2010-2020年上海高考英语阅读理解(C篇).docx

2010 2010 年上海高考英语阅读理解(C 篇) (C) The 2012 London Olympics had enough problems to worry about．But one more has just been added - a communications blackout caused by solar storms. After a period of calm within the Sun, scientists have detected the signs of a flesh cycle of sunspots that could peak in 2012, just in time for the arrival of the Olympic torch in London. Now scientists believe that this peak could result in vast solar explosions that could throw billions of tons of charged matter towards the Earth, causing strong solar storms that could jam the telecommunications satellites and interact links sending five Olympic broadcast from London. The Suns activity has a strong influence on the Earth ．The Olympics could be in the middle of the next solar maximum which could affect the functions of communications satellites, said Professor Richard Harrison, head of space physics at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire． At the peak of the cycle, violent outbursts called coronal mass ejections (日冕物质抛射) occur in the Suns atmosphere, throwing out great quantities of electrically -charged matter． A coronal mass ejection can carry a billion tons of solar material into space at over a million kilometres per hour．Such events can expose astronauts to a deadly amount, can disable satellites, cause power failures on Earth and disturb communications, Professor Harrison added．The risk is greatest during a solar maximum when there is the greatest number of sunspots. Next week in America, NASA is scheduled to launch a satellite for monitoring solar activity called the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which will take images of the Sun that are 10 times clearer than the most advanced televisions available. The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory helped to make the high -tech cameras that will capture images of the solar flares (太阳耀斑) and explosions as they occur. Professor Richard Hold away, the labs director, said that the SDO should be able to provide early warning of