考研英语一2023年湖北省荆州市松滋市考前冲刺预测试卷Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)My wife and I were attending a wedding at St. Johns Church. The sound of 1 rang to the heavens as the ceremony continued.At the church, I 2 an old friend, Casper, who happened to be at the 3 . Now 73, Casper was a brilliant and 4 softball pitched (投球手) back in the Mens Leagues of Philadelphia in the mid-60s. I did not 5 the now silver-haired fellow until my brother-in-law John mentioned his name to me! After a very pleasant 6 , Casper asked if I remembered a letter of 7 I had written to him back in 1964. It appeared Casper fell on hard times, as professional pitchers 8 do, and he wasnt pitching too well for a period of time. I did not 9 the letter, but he said, “Yes, I still have it, and I read it anytime 10 arent going too well.” He said that he had read the letter many times, and the situation always seemed to improve. I was 11 and speechless!He continued, “You dont remember?” I said, “Sadly, no, I dont.” but I did ask if I could have a(n) 12 of the letter. He said he would email it to me. After the 13 , we met on the steps of the church. Casper came up to me and 14 the letter. He lived a block from the 15 and had run home to get it. The envelope was 16 and turned yellow, and so was the letter inside. That letter had to be nearly 50 years old.In 17 term, the letter read:“These hard times are 18 ! Keep your enthusiasm for the 19 . Never quit and you will be back on top again 20 . Hang on there!”1、Awind Bmusic Ctraffic Dfireworks2、Atook over Bran into Cpicked up Dcalled on3、Ameeting Bservice Cscene Dposition4、Alimited Bbalanced Cdevoted Dtalented5、Ainvite Brecognize Cdisturb Dinform6、Adiscussion Bshaking Cjourney Dgreeting7、Aapology Bappreciation Cencouragement Dintroduction8、Asometimes Bentirely Crarely Dforever9、Areceive Bwrite Cremember Dpreserve10、Ajobs Bthings Cstages Deffects11、Apleased Bdisappointed Cpuzzled Dannoyed12、Aaddress Bcopy Crecord Dopinion13、Aparty Bbreak Cwedding Dincident14、Adropped Bdelivered Copened Dpresented15、Atheatre Bchurch Coffice Dstation16、Afolded Bfaded Cpainted Ddivided17、Agentle Bpatient Cmodest Dsimple18、Areasonable Btemporary Crelative Dimpressive19、Agame Bprize Cglory Dlesson20、Acasually Bproperly Ctotally DshortlySection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)Text 1It seems that we are one step closer to finding alien life and maybe a future home for humanity. Scientists from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) have found a new solar system filled with planets that look like Earth and could even support life.The group of seven planets, which orbits a star called Trappist-1, is 40 light years away from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius(水瓶座). And three of them are in the so-called “habitable (宜居的)zone” -the area around a star where liquid water is most likely to be found. This is important because water is a necessary ingredient for life.All of the planets were found using a method called “transit photometry.” This works by watching out for when a planet passes in front of its host start. This blocks out a small amount of light, allowing us to see the planet and learn about its size.“This is an amazing planetary system-not only because we have found so many planets, but because they are all surprisingly similar in size to the Earth,” astronomer Michael Gillon from the University of Liege in Belgium told The Independent.Trappist-1 is a “dwarf star (矮星)” which is colder and shines dimmer than our sun. If a person were on one of the seven planets, everything would look a lot darker than usual. The amount of light heading toward our eyes would be about 200 times less than we get from the sun, according to The Independent.Because of that, Trappist-1, together with many other dwarf stars, was never on the list of places where scientists look for alien life. but Michael Gillon, lead researcher behind the discovery, decided to give dwarf stars a chance. He built a telescope in Chile to observe 60 of the closest dwarf stars, and it turned out that Trappist-1 was worthy of the effort.The researchers hope that they can spend more time watching the newly found planets to learn more about them. Even though more research is needed before determining whether these planets could