The Northern Lights

    The Sun is stormy and has its own kind of weather. It is so hot and active that even the Sun"s gravity cannot hold its atmosphere in check¹! Energy flows away from the Sun toward the Earth in a stream of electrified particles that move at speeds around a million miles per hour². These particles are called plasma, and the stream of plasma³ coming from the Sun is called the solar wind. The more active the Sun, the stronger the solar wind.

    The solar wind constantly streams toward the Earth, but don"t worry because a protective magnetic field surrounds our planet. The same magnetic field that makes your compass point north also steers the particles from the Sun to the north and south poles. The charged particles become trapped in magnetic belts around the Earth. When a large blast of solar wind crashes into the Earth"s magnetic field, the magnetic field first gets squeezed and then the magnetic field lines break and reconnect. ⁴

     The breaking and reconnecting of the magnetic field lines can cause atomic particles called electrons trapped in the belts to fall into the Earth"s atmosphere at the poles. As the electrons fall to the Earth, they collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere, creating flashes of light in the sky. Each atmospheric gas glows a different color. Oxygen and nitrogen glows red and green and nitrogen glows violet-purple. As these various colors glow and dance in the night sky, they create the Northern Lights and the Southern Lights.

    Watching auroras is fun and exciting, but normally you can only see them in places far north like Alaska and Canada. The movement of the aurora across the sky is usually slow enough to easily follow with your eyes but they can also pulsate, flicker, or even move like waves. During solar maximum, ⁵ auroras are seen as far south as Florida, even Mexico! ⁶

    Auroras often seem to be very close to the ground, but the lowest aurora is still about 100 kilometers above the ground, a distance much higher than clouds are formed or airplanes can fly. A　typical aurora band can be thousands of kilometers long, a few hundred kilometers high, but only a few hundred meters thick.

    We hope you are able to travel to far-north places like the Arctic Circle and see the Northern Lights at least once during your lifetime, We know you will never forget it!

 

词汇：

electrify / ɪ’lektrɪfaɪ/ v．使带电

steer /stɪə(r)/ v．驾驶；导向，引向

collide / kə’laɪd/ v．碰撞

aurora /ɔ:’rɔ:rə/ n．极光

licker /’flɪkə(r)/ v．闪烁

plasma / ’plæzmə/ n．等离子体

electron / ɪ’lektrɒn/ n．电子

molecule / ’mɒlɪkju: l/ n．分子

pulsate /pʌl’seɪt / v．跳动

Arctic / ’ɑ:ktɪk / adj．北极的

 

注释：

1．The sun’s gravity cannot hold its atmosphere in check：太阳的引力无法控制它自己的大气层。hold ... in check是“控制，支配”，例如：

    He wants to hold the company in check through the manager’s secretary.

他想通过经理的秘书控制公司。

2．move at speeds around a million miles per hour：以约 100万英里的时速运动。around = about。

3．the stream of plasma：等离子流

4．... the magnetic field first gets squeezed and then the magnetic field lines break and reconnect：首先，磁场受到挤压，接着磁场磁力线断开又闭合。

5．During solar maximum：在太阳风暴达到最高峰的期间

6．auroras are seen as far south as Florida, even Mexico!位于极南面的佛罗里达州，乃至于墨西哥都能看到极光。far south意为  “极南面”。

You cannot see the Northern Lights unless you are in Alaska or Canada.

A:Right B:Wrong C:Not mentioned

Read the questions and answer YES or No, then you will find out how good you are.
1. When you don’t understand something, you ask questions.
2. You like listening to older people talk about the past.
3. You think that you can learn something interesting from everyone around you.
4. You are brave enough when you have to talk to people you don’t know.
5. You enjoy reading books about famous people.
6. You always see and talk to different people.
7. You are interested in learning new ways of doing things.
8. You enjoy sharing experiences with friends and learning from people of all ages.
9. You talk a lot about yourself.
10. Even if you are often wrong, you make your own decisions.
11. You hate teaching what you are good at: sports, technology, whatever.
12. Your parents don’t understand you, so you don’t talk to them much.
SCORE NOW!
Score 2 points if you answer YES to each of the first 8 questions, and O if you choose NO.
Score 2 points if you answer NO to each of the last 4 questions, and O if you choose YES.
18—24 You are friendly and open-minded. You make people fell important by listening to what they have to say. You’ll probably succeed in learning all kinds of interesting things. Good for you!
10—16 Remember that every single person you know can teach you something. You will greatly make your life rich and colorful.
0—8 About 400 years ago, a famous writer wrote," No man is an island." This is still true today. Try to be more open and interested in people around you.
"No man is an island." in the text probably means that______．

A:the famous writer was very clever B:everything is the same as 400 years ago C:you will feet lonely if on an island D:you cannot live alone in the world

You cannot be too careful. Which of the following sentences doesn’t have the same mean- ing of the underlined sentence （）

A:You cannot be careful at all. B:You cannot be over careful. C:You cannot be careful enough. D:You cannot take enough care.

______, you cannot finish the book in two days.

A:Fast as you read B:As you read fast C:You read as fast D:As read fast you

You cannot be too careful. Which of the following sentences doesn’t have the same mean- ing of the underlined sentence ______

A:You cannot be careful at all. B:You cannot be over careful. C:You cannot be careful enough. D:You cannot take enough car

? ?下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每题后面有4个选项。请仔细阅读短文并根据短文回答其后面的问题，从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案。
{{B}}第一篇{{/B}}

Which of the following statements is NOT true?______

A:The sensor is multi-functional. B:Without a computer, the sensor cannot do much. C:The sensor will detect fire and make an emergency call. D:You can he taken for an intruder if you tamper with the lock or with a window.

The last paragraph tells us that when you are absolutely scared,

A:you will work hard. B:you may die and become a stone. C:you cannot move at all. D:you may want to find a stone.

Read the questions and answer YES or No, then you will find out how good you are.
1. When you don’t understand something, you ask questions.
2. You like listening to older people talk about the past.
3. You think that you can learn something interesting from everyone around you.
4. You are brave enough when you have to talk to people you don’t know.
5. You enjoy reading books about famous people.
6. You always see and talk to different people.
7. You are interested in learning new ways of doing things.
8. You enjoy sharing experiences with friends and learning from people of all ages.
9. You talk a lot about yourself.
10. Even if you are often wrong, you make your own decisions.
11. You hate teaching what you are good at: sports, technology, whatever.
12. Your parents don’t understand you, so you don’t talk to them much.
SCORE NOW!
Score 2 points if you answer YES to each of the first 8 questions, and O if you choose NO.
Score 2 points if you answer NO to each of the last 4 questions, and O if you choose YES.
18—24 You are friendly and open-minded. You make people fell important by listening to what they have to say. You’ll probably succeed in learning all kinds of interesting things. Good for you!
10—16 Remember that every single person you know can teach you something. You will greatly make your life rich and colorful.
0—8 About 400 years ago, a famous writer wrote," No man is an island." This is still true today. Try to be more open and interested in people around you.
"No man is an island." in the text probably means that______．

A:the famous writer was very clever B:everything is the same as 400 years ago C:you will feet lonely if on an island D:you cannot live alone in the world