SAT阅读官方每日一练（附答案和解析）2018.8.31

Light from distant quasars—early galaxies that shine with tremendous brightness—has given researchers anew clue to the origin of vast magnetic fields studding today's galaxies: They were running strong when the universe was only a third of its percentage.

Astronomers had observed that radio emissions from quasars tend to be angled, or polarized, insuch a way that powerful magnetic fields must have twisted them. The greater their distancefrom Earth, the more polarized their light. But researchers didn't know whether the magnetic fields were part of the quasar or were present in galaxies encountered by quasar light as it made its journey to our telescopes.

So a team led by astronomers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich)scanned more than 70 of those quasars using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile to look for signs of galaxies hiding in front of the quasars. Specifically, theychecked for a feature called the magnesium(II) absorption line, a reduction in the intensityof light of a certain wavelength, which is a commonly used indicator that gas from a star-forming galaxy has soaked up that light.

The researchers report that light from quasars showing the magnesium(II) line was more strongly polarized than light from other quasars in the sample. The interpretation: that lightdid indeed pass through regular galaxies and that it likely acquired its polarization in theprocess.

They estimated the age of the magnetic galaxies by measuring the red shift of theabsorption line—the observed reddening of light that occurs when galaxies move rapidly apart.The typical red shift of the inferred galaxies corresponded to an age of 5.2 billion years, studyauthor Francesco Miniati says. Precision measurements of the cosmic microwave backgroundpeg today's universe at 13.7 billion years old.

Based on the passage, what can most reasonably be inferred about the relationshipbetween two magnetic galaxies and their magnesium(II) absorption lines?

A.As the distance between the galaxies increases, the color of their absorption lines darkens.

B.As the galaxies age, their absorption lines become more pronounced.

C.As the galaxies move farther apart, their absorption lines become polarized.

D.As the brightness of the galaxies decreases, the intensity of the light from their absorptionlines also decreases.

重点单词：

soaked [səukt]adj. 湿透的 动词soak的过去式和过去分词

precision [pri'siʒən]n. 精确，精密度adj. 以精准的执行而著

intensity [in'tensiti]n. 强烈，强度

critical ['kritikəl]adj. 批评的，决定性的，危险的，挑剔的

cosmic ['kɔzmik]adj. 宇宙的，广大无边的，无限的

typical ['tipikəl]adj. 典型的，有代表性的，特有的，独特的

interpretation [in.tə:pri'teiʃən]n. 解释，阐释，翻译，(艺术的)演绎

galaxy ['gæləksi]n. 银河，一群显赫之人

twisted ['twistid]adj. 扭曲的 v. 扭动(twist的过去式)

reduction [ri'dʌkʃən]n. 减少，缩小，(化学)还原反应，(数学)约分

答案：A

解析：

Choice A is the best answer. The author states thatthe red shift of absorption lines is the observedreddening of light that occurs when galaxies moveapart from each other. This suggests that the color ofthe lines becomes more deeply red, or darkens, as the distance between galaxies increases.