Question

A new planet-hunting technique has detected the most earth-like planet yet around a star other than our sun, raising hopes of finding a space rock that might support life, astronomers (天文學家) reported recently.

“This is an important discovery to answer the question ‘Are we alone?’” said Michael Turner of the National Science Foundation.

“The team has discovered the most earth-like planet yet, and more importantly, has proved the power of a new technique that is sensitive (靈敏的) to detecting planets that are fit for people to live on,” Turner said in a statement.

In the last decade, astronomers have detected more than 160 planets moving around stars outside our solar system. Most of these have been gas giant planets like Jupiter, which are unfit for life.

But an international team has detected a cold planet about 5.5 times more massive than the earth — still small enough to be considered earth-like — moving around a star about 20,000 light years away, close to the center of the Milky Way.

To find this new planet, the team used a technique called gravitational microlensing (引力微觀透鏡法). When a planet is circling the closest star, the planet’s gravity can add its own signature to the light. This kind of light signature was observed on July 11 by a group of telescopes in a project known as OGLE, short for Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment.

“The main advantage of microlensing is the signals for low-mass planets: They’re not weak signals. They’re just rare,” Bennett of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana said by telephone. “If there happens to be a straight line between a foreground star with its planet and the background source star, then you’re able to detect that planet.”

1.The underlined word “detected” in Paragraph 1 probably means “_________”.

A. discovered B. destroyed

C. created D. searched

2.The author’s purpose in writing this passage is to ____.

A. prove that scientists have a lot of difficulties in doing scientific research

B. explain why this planet moves around a star like our sun

C. teach the readers some basic knowledge about the universe

D. tell people about a new technique that finds the most earth-like planet moving round another star

3.From the news report we can infer that _________.

A. the planet is like the earth because it is close to the center of the Milky Way

B. it is quite possible that life may exist on other planets in the universe

C. people have no interest in finding a planet that might support life

D. the question “Are we alone” is too difficult for scientists to answer

4.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. The signals coming from low-mass planets are too weak to be noticed.

B. Most of the discovered planets are not fit for people to live on.

C. If a star with its planet happens to be in line with the source star, then the planet can be found.

D. The power of the new technique is proved by the discovery of the earth-like planet.

Answer 1