Question

    They asked Katherine Johnson for the moon, and she gave it to them. With little more than a pencil, a slide rule and one of the finest mathematical minds in the country, Mrs. Johnson, who died at 101 on Monday, calculated the precise track that would let Apollo 11 land on the moon in 1969 and, after Neil Armstrong’s history—making moonwalk, let it return to Earth.

Yet throughout Mrs. Johnson’s 33 years in NASA and for decades afterwards, almost no one knew her name.

Mrs. Johnson was one of several hundred strictly educated, supremely capable yet largely unrecognized women who, well before the modern feminist movement, worked as NASA mathematicians. But it was not only her sex that kept her long unsung. For some years at midcentury, the black women were subjected to a double segregation (隔离)：They were kept separate from the much large group of white women who in turn were segregated from the agency’s male mathematicians and engineers.

Mrs. Johnson broke barriers at NASA. In old age, Mrs. Johnson became the most celebrated of black women who served as mathematicians for the space agency. Their story was told in the 2016 Hollywood film Hidden Figures, which was nominated for three Oscars, including best picture.

In 2017, NASA dedicated a building in her honor. That year, The Washington Post described her as “the most high- profile of the computers”—“computers” being the term originally used to describe Mrs. Johnson and her colleagues, much as “typewriters” were used in the 19th century to represent professional typists.

She “helped our nation enlarge the frontiers of space,” NASA’s administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said in a statement on Monday, “even as she made huge steps that also opened doors for women and people of color in the universal human quest to explore space.”

As Mrs. Johnson herself was fond of saying, her term at Langley—from 1953 until her retirement in 1986—was “a time when computers wore skirts.”

1.What is the function of the first paragraph?

A.To present the Apollo moon mission. B.To stress Mrs. Johnson’s contributions

C.To honour Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk. D.To mourn a great woman—Mrs. Johnson.

2.Which of the following was the toughest thing Mrs. Johnson had to overcome?

A.The difference between male and females in this field.

B.People’s not recognizing her talent.

C.Inequality in gender and race.

D.The hardships before the modern feminist movement.

3.Why were Mrs. Johnson and her colleagues described as “computers”?

A.Because they used computers to keep their work secret.

B.Because they were the agency’s human calculators.

C.Because computer systems engaged them deeply.

D.Because they calculate precisely using computers.

4.What can we learn from Mrs. Johnson’s experience?

A.Don’t judge a person by his appearance.

B.The world awaits our discovery.

C.Use knowledge to wipe out ignorance.

D.Never be limited by the labels attached by others.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.B

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇记叙文。文章提到一位名为Katherine Johnson的NASA工作人员，正是在她的严谨计算下，人类首次登月才得以实现，而现实中她却曾因为自己的女性和黑人身份受尽不公平对待，一直到去世都默默无闻。

1.

推理判断题。根据第一段中“With little more than a pencil, a slide rule and one of the finest mathematical minds in the country, Mrs. Johnson…calculated the precise track that would let Apollo 11 land on the moon in 1969 and, after Neil Armstrong’s history—making moonwalk, let it return to Earth.”可知，正是在Katherine Johnson的努力之下，阿波罗11号登月、返回才成为了现实，第一段就是在强调她做出的巨大贡献。故选B项。

2.

推理判断题。根据第三段中“But it was not only her sex that kept her long unsung. For some years at midcentury, the black women were subjected to a double segregation (隔离)”可知，Katherine Johnson因其性别而被埋没，而她的黑人肤色也让她被人群疏远，这些就是她面临的最大困难，C选项“性别和种族上的不平等”符合文意。故选C项。

3.

推理判断题。根据第五段中““computers” being the term originally used to describe Mrs. Johnson and her colleagues, much as “typewriters” were used in the 19th century to represent professional typists.”可知，就像曾经人们用“打字机”来称呼那些专业的打字员一样，Katherine Johnson和同事们被称为“计算机”也是因为他们的工作就和计算机一样是负责进行计算的。故选B项。

4.

推理判断题。根据倒数第二段引述Jim Bridenstine的话“even as she made huge steps that also opened doors for women and people of color in the universal human quest to explore space.”可知，尽管被贴有“女性”、“黑人”这样的标签，Katherine Johnson仍然在自己的岗位上做出了巨大的贡献，告诉我们的就是人不要被一些所谓的标签限制，要凭借自己的实力发光发热。故选D项。