surrounding Jupiter are mostly composed of __________ .

A. ammonia   

B. helium   

C. hydrogen        

D. methan