On May 17, 2009, according to the plan, Mike Good and I would take a space walk to the Hubble Space Telescope to repair an instrument. The power supply on this instrument had failed, so it could no longer be used. I would be the person doing the repair and Mike my assistant.
Working in space is more difficult than you can imagine. As there is no gravity, you can't stand and any slight push can result in tragedy ﹣you can be pushed into space, never be back.
We got to the telescope. Before we could replace the power supply, we would have to remove from the telescope a handrail fixed with four screws. Having taken out the first three, I found the fourth stripped. I realized that the handrail would not come off, which meant we could no longer be able to replace the power supply and repair that instrument, which meant scientists could no longer look at the universe and find life on other planets.
I tried all kinds of things, and nothing worked. Then Houston, the control centre on the earth, called up and told me to use the tape to tape the bottom of the handrail and pull it off the telescope. They said it was going to take about 27 kilograms of force for me to do that.
I knew what it meant: The handrail could be completely pulled off and the safety tether might break, and I might therefore be pushed into space.
Mike was next to me in his space suit but he could not take over my role. I turned and looked into the cabin where my five crewmates were, and nobody in there had a space suit on. However, I knew they were all looking at me. "Come on Mass, we are all behind you." The telescope must be repaired.
"Bam!" The handrail came right off. The rest of the walk went well. We finally got the new power supply in. They tried it; turned it on from the ground. The instrument came back to life.
At the edge of darkness, after about eight hours, I turned around and saw the Earth from our altitude at Hubble, 568 kilometers up. I saw the huge round pure blue globe﹣our home planet. It's the most beautiful, magnificent thing I've ever seen. It's like looking into heaven. It's paradise.
(1)According to the passage, space walk can be very .
A. interesting
B. dangerous
C. comfortable
D. harmful
(2)Mass had difficulty in when repairing the instrument.
A. fixing the screws
B. getting to the telescope
C. taking off the handrail
D. finding the new power supply
(3)Why did Mass look into the cabin where his five crewmates were?
A. To see whether they could help.
B. To find out what they were doing.
C. To ask them to send him a new tool.
D.To let them know what had happened.
(4)What does Mass want to tell us by writing "At the edge of darkness"? (请用约40词回答)
阅读理解
Bicycle tour and race
A bike tour and race will be held on August 26 and 27 (Sat. & Sun.). At 5:30 a.m. the riders will leave Tian’anmen Square and ride the first 35 kilometers as a training leg. Then the next 55 kilometers leg, from Yanjiao to Jixian, will be the first competitive part of the tour. The riders and their bikes will then be taken from Jixian to Changli.
The second racing leg of the tour will be from Changli to the seaside of Nandaihe, covering a distance of 20 kilometers. Saturday night includes the stay at Nandaihe and supper. Sunday morning is free for playing at the seaside. At noon all the people and their bikes will be taken back to Beijing.
Cost: 200 yuan
Telephone: 4675027
Brazilian footballers
The Brazilian Football Club will play Beijing Guo’an Team at the Workers’ Stadium on August 26. The club has four national team players. Also coming is 2004 US World Cup star Romario who has promised to play for at least 45 minutes.
Ticket prices: 60, 100, 150 yuan
Time / Date: 4:30p.m., August 26 (Sat.)
Telephone: 5012372
Rock climbing
The Third National Rock Climbing Competition will be held on August 26-27 at the Huairou Mountain-climbing Training Base. More than 10 teams from Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, Jilin and other places will take part in it. A Japanese team will give an exhibition climbing. Free for spectators.
Take a long-distance bus from Dongzhimen to Huairou.
Time / Date: 9-12 a.m., August 26 and 27
Telephone: 7143177, 7144850, Wang Zhenghua The main purpose of announcing the above events is to give information about ______.
A.visiting teams | B.famous players |
C.things to do for the weekend | D.prices to pay for the sports events |
If you take part in the bicycle tour, you will ride for ______ kilometers in the competition.
A.35 | B.55 | C.75 | D.110 |
The underlined word “leg” in “Bicycle tour and race” probably means ______.
A.race | B.part of the training |
C.practice | D.part of the tour |
What is special about the rock climbing competition?
A.A foreign team takes part in it. |
B.You can watch it without paying. |
C.You don’t have to be a sportsman to take part. |
D.The bus trip to the place of the competition is free. |
If you want to find something to do for Saturday afternoon, you will call ______.
A.4675027 | B.7143177 | C.5012372 | D.7144850 |
为下面4位同学找到他们需要的网站(71-74),并写出一个自己经常浏览的网站地址。Betty: I want to get some pictures of Beijing.
Tony: I would like to have some information about basketball.
Daming: I want to learn English.
Lingling: I want to buy a birthday present online.
A. www.NBA.com: The latest news about Rockets basketball players.
B. www.24en.com: You can speak, write, read and listen to English.
C. www.ebay.com: A really big shop online. You can buy anything you need.
D: www.beijingphoto.com: Pictures about some places in Beijing.ch______________________________.
“If you want to see a thing well, reach out and touch it!”
That may seem a strange thing to say. But touching things can help you to see them better.
Your eyes can tell you that a glass ball is round. But by holding it in your hands, you can feel how smooth and cool the ball is. You can feel how heavy the glass is. When you feel all these about the ball, you really see it. With your skin, you can feel better. For example, your fingers can tell the difference between two coins in your pocket. You can feel a little drop of water on the back of your hand, too. You can even feel sounds against your skin. Have you ever wanted to know why some people like very loud music? They must like to feel the sounds of music.
All children soon learn what “Don’t touch!” means. They hear it often. Yet most of us keep on touching things as we grow up. In shops, we touch things we might buy: food, clothes. To see something well, we have to touch it. The bottoms of our feet can feel things, too. You know this when you walk on warm sand, cool grass or a hard floor. All feel different under your feet.
There are ways of learning to see well by feeling. One way is to close your eyes and try to feel everything that is touching your skin. Feel the shoes on your feet, the clothes on your body, the air on your skin. At first, it is not easy to feel these things. You are too used to them!
Most museums are just for looking. But today some museums have some things to touch. Their signs say, “Do touch!” There you can feel everything on show.
If you want to see better, reach out and touch. Then you will really see!By touching things .
A.you will have a strange feeling |
B.you will learn how to reach out your hand |
C.you can learn more about them |
D.you can tell what colors they really are |
Which of the following can be the best title of the story?
A.Touching by Feeling | B.To See or to Feel |
C.To See Better—Feel | D.Ways of Feeling |
Which of the following parts can tell you the difference between two coins in your pocket?
A.Your fingers. | B.Your eyes. | C.Your skin. | D.Your back. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
A.Touching is helping us to see better. |
B.Our skin may help us enjoy music. |
C.People don’t have to learn to feel. |
D.Visitors can’t feel the things on show in any museums. |
Do you have any foreign friends? Do you know their characteristics(特征)?
The Germans are very quiet and they always keep calm. They don’t like to speak more words. They look very serious. They like different kinds of amusements. The Germans are very hard—working. They like tidiness, especially the women, who always keep their home clean.
In some ways, the Englishmen look the same as the Germans. They are very quiet and never talk too much with the strangers. They are really polite, so we often hear they say “Thank you.” Or “Sorry.” The gentlemen are also the Englishmen.
The French’s holidays are very long. They like traveling and usually spend their long time staying in other countries. The Frenchmen are more outgoing than the Germans. It is very easy to make friends with them.
Compared to the Frenchmen, the Americans are more outgoing. And they are even opener than all of the Europeans. They don’t like to depend on others. So it is very common that the students do part-time jobs in their free time. And in Americans’ eyes, success is an important part in their life. According to the passage, ______are very quiet.
A.only the Germans |
B.only the Englishmen |
C.only the Frenchmen |
D.both the Germans and the Englishmen |
In the writer’s eyes, the gentlemen are______.
A.the Germans | B.the Frenchmen | C.the Englishmen | D.the Americans |
What can we learn about the Frenchmen from the passage?
A.They are more outgoing than the Americans. |
B.It is very easy to make friends with them. |
C.They like traveling in their own country. |
D.They look serious and are always hard-working. |
Which is the best title of the passage?
A.Foreigners’ hobbies. |
B.Who are more outgoing? |
C.Characteristics of the foreigners. |
D.Success is an important part in Americans’ life. |
One of the things to be learnt in a foreign language is guessing all the time what kind of thing to come when listening to someone talking. People do this all the time in their own language, so it is necessary to do this in a foreign language, too. Here are some examples.
1.” What’s the matter?” “I went to a party last night, so I…”
2.”I feel so tired these days.” “I think you’d better…”
3.”Of course, she never stops talking. She is one of the most…”
You can see from the above three examples that the context helps a lot in understanding what is being talked about. So “guessing” is very important in understanding English, especially spoken English.This passage tells us mainly about ________.
A.the importance of “guessing” in learning a foreign language. |
B.how to guess what one is going to talk about. |
C.Some examples of right guessing. |
D.how important it is to guess all the time. |
From the context, we can see maybe the finished answer in EXAMPLE 1 is ________.
A.…so I didn’t have a good time.” |
B.…so I went to bed very late.” |
C.…so I felt unhappy.” |
D.…so I got up very early.” |
Maybe the finished answer in EXAMPLE 2 is ________.
A.“I think you’d better have a good rest and take good care of yourself.” |
B.“I think you’d better have something to drink.” |
C.“I think you’d better get some help from your friends.” |
D.“I think you’d better to be more careful.” |
From the passage we can infer that guessing is ________ in learning a foreign language.
A.the only way |
B.more important in spoken English than in written English. |
C.more important than any other way |
D.more important in written English than in spoken English |