Yi So－yeon, an engineer from Seoul, returned to Earth on Saturday after 11 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), along with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and US astronaut Peggy Whitson.

A technical problem turned a routine (常规) return to Earth into a sharper than usual descent (下降) that tested the group members' stamina and courage. They landed in the Kazakh steppes ( 大草原)  about 420km  (260 miles) wide of their target.

“During the descent there was some kind of fire outside the Soyuz capsule because we were going through the atmosphere，” Yi said.

“At first I was afraid, but the two other guys looked okay, so I tried to look okay too.”

Yi smiled and joked her way through a 10－minute news briefing at Star City, the wooded Soviet era cosmonaut training centre on the edge of Moscow. However, Malenchenko and Whitson looked tired and thin after nearly six months in space. Their answers were short and Whitson needed support to balance when she walked. The 29－year－old Yi has become famous in South Korea since the take－off but she brushed this aside and said she has had little contact with friends or family since returning.

“In fact, they are the heroes right now，” Yi said, referring to Malenchenko and Whitson. “I'm just a beginner and a little ashamed to say that I am a hero.”  She did, though, relate a more light－hearted incident on the ISS.

“I sang Fly Me to the Moon” Yi said about the 1950s pop song. “It's my favorite song from university although at that time I didn't know I would be an astronaut.”

The capsule's so－called “ballistic” re－entering made the group members face twice the usual pull from the centre of the earth.  The flames Yi described may have been caused by friction (摩擦) heating the capsule as it fell through the atmosphere.

Whitson told reporters that Saturday's ballistic landing, was irregular but not an emergency.

“The Soyuz has been through its history very reliable and there has obviously been some issue in the last couple of descents which went ballistic, but I'm sure the engineers will determine what the problems are and get them fixed，” she said.

In October, a Soyuz capsule carrying Malaysia's first space tourist touched down about 200 km (125 miles) off_course in a similar ballistic landing caused by a technical problem.

The Soyuz is the world's longest－serving manned space capsule.  An early version of the craft, the Vostok, carried the first person into space in 1961.

Whitson, 48, has become the American with the longest amount of time in space with 377 days.

1. What's the main idea of the passage?

A. Flight in space is very dangerous

B. Not everybody can go into space

C. Fearful landing tests the Korean astronaut

D. Yi didn't know she would be an astronaut when she was young

2. The reason why Yi So－yeon felt afraid at first was that ________.

A. a fire was caused by the friction

B. she had no such experience before

C. she was not brave enough

D. the other two didn't help her

3. From the passage, we can learn that ________.

A. Yi So－yeon, a space tourist came from South Korea

B. Whitson became energetic when they landed on earth

C. the two other guys were not afraid during the descent

D. the Soyuz, an unmanned space capsule, had a long history

4. The underlined phrase in this passage means ________.

A. out of work            B. out of control  

C. in the wrong direction   D. in danger

5. We can conclude from this passage that ________.

A. experience is very important for astronauts to ensure safety

B. Yi So－yeon will never return to the space station

C. people are not willing to experience the space flight

D. we should draw a lesson from the accident

A woman id her sixties lived alone in her little cottage with a pear tree at her door. She spent all her time taking care of the tree. But the children nearby drover her    21      by making fun of her. They would climb her tree and then run away with pears,     22   “Aunty Misery” at her.

One evening, a passer by asked to    23     for the night. Seeing that he had an   24   Face, she let him in and gave him a nice    25   . The next morning the stranger, actually a sorcerer (巫师), thanked her by granting (允准) her   26     that anyone who climbed up her tree  27   not be able to come back down until she   28  it.

     When the children came back to steal her   29   , she had them stuck on the tree. They had to beg her

long   30   she gave the tree permission to let  31    go. Aunty Misery was free from the   32   at last.

One day another man    33    her door. This one did not look trustworthy to her,   34   she asked who he was . “I am Death, I’ve come to take you   35    me.” said he.

Thinking fast Aunty Misery said, “Fine, but I’d like to  36    some pears from my dear tree to remember the 37          

it brought to me in this life. But I am too    38   to climb high to get the best fruit. Will you be so   39    as to do it for me?” With a deep sigh, Mr. Death climbed up the tree   40   and was immediately stuck to it. No matter how much he warned or begged, Aunty Misery would not allow the tree to let Death go.

A. hopeless    B. painful   C. dull   D. crazy

A. calling     B. shouting   C. announcing  D. whispering

A. stay       B. live       C. hide     D. lie

A. interesting  B. honest    C. anxious    D. angry

A. gift      B. kiss      C. treat     D. smile

A. suggestion     B. demand      C. permission D. wish

A. could     B. should     C. might    D. must

A. permitted   B. promised      C. answered    D. declared

A. branch    B. food    C. tree     D. fruit

A. after      B. while     C. since       D. before

A. it        B. them      C. him        D. her

A. trick     B. question     C. trouble     D. difficulty

A. stepped into   B. left for       C. stopped at    D. walked around

A. so      B. but         C. although       D. because

A. with     B. off         C. upon         D. for

A. choose      B. pick      C. shake      D. hit

A. honor       B. pleasure   C. hope      D. excitement

A. light        B. short      C. old       D. thin

A. proud       B. kind       C. fine      D. smart

A. disappointedly       B. cheerfully      C. unwillingly     D. eagerly

A woman in her sixties lived alone in her little cottage with a pear tree at her door. She spent all her time taking care of the tree. But the children nearby drove her  16  by making fun of her. They would climb her tree and then run away with pears,  17  “Aunty Misery” at her.

One evening, a passer- by asked to  18  for the night. Seeing that he had an  19  face, she let him in and gave him a nice   20   . The next morning the stranger, actually a sorcerer (巫师), thanked her by granting (允准) her     21  that anyone who climbed up her tree  22   not be able to come back down until she   23   it.

     When the children came back to steal her   24   , she had them stuck on the tree. They had to beg her long   25   she gave the tree permission to let  26    go. Aunty Misery was free from the   27   at last.

One day another man    28   her door. This one did not look trustworthy to her,   29   she asked who he was . “I am Death, I’ve come to take you   30    me.” said he.

Thinking fast Aunty Misery said, “Fine, but I’d like to  31    some pears from my dear tree to remember the  32  it brought to me in this life. But I am too    33   to climb high to get the best fruit. Will you be so   34    as to do it for me?” With a deep sigh, Mr. Death climbed up the tree   35   and was immediately stuck to it. No matter how much he warned or begged, Aunty Misery would not allow the tree to let Death go.

1.A. hopeless       B. painful      C. dull             D. crazy

2.A. calling        B. shouting     C. announcing       D. whispering

3. A. stay          B. live             C. hide             D. lie

4.A. interesting        B. honest       C. anxious          D. angry

5.A. gift               B. kiss         C. treat            D. smile

6.A. suggestion     B. demand       C. permission       D. wish

7.A. could          B. should       C. might            D. must

8.A. permitted      B. promised     C. answered         D. declared

9. A. branch        B. food         C. tree             D. fruit

10.A. after         B. while        C. since            D. before

11.A. it                B. them         C. him              D. her

12.A. trick             B. question     C. trouble          D. difficulty

13.A. stepped into      B. left for         C. stopped at     D. walked around

14.A. so            B. but          C. although         D. because

15.A. with          B. off          C. upon             D. for

16. A. choose           B. pick         C. shake            D. hit

17.A. honor         B. pleasure     C. hope             D. excitement

18.A. light             B. short        C. old              D. thin

19.A. proud         B. kind         C. fine             D. smart

20.A. disappointedly    B. cheerfully   C. unwillingly      D. eagerly

 

   A woman id her sixties lived alone in her little cottage with a pear tree at her door. She spent all her time taking care of the tree. But the children nearby drover her   1   by making fun of her. They would climb her tree and then run away with pears,   2  “Aunty Misery” at her.

   One evening, a passer by asked to  3   for the night. Seeing that he had an   4   Face, she let him in and gave him a nice   5   . The next morning the stranger, actually a sorcerer (巫师), thanked her by granting (允准) her  6  that anyone who climbed up her tree  7   not be able to come back down until she   8  it.

   When the children came back to steal her   9   , she had them stuck on the tree. They had to beg her
   long 10  she gave the tree permission to let 11   go. Aunty Misery was free from the   12   at last.

   One day another man  13    her door. This one did not look trustworthy to her,  14  she asked who he was . “I am Death, I’ve come to take you 15   me.” said he.

   Thinking fast Aunty Misery said, “Fine, but I’d like to  16    some pears from my dear tree to remember the 17 .
   It brought to me in this life. But I am too    18   to climb high to get the best fruit. Will you be so   19    as to do it for me?” With a deep sigh, Mr. Death climbed up the tree   20   and was immediately stuck to it. No matter how much he warned or begged, Aunty Misery would not allow the tree to let Death go.

1. A. hopeless            B. painful             C. dull                 D. crazy

2. A. calling                     B. shouting          C. announcing      D. whispering

3. A. stay                       B. live              C. hide              D. lie

4. A. interesting                  B. honest            C. anxious          D. angry

5. A. gift                         B. kiss              C. treat              D. smile

6. A. suggestion               B. demand         C. permission         D. wish

7. A. could                       B. should           C. might             D. must

8. A. permitted                   B. promised        C. answered       D. declared

9. A. branch                     B. food               C. tree               D. fruit

10. A. after                     B. while             C. since           D. before

11. A. it                         B. them             C. him             D. her

12. A. trick                      B. question         C. trouble          D. difficulty

13. A. stepped into             B. left for            C. stopped at        D. walked around

14. A. so                         B. but             C. although         D. because

15. A. with                      B. off             C. upon            D. for

16. A. choose                  B. pick              C. shake              D. hit

17. A. honor                   B. pleasure                 C. hope               D. excitement

18. A. light                    B. short            C. old                D. thin

19.  A. proud                B. kind             C. fine                D. smart

20.  A. disappointedly        B. cheerfully       C. unwillingly      D. eagerly