Space travel used to be a young man’s game，but when John Glenn went into space aboard Discovery, four generations of men and women could gaze into the sky and think “That could be me someday．”At the same time Glenn was looking down and doing some thinking of his own．

“It’s quite something，”he said, “to look down on this blue planet。seeing that little film of air that surrounds it．You fly over the Mediterranean, over the Middle East—and it’s so beautiful．You wonder why in the world humans can’t solve all the problems they’ve created and left to fester over the centuries．”

“I was at the Houston airport on my way back to Washington recently when this older guy walked up to me，all excited．He shook my hand and said，‘Boy, you’re changing my life! I said how’s that? He said，‘I’m 74。and ever since 1 was a kid I’ve wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro．I haven’t done it，and I kept putting it off．And now I’m gonna do it! And all the time his wife is standing behind him，just shaking her head．”

“So I may have killed a man on Kilimanjaro, for all I know．But I’ve noticed something．I’ve noticed that maybe because of all this, people are seeing themselves in a way they haven’t before．They’re realizing that older people have the same ambitions，hopes，and dreams as anybody else．I say you should live a life based on how you feel and not by the calendar．”

1．The word “fester'’ in the second paragraph most probably mean           ．

A．get infected                                       B．become uncertain

C．grow worse                                         D．go rotten

2．Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the passage? 

A．Space travel will become older people’s career 

B．John Glenn’s achievements encouraged an old man to conquer high mountains． 

C．John Glen spoke his thoughts freely about his space travel． 

D．John Glenn advised older people on how to reorganize their lives．

3．John Glenn’s example shows that                ．

A．more and more grandparents will be astronauts someday

B．older people are beginning to change their normal way of life

C．people’s ambitions should not be held back with age

D．older people have the same rights as young men