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The plan: turn Mars into a blue world with streams and green fields, and then fill it with creatures from
the earth.
This idea may sound like something from a science fiction, but it is actually being taken seriously by
many researchers.
This suggests the future for the "red planet" will be the main topic for discussion at an international
conference hosted by NASA this Week. Leading researchers as well as science fiction writers will attend
the event. It comes as NASA(美国宇航局) is preparing a multi-billion-dollar Mars research programme.
"Turning Mars into a little earth has long been a topic in science fiction," said Dr. Michael Meyer,
NAS A's senior scientist. "Now, with scientists exploring the reality, we can ask what are the real
possibilities of changing Mars."
Most scientists agree that Mars could be turned into a little earth, although much time and money
would be needed to achieve this goal. But many experts are shocked by the idea.
"We are destroying our own world at an unbelievable speed and now we are talking about ruining
another planet," said Paul Murdin from the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, UK.
Over the past months, scientists have become increasingly confident they will find Martian life forms.
Europe and America's robot explorers have found the proof that water, mixed with soil, exists in large
amounts on the planet.
In addition, two different groups of scientists announced on March 28 that they had found signs of
methane(甲烷) in the Martian atmosphere, the gas is a waste product of living creatures and could be
produced by microbes(微生物)living in the red planet's soil.
But scientists such as Dr. Lisa Pratt, a biologist at Indiana University, say that these microbes will be
put in danger by the little earth project.
"Before we have even discovered if there is life on Mars, we are talking about carrying out projects
that would destroy all these native life forms, all the strange microbes that we hope to find buried in the
soil," said Dr. Pratt.
Monica Grady, a planetary scientist at the Natural History Museum, London, shares this view. "We
cannot risk starting a global experiment that would wipe out the precious information we are looking for,"
she said. "This is just wrong".
1. A plan for changing the present state of Mars_________.
A. has been made
B. will be put into practice
C. has been given up
D. is being argued about
2. According to the passage, besides scientists, _____are also interested in the future of Mars.
A. the public
B. science fiction writers
C. the governments of many countries
D. news reporters
3. The signs of methane in the Martian atmosphere greatly support the view
that _______
on Mars.
A. microbes may exist
B. there may be aliens
C. water exists
D. there is soil
4. Those who are against the plan are worried that it will ________________.
A. turn Mars into a little earth
B. not be carried out
C. bring destruction to the planet just as what has happened on the earth
D. cost too much time and money
5. Which of the headlines is the fittest for the passage?
A. Mars Programme-a Disastrous Plan
B. Mars Programme- Each Scientist Has His Own Way
C. Mars Programme-Rising Before Us
D. Mars Programme-Challenge to Mankind