9. Corot will also probe into stellar interiors by studying the acoustic waves that ripple across the surface of stars, a technique called "asteroseismology".

　　10. The nature of the ripples allows astronomers to calculate a star's precise mass, age and chemical composition.

　　11. "A planet passing in front of a star can be detected by the fall in light from that star. Small oscillations of the star also produce changes in the light emitted, which reveal what the star is made of and how they are structured internally. This data will provide a major boost to our understanding of how stars form and evolve," Prof Roxburgh said.

　　12. Since the discovery in 1995 of the first "exoplanet" - a planet orbiting a star other than the Sun - more than 200 others have been found by ground-based observatories.

　　13. Until now the usual method of finding exoplanets has been to detect the "wobble" their gravity imparts on parent stars. But only giant gaseous planets bigger than Jupiter can be found this way, and they are unlikely to harbour life.

　　14. In the 2010s, ESA plans to launch Darwin, a fleet of four or five interlinked space telescopes that will not only spot small rocky planets, but analyse their atmospheres for signs of biological activity.

　　15. At around the same time, the US space agency, Nasa, will launch Terrestrial Planet Finder, another space telescope designed to locate Earth-like planets.

　　(615 words)

　　Choose the appropriate letter from A-D for question 1.

　　1. Corot is an instrument which

　　(A) can help to search for certain planets

　　(B) is used to find planets in the orbit

　　(C) can locate planets with human beings

　　(D) can spot any planets with water.

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? For questions 2-5 write

　　TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

　　FALSE if the statement contraicts the information

　　NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

　　2. Scientists are trying to find out about the planets that can be inhabited.

　　3. BBC Radio 4 recently focuses on the broadcasting of Corot.

　　4. Passing objects might cause a fall in light.

　　5. Corot can tell whether there is another Earth-like planet.

　　Based on your reading of the passage, complete the sentences below with words taken from the passage. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

　　With measurements, scientists will be able to search for some gaseous and rocky planets. They will be extremely excited if they can discover some small 6. __________, the expected number of which could be up to 7. __________ .

　　Corot will enable scientists to study the 8. __________ of stars. In this way, a star’s mass, age and chemical composition can be calculated.

　　According to Prof Roxburgh, changes in light can be caused by passing planets or star 9. __________. The related statistics can gain us a better 10. __________ of the star formation and evolvement.

　　Observatories have found many exoplanets, which are 11. __________ other stars than the Sun. The common way used in finding exoplanets can only detect huge gas planets, which do not 12. ___________ .

　　With the launching of Darwin, astronomers will be able to analyse whether those rocky planets have 13. __________ for life.