高中英语外刊阅读语法填空Where dark skies draw stargazers, wildfire smoke spoils the view

Where dark skies draw stargazers, wildfire smoke spoils the view

夜空引来了看星星的人，野火的烟雾却破坏了景致

The high, lonesome(荒凉的) dunes（沙丘） 1_____ run up against the Rocky Mountains at 7,500 feet above sea level in southern Colorado are a long, long drive from the closest streetlight, and after dusk, the almost untainted （纯净无暇的）2______(dark) and thin, dry air reveals just how bright the night sky can 3_____(actual) be.

The dunes are usually 4_____ideal spot to catch the annual summer light show 5_____(put) on by the Perseid meteor shower. But not so much this year. The West is on fire, the sky is full of smoke, and on many nights, even in the darkest corners of the West, the meteors (流星) that once slashed across the heavens with fiery intensity only pulse faintly （微弱地）through the murk — if they can 6_____( see) at all.

"I've never seen it so smoky as this year," said Bob Bohley, a volunteer astronomy ranger at Great Sand Dunes National Park. "Some nights it's been 7_____thick that even the 8______(bright) stars were hard to make out."

Great Sand Dunes is one of 27 national parks and monuments that are designated as dark sky parks, where light pollution from cities is scant. But in recent years, the fire season — as summer is now often called — 9_____(mean) that the chance for stargazing (观星)depends on how many square miles are burning upwind(上风处) .

"Just as light pollution and smoke don't respect boundaries, the consequences of how we handle climate change travel far," said Bettymaya Foott, a photographer of the night sky.

If the stars lost their luster（光彩）, much of the country might not notice. NASA estimates that only about 17% of 10_______(America) live in dark rural places where they can see the Milky Way.

Keys:

1 that  2 darkness  3 actually  4 an  5 put 6 be seen  7 so  8 brightest  9 has meant  10 Americans