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　　How big is space? That is a question man has been asking since the beginning of time. When your grandparents were in school，it was __1__ that the universe was very __2__ perhaps only 5,000 light years __3__. 500 years ago people considered that the universe was only a little bit __4__ than the earth. In modern times with the __5__ of technology we are finally starting to __6__ the immense (無邊的) size of the universe，and it is much bigger than anyone __7__ have ever imagined.

　　Scientists cannot stretch (伸展) a measuring tape from the earth to a nearby star, so __8__ do they know how far away they are? Scientists use something __9__ parallax (視差). Parallax means __10__ that they look at how much the stars move in the sky __11__ throughout the year as the earth circles the sun. This is not something __12__ to you. In fact if you stretch out your hand in front of you and __13__ your thumb, while __14__ one eye, and then the other, your thumb will __15__ to move back and forth. Stars do the __16__ thing，but our eyes are too close to see the __17__. However, if we take a picture while on one side of the earth's orbit，and then take another when we get to the __18__ side of the orbit，then we have a large enough __19__ that we can see the stars' parallax，and __20__ how far away they really are.

　　1.A.measured B.bet

　　C.thought D.proved

　　答案：C　根據(jù)上下文知，這里表達(dá)的是在祖父母上學(xué)時(shí)人們以為宇宙有多大，不是客觀事實(shí)，所以不能用measured/proved，也不是打賭。

　　2.A. old B. big

　　C. mysterious D. small

　　答案：D　從后面的only可以看出，在當(dāng)時(shí)大家都認(rèn)為宇宙只有5000光年那么大，即人們以為宇宙比較“小”。

　　3.A. over B. across

　　C. through D. outside

　　答案：B　across此處意為“from one side to the other”。over指“在……的上方”;through指“從……中間穿過”;outside意為“在外面”。

　　4.A. bigger B. smaller

　　C. heavier D. nearer

　　答案：A　這里討論的話題是宇宙有多大，所以不是輕重遠(yuǎn)近的問題。500年以前人們以為宇宙僅僅比地球大一點(diǎn)。

　　5.A. popularity B. power

　　C. energy D. strength

　　答案：B　the power of the technology指科技的力量;popularity意為“普及;流行”;energy意為“能力;精力;活力;能源”;strength通常指(具體的)力氣、力量。