What are your retirement plans? Keep working? Get more exercise? Or learn something new? You may put them on hold. There’s a chance that, sooner or later, you might have to move further than you were thinking, as far as Mars (火星)．
On Thursday, National Geographic will show the first ever Mars show home, giving earthlings an idea of what their life could look like on the Red Planet. Set in the notsodistant year of 2037, the iglooshaped structure could be the home of your future.
It shows a house built using recycled spacecraft parts and Martian soil, called regolith, which has been microwaved into bricks. Some parts of the home are recognisable—kitchen, bedroom—but there are fundamental differences that are vital for human survival.
As the Martian atmosphere is around one hundredth as thick as the Earth’s, people will need permanent shelter from the sun and society will move largely indoors. Most buildings will be connected by underground passages and the houses won’t have windows. The homes will have simulated solar lighting, or natural light that has been bent several times.
Walls will need to be 10 to 12 feet thick, to protect people from dangerous rays that can pass through six feet of steel, and a double airlocked entrance to keep the home under proper pressure.
“We don’t think of our houses as things that keep us alive, but on Mars your house will be a survival centre，” says Stephen Petranek, author of How We’ll Live on Mars. This is not just the stuff of scifi. “Ten to twenty years from now there will certainly be people on Mars，” Petranek says.
“We’ve had the technology for 30 years to land people on Mars, but we haven’t had the will，” Petranek says. “But two main factors have completely swung public attitudes.”
The private companies’ participation has forced government agencies to up their game, and influential films such as Gravity and The Martian have caught society’s eye.
【解题导语】 本文主要对人类未来在火星上居住作了相关介绍。
1．What can we know about the show home from the text?
A．It has no windows or doors due to security concern.
B．Its design presents the idea of environmental protection.
C．It has thick walls keeping the home under proper pressure.
D．Its underground passages connect all the buildings together.
B 解析：推理判断题。根据第三段的第一句可推知，火星样板房的设计采用了可回收的宇宙飞船上的一些部件，体现了环保意识，故选B。
2．What do the underlined words “put them on hold” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
A．Put them off. B．Give them away.
C．Carry them through. D．Take them seriously.
A 解析：词义猜测题。根据第一段的最后一句可推知，之前的列举都可能被搁置下来，而去火星居住迟早会成为可能，故选A。
3．According to Petranek, what has sped up the process of sending people to Mars?
A．The great influence of Mars show home.
B．The development of related technology.
C．The competition from private companies.
D．The popularity of influential books on Mars.
C 解析：细节理解题。根据最后一段的“The private companies’ participation has forced government agencies to up their game”可知，Petranek认为一些私人企业的参与促进了送人类去火星居住这一设想的进程，故选C。
4．What is the best title for the text?
A．Living on Mars: Possible or Not
B．Sending People to Mars: Yes or No
C．First Ever Show Home: How Is It Made?
D．Future Home on Mars: What Will It Be like?
D 解析：标题归纳题。根据全文的整体内容可推知，本文主要对人类未来在火星上居住作了相关介绍，故选D。
