题型：阅读理解 题类：常考题 难易度：普通
黑龙江省双鸭山市第一中学2018-2019学年高二下学期英语期末考试试卷
Scientists say they discovered an earthlike planet orbiting the star closest to our planet other than the sun. It is the closest planet ever found outside our solar system that could support life as we know it. This planet is just 4.2 light years away from us. It is so close that space scientists have compared it to a next door neighbor. They say it could be reached by an unmanned spacecraft before the end of the century. The newlydiscovered planet is a little larger than the earth. Scientists have named it Proxima b. It orbits its sun, Proxima Centauri, once every 11days.
Alan Boss is the Chairman of NASA's advisory group for planet exploration. He told VOA that Proxima b not only confirms the discovery of a planet, but also increases the number of other possible "earths" by a huge amount. Boss said it is possible that most stars may have at least one earthlike planet orbiting them.
This makes the possibility of living organisms increasingly likely. Boss said he believes human beings will prove that there is life in places other than the earth in his lifetime. "I am 65," he told VOA, "But I expect to still be alive when it happens."
Paul Butler works at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He told VOA that finding Proxima b "makes the case concrete" that there are other planets where life could exist. Paul Butler said the researchers used two telescopes in different countries to look for possible planets like the earth. Discovering Proxima b, he believes, changes the world.
"This work has resulted in the discovery of hundreds of planets around the nearest stars, and now a potentially habitable planet around the nearest star is in the sky," Butler said.
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