At 9 a.m. on October 15, 2003, our country launched (发射) its first manned (有人的) space-ship, Shenzhou V, into space at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province. It took Yang Liwei and his spaceship about 21 hours to circle the earth 14 times. Yang Liwei is China’s first astronaut. He comes from Liaoning Province, and he has been an air force pilot(飞行员) since 1983. He was chosen from 14 pilots after many difficult tests.

The life of an astronaut is hard to imagine for many people. To put on a space suit takes 15 minutes with the help of others. Sleeping in space is not easy, either. He has to sleep in a special sleeping bag on the wall because there is no gravity. Yang can eat chicken and rice. It’s especially made to eat in space but it doesn’t taste nice.

“I’m feeling very good in space, and it looks wonderful here,” said Yang, “I have looked at our beautiful earth and I have recorded all that I have seen here.”

China has become the third country in the world to send a person into space after the former Soviet Union(前苏联) and the United States. China is now planning its next launch. Shenzhou VI will be into space within(在……之内) the next years, it may take three astronauts. We are all proud of our motherland.

1.Shenzhou V was launched into space _____.

2.Yang Liwei is a(n) ______.

3.Yang Liwei is from _______.

4.Which of the following is true?

5.We can know there are _____ countries in the world which can send man into space.

Short and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. "Football, tennis Cricket — anything with a round ball, I was useless." he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the object of jokes in school gym classes in England’s rural Devonshire.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15^th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to cycle along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man’s cold-water exploits (成就). Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future. Journeys to the Pole aren’t the usual holidays for British country boys, and many people dismissed his dream as fantasy. "John Ridgway was one of the few who didn’t say, ’You are completely crazy,’" Saunders says.
In 2001, after becoming a skilled skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. He suffered frostbite, had a closer encounter (遭遇) with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit.
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.
This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to explore from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, an 1800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis.
【小题1】The turning point in Saunders’ life came when ________.

On June 11th, 2013, China sent up her tenth spaceship Shenzhou Ⅹ into space successfully. And three astronauts went together with it. They were Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping. Here is some information about the three astronauts.

Nie Haisheng was born in September, 1964. He is from Xiangyang, Hubei. After graduating from high school, he joined the PLA Air Force, and became a fighter pilot. In 1998, he was chosen for the astronaut program. He carried out Shenzhou Ⅵ with Fei Junlong in 2005. In 2013, he flew into space for his second time with Shenzhou Ⅹ. He is the commander of this mission.

Zhang Xiaoguang is from Jinzhou, Liaoning Province. He was born in May, 1966. Zhang joined the army in June 1985. In January 1998, Zhang was trained as one of China’s first batch(一批) of astronauts. Before he was trained as an astronaut, Zhang was a senior pilot. It’s reported that Zhang Xiaoguang is very humor and likes playing jokes very much.

After Liu Yang, Wang Yaping is the second woman astronaut in China. She was born in 1980 in Yantai, Shangdong. Wang Yaping joined the PLA in 1997. In 2010, Wang became a member of the second batch of Chinese astronauts and was chosen to the crew of the Shenzhou Ⅹ space mission in April, 2013. Wang is China’s first astronaut to give lectures to middle and elementary school students while in space.

1.How many astronauts were there flying in Shenzhou Ⅹ ?

A. Two????? ????????????? ? B. Three??????? ????????????? ?? C. Four??????? ????????????? ????????????? D. Five

2.Who has been to space twice?

A. Fei Junlong???? B. Zhang Xiaoguang???? C. Wang Yaping???? ????????????? D. Nie Haisheng

3.How old is Zhang Xiaoguang in 2013?

A. 45??????? ????????????? ? B. 46 ?????? ????????????? ????????????? ????????????? C. 47??????? ????????????? ????????????? D. 48

4.How long has Wang Yaping been an astronaut by 2013?

A. For 16 years.??? B. For 3 years.??? ????????????? ????????????? C. For 23 years.??? ????????????? D. For 13 years.

5.Which one of the following is wrong?

A. Zhang Xiaoguang is shy and he doesn’t like talking.

B. China has sent up 10 spaceships into space.

C. Nie Haisheng is the commander of Shenzhou Ⅹ.

D. Wang Yaping gave a lecture to students while in space.

At 9 a.m. on October 15, 2003, our country launched (发射) its first manned (有人的) space-ship, Shenzhou V, into space at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province. It took Yang Liwei and his spaceship about 21 hours to circle the earth 14 times. Yang Liwei is China’s first astronaut. He comes from Liaoning Province, and he has been an air force pilot(飞行员) since 1983. He was chosen from 14 pilots after many difficult tests.
The life of an astronaut is hard to imagine for many people. To put on a space suit takes 15 minutes with the help of others. Sleeping in space is not easy, either. He has to sleep in a special sleeping bag on the wall because there is no gravity. Yang can eat chicken and rice. It’s especially made to eat in space but it doesn’t taste nice.
“I’m feeling very good in space, and it looks wonderful here,” said Yang, “I have looked at our beautiful earth and I have recorded all that I have seen here.”
China has become the third country in the world to send a person into space after the former Soviet Union(前苏联) and the United States. China is now planning its next launch. Shenzhou VI will be into space within(在……之内) the next years, it may take three astronauts. We are all proud of our motherland.
【小题1】Shenzhou V was launched into space _____.

Yang Liwei circled the earth 14 times in 21 hours on October 15 and 16, 2003, landing on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Looking a little tired, Yang stepped out of Shenzhou V, smiling and waving at the waiting people. “I feel very good.” Yang said to Premier Wen Jiabao on the phone. Yang said to a newspaper, “For our motherland and me, this is a great moment.”

China’s launch of Shenzhou V shows a higher starting point. It has two special systems（系统）to protect the spaceman, but neither Russian rockets（火箭）nor American ones have.

Yang didn’t know that he was chosen as China’s first spaceman until just before the launch. Although Yang was excited at the news, he still slept at 8p.m. as usual and was woken up at 8p.m. the next morning. Before the launch, Yang ate Chinese traditional food-dumplings. We all know that travelers usually eat them before going on a journey for good luck.

A stamp Success of China First Manned Space Flight was issued（发行）on October 16, 2003, making China the third country to send a spaceman into outer space.

1.It took Yang Liwei_____ to travel around the earth every circle.

       A. 6 hours    B. 90 minutes    C. 2 days      D. 21 hours

2.How did Yang Liwei feel after he came back to the earth?

       A. Quite tired.            B. A little scared.

       C. Tired but excited.       D. A little nervous

3.Which of the following statement is right?

  A. There is no difference between China’s spaceship and other countries.

  B. Yang Liwei knew he would be China’s first spaceman long before.

  C. From the news, Yang Liwei was too excited to fall asleep.

  D. Yang was proud of the flight.

4. What does the underlined word “launch” mean?

        A.发射    B.出发   C.制造    D.设计

5.China issued the stamps to _________.

  A. leave them in space

  B. give them to Yang Liwei as a reward

  C. celebrate the success

  D. give them to Russian and American spacemen.