Terraforming (Earth-forming) other planets, also known as planetary engineering (行星工程), seems like a task still centuries away for mankind to accomplish. However, it is a vigorous topic that attracts both popular and scientific interest. Why should the possibility of terraforming other planets be studied when it may be centuries before we know enough to even decide if it’s a good idea?
Mankind is getting more and more hard facts about other planets. The atmosphere of Venus has been explored; robots have surveyed the suce of Mars; Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn have been studied by spacecraft. Speculations have been answered; new questions have been raised, and enough hard data is right now becoming available to allow us to make the first attempt of planetary engineering.
In the past, people with excellent ideas about terraforming have kept them to themselves, or buried them in a desk drawer because they did not realize that anyone else was interested. But now, a wide circle of people has begun to do this kind of work. For instance, NASA funded a project on transforming Mars.
There are several strong reasons which demand that the possibilities of terraforming be studied carefully. First, it’s an exciting idea of a possible future for human beings. Such thinking has a valuable role in providing options for our future directions. Secondly, the techniques of terraforming will also help contemporary technologies in weather and climate control. Thirdly, such study may assist us in detecting any possible existence of extraterrestrial intelce (SETI, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelce, 地外文明搜索) and alien (的) civilizations on other planets.
Though the mission is far beyond our reach at the moment, we should at least keep our options open. Through debate and study on this subject, the possibility of rebuilding other planets to make them suitable homes for people may come true some day in the future.
小题1:.
. According to the context, what’s the meaning of the word “speculation” in paragraph 2?A．The act of discussing something with a group of people.B．The act of studying and researching.C．The act of guessing without knowing all the facts about something.D．The acting of writing letters to a certain organization.小题2:.
Why did people keep the idea of terraforming to themselves in the past?A．They thought no one else would show interest in the idea.B．They gradually came to find the idea crazy.C．They thought the idea would never come true.D．They had few resources for further study on this topic.小题3:.
. Which is NOT the reason to support the study of terraforming?A．Even if we don’t succeed in terraforming, such study may help us to better understand technologies such as climate and weather control.B．Such study may explore a new direction of development for human beings.C．Such study may enable us to find the lives on other planets.D．As the resources on Earth are being drained, it’s very urgent to study how to migrate (迁移) to other planets。小题4:.
What’s the main idea of the article?A．It’s highly possible that terraforming other planets will come true so we should increase investing in this program.B．Even if the idea of terraforming other planets may take centuries to realize, we have many reasons to support such studies.C．Terraforming other planets is the best option for human being’s future.D．More and more people are taking planetary engineering as their occupation.