When Geoff Marcy was 14, his parents bought him a telescope. Every night, he would go onto the roof outside his window to see the wonders of the sky.
“What excited me most was whether there were planets in other solar systems where life might exist,” he says. “I decided to try to find planets orbiting other stars like our Sun.”
And he did. “My fellow researcher, Paul Butler, and I found our first planet in 1995,” Dr. Marcy says. “We worked for ten years without finding anything! But we stuck with it and our patience paid off.”
Since then, the two scientists have discovered 65 of the more than 100 planets found orbiting other stars. Dr. Marcy and Dr. Butler also spotted the first “family” of three planets. In June 2002 they announced another discovery: a Jupiter-like planet orbiting star 55Cancri.
At first, the two researchers found only planets that orbit close to stars. Recently, the scientists found planets farther out. The planet orbiting 55Cancri is a major breakthrough: it is the first sighting of a large gas planet about same distance from the star as Jupiter is from the Sun.
Why is this important ? Scientists think that life on Earth may exist because of two special features in our solar system. The first is Jupiter.
“Because it’s so big, Jupiter pulls comets and asteroids(小行星), or they all come and hit the Earth.” Dr. Marcy explains. “Without Jupiter , life on Earth would likely have been destroyed.”
A second feature is that Earth is a rocky planet where liquid water, which is necessary for life , can exist. Unlike gas planets, rocky planets like Earth have surfaces where water can gather in pools and seas, which may support life. A huge space exists between the Jupiter-like planet and two other planets that lie close to 55Cancri. Is there an Earth-like planet in the space, too small for us to notice? If so, says Dr. Marcy, “We would have two striking similarities to our solar system: a Jupiter-like planet and an Earth-like planet. And there may be life!”
小题1:What can we learn about Dr. Marcy from the passage?
A．He is fond of watching Jupiter.
B．He is from a scientist family.
C．He dislikes working with Paul Butler.
D．He is interested in finding life in outer space.小题2:Which of the following is true of the recent discovery?
A．The planet is not as protective as Jupiter.
B．The planet is close to star 55Cancri.
C．The planet proves to be a gas planet.
D．The planet is as large as Jupiter.小题3:Dr. Marcy and Dr. Butler began to find new planets in ____.
A．1995
B．1985
C．2002
D．1981小题4:Dr. Marcy thinks that life may exist in the 55Cancri system because ____.
A．he has found the system similar to the solar system.
B．he has discovered an Earth-like planet there.
C．he has discovered a rocky planet there.
D．he has found signs of life in the system小题5:“But we stuck with it”( in Paragraph 3) means ____.
A．they felt discouraged
B．they carried on with it
C．they failed in their attempt
D．they made some progress