Question

    The Apollo Programme was set up by NASA, the US space agency, to land a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s. Once this had been achieved by Apollo 11in 1969, other Moon missions didn’t create the same level of public excitement. The Apollo 13 astronauts were Fred Haise, Jim Lovell and Jack Swigert. Lovell later told the BBC that people were getting bored of the Moon. When the astronauts filmed a message to Earth after 55 hours of space flight, none of the major TV channels in the US took time to show it live.

Nine minutes after filming the message to Earth, one of the ship’s two oxygen tanks exploded. Swigert got in touch with mission control, which was in the city of Houston in Texas, US, and said, “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” The explosion meant that the astronauts would no longer be able to land on the Moon. Instead, the goal was simply to get back to Earth alive. The crew used the lunar module as a lifeboat.

By now, Apollo 13 had drawn the world’s attention, Millions of people watched television on17 April to see whether the astronauts would get back to Earth. There were fears that damage to the command module might mean that the parachutes needed for landing wouldn’t work. To make matters worse, for four minutes. Mission control lost connection with the astronauts. Luckily, the astronauts landed safely in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA referred to Apollo 13 as a “successful failure”. It didn’t complete its original mission, but the calm and quick thinking of the astronauts and mission control experts prevented a disaster. The tanks were redesigned and a third one added to future spacecraft as backup, to make sure that such an accident never happened again. In 1995, the events of Apollo /3 were made into a hit film starring Tom Hanks.

1.What was people’s attitude towards Apollo 13 at first?

A.They were interested in it. B.They were tired of it.

C.They were excited about it. D.They were uncertain about it.

2.What was wrong with Apollo 13?

A.One of its oxygen tanks blew up. B.It went in the wrong direction.

C.It lost its connection with Earth completely. D.One of its astronauts didn’t operate it properly.

3.Why was Apollo 13 called a “successful failure”?

A.It caused a lot of loss but created a lot of business value as well.

B.It didn’t attract much attention but landed on Earth safely.

C.It didn’t finish its task but a disaster was avoided.

D.It was ruined but speeded up space exploration.

4.What is this text mainly about?

A.The history of space exploration. B.A discussion about space exploration.

C.The big events of the Apollo programme. D.An introduction to a space survival incident.

Answer

1.B

2.A

3.C

4.D

【解析】

这是一篇记叙文。文章记叙了执行登月任务的阿波罗13号一开始没有得到人们的关注，直到在拍摄到向地球发出的信息9分钟后，飞船上两个氧气罐中的一个发生爆炸。阿波罗13号因此吸引了全世界的注意力，数百万人在4月17日观看电视，幸好最终宇航员们安全降落在太平洋上。美国宇航局称阿波罗13号是一次“成功的失败”。

1.

推理判断题。根据第一段中Lovell later told the BBC that people were getting bored of the Moon. When the astronauts filmed a message to Earth after 55 hours of space flight, none of the major TV channels in the US took time to show it live.可知Lovell后来告诉BBC，人们对月球感到厌倦了。当宇航员在经过55小时的太空飞行后拍摄了一条给地球的信息时，美国的主要电视频道都没有花时间对其进行现场直播。由此可知，最初人们对阿波罗13号的态度是厌倦。故选B。

2.

细节理解题。根据第二段中Nine minutes after filming the message to Earth, one of the ship’s two oxygen tanks (罐)exploded.可知在拍摄到向地球发出的信息9分钟后，飞船上两个氧气罐中的一个发生爆炸。由此可知，阿波罗13号的一个氧气罐爆炸了。故选A。

3.

细节理解题。根据最后一段中It didn’t complete its original mission, but the calm and quick thinking of the astronauts and mission control experts prevented a disaster.可知它没有完成最初的任务，但由于宇航员和任务控制专家的冷静和快速思考，避免了一场灾难。由此可知，阿波罗13号被称为“成功的失败”，是因为它没有完成任务，但避免了一场灾难。故选C。

4.

主旨大意题。根据最后一段NASA referred to Apollo 13 as a “successful failure”. It didn’t complete its original mission, but the calm and quick thinking of the astronauts and mission control experts prevented a disaster. The tanks were redesigned and a third one added to future spacecraft as backup, to make sure that such an accident never happened again. In 1995, the events of Apollo /3 were made into a hit film starring Tom Hanks.可知美国宇航局称阿波罗13号是一次“成功的失败”。它没有完成最初的任务，但由于宇航员和任务控制专家的冷静和快速思考，避免了一场灾难。重新设计了燃料箱，并在未来的航天器中增加了第三个燃料箱作为备用，以确保这样的事故不再发生。1995年，阿波罗3号事件被改编成由Tom Hanks主演的热门电影。结合文章记叙了执行登月任务的阿波罗13号一开始没有得到人们的关注，直到在拍摄到向地球发出的信息9分钟后，飞船上两个氧气罐中的一个发生爆炸。阿波罗13号因此吸引了全世界的注意力，数百万人在4月17日观看电视，幸好最终宇航员们安全降落在太平洋上。美国宇航局称阿波罗13号是一次“成功的失败”。由此可知，这篇文章的主要内容是介绍一次太空幸存事件。故选D。