While scientists are searching the cause of the Columbia disaster， NASA is moving ahead with plans to develop a new craft that would¹ replace shuttles on space station missions by 2012 and respond quickly to space station emergencies.

    The space agency released the first set of mission needs and requirements several days ago for the orbital space plane， which would be designed to transport a crew of four to and from the International Space Station.

    Although it includes few specifics2， the plan stipulates the orbiter will be safer， cheaper and require less preparation time than the shuttle. It would be able to transport four crew members by 2012 – though it would be available for rescue missions by 2010. NASA says the craft should be able to transport injured or ill space station crew members to “definitive medical care3” within 24 hours.

    The release of the requirements showed NASA remains focused on the long-term priorities of space exploration， even as questions linger concerning the loss of Columbia and its seven-member crew on February 1，20034.

    Experts at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville， Alabama， have been working for years on a successor to the shuttle. The project， known as the Space Launch Initiative， was divided last year into two parts – one focusing on a future launch vehicle， the other on a space station orbiter. The orbiter is expected to be ready sooner.

    The program’s managers say NASA officials have told them not to alter Space Launch Initiative in light of the Columbiadisaster.

    U.S. President George W. Bush asked Congress for about US$1 billion for Space Launch Initiative in 2004， funds that would be almost equally split between the Orbital Space Plane and Next Generation Launch Technology.

词汇

shuttle["ʃʌtl] n.（织机的）穿梭机; 

initiative[ɪ"nɪʃətɪv] n.创始，倡议;

orbiter[ˈɔ:bɪtə(r)] n.轨道航天飞机

in light of 鉴于，由于

linger ["lɪŋɡə(r)]v.继续存留

注释：

1．would:这是虚拟语气的用法，表示未来可能发生的事。下面第三段出现的两个would也属这种用法。

2．few specifics:（谈到）很少细节。specific意为“详情，细节”时，一定要用复数形式的specifics o

3．"definitive medical care”：“最权威的医疗机构”

When did the scientists start working on a successor to the shuttle?

A:Immediately after the Columbiadisaster. B:One year after the Columbiadisaster. C:Years before the explosion of Columbia. D:Not mentioned in the passage.

Most of you graduating today will be employees all your working life, working for somebody else and for a paycheck. And so will most, (21) not all, of the thousands of other young Americans graduating this year in all the other schools and colleges across the country.
(22) has become a society of employees. A hundred years or so ago only one (23) every five Americans all work was employed, i. e. , worked for somebody else. Today only 20% of Americans are not employed but working for themselves. And (24) fifty years ago "being employed" meant (25) as a factory laborer or as a farm hand, the employee of today is increasingly a middle-class person with a (26) formal education, holding a professional or management job requiring (27) and technical skills. (28) , two things have characterized American society during these last fifty years: the middle and upper classes have become employees; and middleclass and (29) employees have been the fastest growing groups in our working population-growing so fast that the industrial worker, that (30) child of the Industrial Revolution, has been losing in numerical importance (31) the expansion of industrial
production.
This is one of the most profound social changes any country (32) . It is, however, a perhaps (33) greater change for the individual young man (34) to start. Whatever he does, in all (35) , he will do it as an employee; wherever he aims, he will have to try to reach it (36) being an employee.

A:to work B:working   C:to working    D:work

Most of you graduating today will be employees all your working life, working for somebody else and for a paycheck. And so will most, (21) not all, of the thousands of other young Americans graduating this year in all the other schools and colleges across the country.
(22) has become a society of employees. A hundred years or so ago only one (23) every five Americans all work was employed, i.e. , worked for somebody else. Today only 20% of Americans are not employed but working for themselves. And (24) fifty years ago "being employed" meant (25) as a factory laborer or as a farm hand, the employee of today is increasingly a middle-class person with a (26) formal education, holding a professional or management job requiring (27) and technical skills. (28) , two things have characterized American society during these last fifty years: the middle and upper classes have become employees; and middle-class and (29) employees have been the fastest growing groups in our working population-growing so fast that the industrial worker, that (30) child of the Industrial Revolution, has been losing in numerical importance (31) the expansion of industrial production.
This is one of the most profound social changes any country (32) . It is, however, a perhaps (33) greater change for the individual young man (34) to start. Whatever he does, in all (35) , he will do it as an employee; wherever he aims, he Will have to try to reach it (36) being an employee.
As an employee you work with and through other people. This means that your success as an employee will (37) on your ability to communicate with people and to present your own thoughts and ideas to them (38) they will both understand what you are driving (39) and be persuaded. The letter, the report or memorandum (记录) the (40) spoken "presentation" to a committee are basic tools of the employee.

A:to work B:working C:to working D:work

Directions: For each blank in the following passage, there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that is most suitable and mark your answer by blackening the corresponding letter on ANSWER SHEET I.

A:to work B:working C:to working D:work

What is the meaning of "working round the clock"?

A:Repairing clocks. B:Making clocks. C:Working with a clock nearby. D:Working day and night.

Mr.Johnson used to be a and now is working in a.

A:chemical teacher;chemical works B:chemical teacher;chemistry works C:.chemistry teacher;chemical works D:teacher of chemicals;chemistry works

Mr.Johnson used to be a and now is working in a.

A:chemical teacher;chemical works B:chemical teacher;chemistry works C:.chemistry teacher;chemical works D:teacher of chemicals;chemistry works