Question

【題目】Discovery’s astronauts arrived to an exciting celebration Wednesday as nearly 700 people crowded an airplane storage place, waving flags and holding signs that read: “Welcome Home, Astronauts!”

The seven-person team returned to Earth on Tuesday after being the first to take a space shuttle into orbit since the Columbia disaster(災(zāi)難) of 2003.

“In the last two and a half years, we have been through the very worst that manned space flight can bring us, and over the past two weeks we have seen the very best,” NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told the astronauts and their families and fans Wednesday.

The crowd waved American flags for the U.S. astronauts and Japanese flags for crew member Soichi Noguchi, one of the spacewalkers.

“As a rookie（新手）astronaut, I could not ask for more,” Noguchi said, “We had three spacewalks, two extra days in space and one great team.”

While the homecoming has been filled with excitement for what mission controllers declared a “truly spectacular test flight”, uncertainty remains for the future of the shuttle program.

Shortly after Discovery rose up into space July 26, a nearly 1-pound large piece of foam insulation（泡沫絕緣材料） fell from the fuel tank—the very thing that was supposed to have been fixed after Columbia exploded. The foam missed Discovery, but NASA grounded all shuttle flights until engineers fix the problem.

NASA ground crews examined Discovery after its return from orbit and found it in good condition, an official said Wednesday at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Technicians counted 101 dings and divots, including 20 that were larger than 1 inch. Schaaf Dean, landing support group chief, said the numbers were similar to the results of other shuttle, post-landing examinations.

A beginning examination of the shuttle’s thermal（熱的）blanket showed it remained undamaged during re-en-try into the Earth’s air.(Agencies)

【1】The seven astronauts ________.

A. are the first to take a space shuttle into orbit

B. took the Columbia into space

C. returned to earth safely

D. are Americans

【2】According to the text, the NASA officials think ________.

A. the flight of Discovery is a failure

B. manned space flight has been through the best in the past

C. the flight of Discovery is a success

D. the astronauts are national heroes

【3】When the Discovery took off, ________.

A. the fuel tank burned B. a piece of foam insulation fell

C. the safety belt is not fixed D. it knocked into the Columbia

【4】The underlined word “grounded” means ________.

A. (of a boat) hit the bottom of a sea and be unable to move

B. to cause a boat to hit the bottom of a sea or lake

C. to prevent a plane or person from flying

D. to be based on something

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】C

【3】B

【4】C

【解析】本文是一篇記敘文。主要講述了“發(fā)現(xiàn)號(hào)”航天飛機(jī)的一次成功飛行，這是繼“哥倫比亞號(hào)”航天飛機(jī)失事后的首次成功飛行。

【1】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段“The seven-person team returned to Earth on Tuesday after being the first to take a space shuttle into orbit since the Columbia disaster（災(zāi)難）of 2003.”可知，七名宇航員成功返回了地球。故選C。

【2】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第六段“While the homecoming has been filled with excitement for what mission controllers declared a “truly spectacular test flight”, uncertainty remains for the future of the shuttle program.”可知，宇宙飛行指揮員認(rèn)為這是一次“非常壯觀的試飛，也就是NASA人員認(rèn)為這次飛行取得了成功。故選C。

【3】細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第四段“Shortly after Discovery rose up into space July 26, a nearly 1-pound large piece of foam insulation（泡沫絕緣材料）fell from the fuel tank-the very thing that was supposed to have been fixed after Columbia exploded.”可知，“發(fā)現(xiàn)號(hào)”航空飛機(jī)起飛后不久，一塊泡沫絕緣材料就掉落了。故選B。

【4】詞義推斷題。根據(jù)“The foam missed Discovery, but NASA grounded all shuttle flights until engineers fix the problem.”推斷，泡沫從飛機(jī)上掉落，所以NASA為了防止再次發(fā)生這樣的事故，讓所有航天飛機(jī)都不再飛行，等到工程師解決了問(wèn)題再起飛，故而grounded意味“不飛行”。故選C。