On 7, August, 2015, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) got to eat a special treat. No, it wasn’t a cookie or cake. It was red lettuce they had grown themselves in space.
“It was one small bite for man, one giant leap for NASAVEGGIE,” astronaut Scott Kelly wrote on Twitter. (Kelly based his tweet on the words astronaut Neil Armstrong famously used in 1969, after becoming the first person to ever walk on the moon. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” he said at the time.)
“NASAVEGGIE” refers to the ISS’s Veggie plant-growth system. It uses special red, blue, and green LED lights to grow plants. The system is a big step toward NASA’s goal of developing a way to grow food in space during future long space missions deep into the solar system.
Kelly and fellow NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren prepared the red romaine lettuce like many people do on Earth. They cleaned it, and then mixed it with olive oil and vinegar. Then they gobbled up the leafy red greens. “That’s awesome!” Lindgren said after taking a bite.
It was the first taste of fresh food the astronauts had had in a long time, since there is no refrigeration on the ISS. They ate half the lettuce. The rest was packaged and frozen so that it could be returned to Earth for testing.
Lindgren and Kelly are the only two NASA astronauts currently on the space station. The other crew members are Russian astronauts Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Komienko, and Lleg Kononenko, and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui.
Kelly and Kornienko have been on the ISS since March. They plan to spend 342 days in space, in part to help determine the effects of long-term space travel on astronauts’ bodies. They traveled to the ISS with Padalka, who will return to Earth in September.
Kelly and Komiendo’s job — which will be one of the longest-ever stay in space by astronauts — will help pave the way for future long-term space tasks. NASA plans to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars by the 2030s.
1.Why is growing food in space very important?
A.It is a symbol of scientific development.
B.It will help solve the hunger problem
C.Astronauts can get enough nutritious food.
D.People plan to go into the deep space.
2.What Kelly said in Para. 2 suggests that _____.
A.it is a great success to grow fresh food in space
B.he respected Neil Armstrong very much
C.mankind makes great progress in exploring space
D.humans should speed up to land on Mars
3.Who will remain in the ISS until March, 2016?
A.Padalka and Kononenko. B.Yui and Lindgren.
C.Kelly and Kormienko. D.Kelly and Lindgren.
4.What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Astronauts grow their favorite food in space.
B.Astronauts get more fresh food from space.
C.Astronauts plant vegetables for a journey to Mars.
D.Astronauts eat fresh food grown on the ISS.
Choose Your One-Day-Tours!
Tour A - Bath &Stonehenge including entrance fees to the ancient Roman bathrooms and Stonehenge -￡37 until 26 March and ￡39 thereafter. Visit the city with over 2,000 years of history and Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent and the Costume Museum, Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments dating back over 5,000 years.
Tour B - Oxford & Stratford including entrance fees to the University St Mary’s Church Tower and Anne Hathaway’s -￡32 until 12 March and ￡36 thereafter. Oxford: Includes a guided tour of England’s oldest university city and colleges. Look over the “city of dreaming spires(尖顶）” from St Mary‘s Church Tower. Stratford: Includes a guided tour exploring much of the Shakespeare wonder.
Tour C - Windsor Castle &Hampton Court: including entrance fees to Hampton Court Palace -￡34 until 11 March and ￡37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Windsor and Hampton Court, Henry VILL’s favorite palace. Free time to visit Windsor Castle(entrance fees not included).With 500 years of history, Hampton Court was once the home of four Kings and one Queen. Now this former royal palace is open to the public as a major tourist attraction. Visit the palace and its various historic gardens, which include the famous maze(迷宫) where it is easy to get lost!
Tour D –Cambridge including entrance fees to the Tower of Saint Mary the Great -￡33 until 18 March and ￡37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Cambridge, the famous university town, and the gardens of the 18th century.
1.Which tour will you choose if you want to see England’s oldest university city?
A.Tour A B.Tour B
C.Tour C D.Tour D
2.Which of the following tours charges the lowest fee on 17 March?
A.Windsor Castle & Hampton Court B.Oxford & Stratford
C.Bath & Stonehenge D.Cambridge
3.Why is Hampton Court a major tourist attraction?
A.It used to be the home of royal families B.It used to be a well-known maze
C.It is the oldest palace in Britain D.It is a world-famous castle
My color television has given me nothing but a headache. I was able to buy it a little over a year ago because I had my relatives give me money for my birthday instead of a lot of clothes that wouldn’t fit. I let a salesclerk fool me into buying a discontinued model. I realized this a day later, when I saw newspaper advertisements for the set at seventy-five dollars less than I had paid. The set worked so beautifully when I first got it home that I would keep it on until stations signed off for the night. Fortunately, I didn’t got any channels showing all-night movies or I would never have gotten to bed.
Then I started developing a problem with the set that involved static (静电) noise. For some reason, when certain shows switched into a commercial, a loud noise would sound for a few seconds. Gradually, this noise began to appear during a show, and to get rid of it. I had to change to another channel and then change it back. Sometimes this technique would not work, and I had to pick up the set and shake it to remove the sound. I actually began to build up my arm muscles (肌肉) shaking my set.
When neither of these methods removed the static noise, I would sit helplessly and wait for the noise to go away. At last I ended up hitting the set with my fist, and it stopped working altogether. My trip to the repair shop cost me $62, and the set is working well now, but I keep expecting more trouble.
1.Why did the author say he was fooled into buying the TV set?
A.He got an older model than he had expected.
B.He couldn’t return it when it was broken.
C.He could have bought it at a lower price.
D.He failed to find any movie shows on it.
2.Which of the following can best replace the phrase “signed off” in Paragraph 1?
A.ended all their programs B.provided fewer channels
C.changed to commercials D.showed all-night movies
3.How did the author finally get his TV set working again?
A.By shaking and hitting it. B.By turning it on and off.
C.By switching channels. D.By having it repaired.
4.How does the author sound when telling the story?
A.Curious B.Anxious
C.Cautious D.Humorous
健康对我们来说非常重要，我们可以用很多方法来保持身体健康。请根据下面表格的提示，以“Good Ways to Keep Healthy”为题，写一篇100词左右的短文，倡议“健康生活”，从三个方面说明如何保持健康。短文首句已给出，不计入总词数，可适当发挥。
1 | food | a balanced diet, vegetables, fruit, less meat... |
2 | exercise | do more exercise, take a walk, play ball games... |
3 | happiness | keep happy, make friends, smile... |
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在短文中找出10处错误并按要求改正。
“Practice makes perfect” was an old saying. It tells us that it does not any matter if we are slow at doing something. As long as we keep on trying and practice, we’ll do a good job in the end. The saying is especial useful in English study. Since a student is poor at speaking, he should grasp(抓住) every chance to open her mouth and speak English. His oral English may be excellent one day due to his hard works. Not only is the saying useful in English study, it is also help in our daily life. To be extent(在一定程度上), there is no short cut in do everything since key to success lies in “practice makes perfect”.
语法填空
There are 1.kinds of festivals throughout the world，festivals to2.(satisfaction) and please the ancestors，to honour some famous people or important events，and 3.(expression) people’s gratitude to the God for bringing them a year of plenty. For example，Japanese observe Obon，when people go to clean graves and light incense 4. memory of their ancestors. In India，October 2 is a national festival to honour Mohandas Gandhi， 5..helped India become an 6. (independence) country. And in China the Spring Festival，which 7.(celebrate) in January or February，is 8. most energetic and important because it is a festival that 9.(look) forward to the coming of spring. Why are all these festivals everywhere？Because during the festivals，people can get together to eat，drink and have fun with each other， 10.(forget) all the daily struggles and demands for a while.
