Question

Six seconds after its launch in Virginia, US, an unmanned rocket bound for the International Space Station （ISS） exploded, disappointing people both on Earth and in space．

Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cargo was destroyed in the Oct． 28 explosion due to An“equipment failure”, said Orbital Sciences, the company hired by NASA for the resupply mission．

The rocket was carrying a cargo ship loaded with 2,200 kilograms of supplies such as food, tools, parts, and experiments． Roughly a third of the cargo was a series of scientific investigations． Some of them were from high school students in the US． For example, 10 students from the Cristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School of Houston were conducting experiments about microgravity and put their samples on the rocket． “I know that failure is a part of science, but I really feel sorry for my students," science teacher Greg Adragna told the Houston, Chronicle ．

Astronauts at the ISS felt a more urgent disappointment, however． The cargo included 617kg of food． Now they will have to rely on supplies from a Russian launch on Oct． 29．

Launched in 1998 and involving the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, and the member countries of the European Space Agency, the ISS is one of the most ambitious international collaborations in history． Currently, there are six astronauts at the station, five male and one female． Three are from Russia, two are from the US, and one is from Germany． They have lived together for about six months． The station gets regular resupplies from Earth, using unmanned spacecrafts． Food is always a big part of the supplies． Most of the food is frozen and ready to eat, and often tastes bad-somewhat like trying to eat when you have a heavy cold．

To make space life better, however, scientists have made breakthroughs． Earlier this year, Russian astronauts managed to grow a variety of crops aboard the station． Next year they are going to try to grow rice and other plants． And, as transporting water to space is expensive, astronauts are looking for ways to recycle water． "Astronauts on board the ISS already drink water distilled from sweat and urine<尿） ," Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported．

Is that the reason the astronauts were so disappointed not to get the water from the failed resupply mission, by any chance?

1. What is the author-s main purpose in writing the article?

A．To explain what caused the explosion of NASA-s unmanned rocket．

B．To inform us of the explosion of NASA-s unmanned rocket and its effects．

C．To tell us about astronauts lives at the International Space Station．

D．To tell us how the world reacted to the explosion of NASA-s unmanned rocket．

2. The underlined word “cargo” in the second paragraph is closet in meaning to

A． goods B． equipment

C． food supply D． investigation

3.How did teacher Greg Adragna feel about the explosion of the rocket?

A． Angry． B． Anxious．

C． Frustrated． D． Unconcerned．

4.We can conclude from the article that the situation seemed for astronauts on board the ISS when the rocket exploded．

A． hopeless B． interesting

C． depressing D． dangerous

5.Which of the following statements is TRUE about the ISS, according to the article?

A． Half of the astronauts at the ISS are from the US．

B． The ISS was set up by four countries．

C． The water that astronauts at the ISS drink is mainly made by recycling．

D． Most of the food astronauts eat at the ISS is frozen and tastes bad．

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.C

4.C

5.D

【解析】

试题分析：本文讲述NASA无人火箭爆炸，其携带货物包括食物、工具、零件以及实验研究都被破坏，其中的食物主要是供应给国际空间站的宇航员，而此次爆炸使得他们不得不依赖俄国10月29日送上来的供应，火箭的爆炸使他们的境遇更令人沮丧了。

1.

2. rocket was carrying a cargo ship loaded with 2,200 kilograms of supplies such as food, tools, parts, and experiments．Cargo包括食物、工具、零件以及实验研究，可知Cargo的意思相近于货物，故选A

3. know that failure is a part of science, but I really feel sorry for my students,我知道科学总是伴随着失败，但我真的对我的学生感到很抱歉，即他对爆炸感到失望，故选C

4. cargo included 617kg of food． Now they will have to rely on supplies from a Russian launch on Oct． 29货物包括617千克的食物，现在他们不得不依赖俄国10月29日送上来的供应，即火箭的爆炸使得他们的境况令人沮丧，故选C

5. of the food is frozen and ready to eat, and often tastes bad大部分食物是冰冻的可及食的，经常尝起来很糟糕，故选D

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