今天前程百利小编为大家分享的是托福听力新题材料来源。最近托福听力考试中出现了一些新题，那这些新题材料的来源是什么呢?大家都知道托福听力来源于学生的课堂内容和校园生活，所以小编特意为大家整理托福听力新题的材料来源，快来看一下吧！
Scientists have found ancient "impact glass" on the surface of Mars, which formed when asteroids struck, a billion or more years ago. If anything was alive at the time, biological materials could be trapped inside. Christopher Intagliata reports
If you're looking for signs of past life on Earth, some of the evidence is obvious. "Finding a trilobite fossil is a no-brainer, we all can understand that one, or a dinosaur bone." Jack Mustard, a Brown University geologist.
He says less obvious signs of ancient life can be found in glass. Specifically, impact glass--which forms when asteroids slam into the planet, rapidly heating and melting the rocks around them. "Impact glass on the Earth can preserve biological material in a kind of capsule, a time capsule if you will."
Here on Earth, for instance, scientists have found impact glass containing ancient plant matter, and other chemical signatures of life.
Jack and his colleague Kevin Cannon have now spotted the same sort of impact glass on Mars, using the spectrometer on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Which means Martian glass might also hold evidence of life. If the Red Planet ever harbored life, that is.
The glass is more than just a potential time capsule. Its mineral structure also makes it an attractive snack for certain microbes. "Microbes eat geologic materials. But it can be a really slow process. Glass on the other hand is something that is kind a like having a Dorito for a microbe, because you can just start chewing away at it, and it's quite delicious, and you just munch right through it." Meaning it also might be worth inspecting glass for anything living on it—not just trapped inside. The findings are in the journal Geology. [Kevin M. Cannon and John F. Mustard, Preserved glass-rich impactites on Mars]
So does this study suggest we should abandon the old "follow the water" mantra when looking for life? "I certainly think it would not lend itself to, let's change the course of this ship and follow the glass. But I think where we're at is developing significantly interesting hypotheses to explore." And the Mars 2020 mission, which will collect samples for eventual return to Earth, might just be the perfect opportunity to start.
疑难词汇：
Asteroid n. [天] 小行星;[无脊椎] 海盘车;小游星adj. 星状的
Trilobite n. [古生] 三叶虫
Dinosaur n. 恐龙;过时、落伍的人或事物
Slam vt. 砰地关上;猛力抨击vi. 砰地关上;猛力抨击n. 猛击;砰然声
Capsule n. 胶囊;[植] 蒴果;太空舱;小容器adj. 压缩的;概要的vt. 压缩;简述
Spectrometer n. [光] 分光仪
Microbe 细菌;微生物
Impactite n. [岩] 碰撞岩，冲击石
Mission n. 使命，任务;代表团;布道vt. 派遣;向……传教
Mantra n. 咒语(尤指四吠陀经典内作为咒文或祷告唱念的);颂歌n. (Mantra)人名;(印尼)曼特拉
长难句解析：
1. So does this study suggest we should abandon the old "follow the water" mantra when looking for life?
难句类型：
When引导的时间状语从句
句子主干：
this study suggest that
难句拆分：
when looking for life ，when引导的时间状语从句。
2. And the Mars 2020 mission, which will collect samples for eventual return to Earth, might just be the perfect opportunity to start.
难句类型：
Which引导的非限制性定语从句
句子主干：
And the Mars 2020 mission might just be the perfect opportunity to start
难句拆分：
which will collect samples for eventual return to Earth，which引导的非限制性定语从句修饰mission.
文本结构特点：
本篇文章主要讲的撒谎是不是好策略，人为什么要撒谎。每个人都会撒谎，但我们都认为自己是好人。但是研究发现撒一个小谎和严重欺诈是很不一样的。
好了，以上就是前程百利小编为大家整理的备考托福听力背景材料以及专业词汇的学习。大家学会了吗?希望能在备考托福的路上助大家一臂之力。预祝大家在托福考试中取得好成绩。
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