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”

The orbital space craft has been designed for____.

A:controlling the Intemational Space Station B:carrying astronauts to the International Space Station C:transporting equipment to the International Space Station D:training astronauts in space flights

The moon appears to warp the minds of some men. Despite putting men on the moon in 1969 America seems determined on re-enacting the space race, this time pitting its efforts against those of the Chinese. Now a Russian company claims it could develop a system to exploit the moon’s natural resources and potentially relocate harmful industries there. This is lunacy.
Russia certainly has great prowess in space. In its former guise as the centre of power in the Soviet Union it launched the first man-made satellite in 1957. In a spectacular follow up, Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space in 1961. Another triumph came in 1968 when the Russians sent a spaceship to orbit the moon with turtles aboard, returning it and its living cargo safely to Earth. An unmanned Russian spacecraft also landed on the moon ahead of the first manned landing by the Americans. Even after Neil Armstrong took his one small step, Russia has proved its superiority in keeping people in space stations orbiting the Earth. The Russian Soyuz rocket is a mainstay of satellite launches and would be used to rescue astronauts should any accident befall the International Space Station.
Head of the spacecraft manufacturer that helped achieve these Russian successes, this week boasted that his rockets could be used to industrialise the moon. So why were his remarks greeted with such scepticism
One reason for the cynicism is that the idea is absurd. A United Nations treaty passed in 1967 bans potentially harmful interference with the Earth’s original satellite and requires international consultation before proceeding with any activity that could disrupt the peaceful exploration of space, including the moon. A second problem is that landing on the moon has proved beyond the budget of any state other than America and of any private company to date.
In fact one of the best hopes for investment comes from space tourism. On Saturday April 7th, the fifth such holidaymaker entered space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. Charles Simonyi, an American software developer, paid $25m for his ten-day stay at the International Space Station. The next holiday destination is the moon. The tour operator that organised the first five packages is offering two tickets to orbit the moon for $100m each. Launch would be aboard a Soyuz spacecraft. But the Soyuz system was designed in the 1960s and has been on the verge of retirement for many years. Unfortunately the Russian authorities have postponed indefinitely the development of a successor. Thus the claim of the industrialisation of the moon is unlikely to succeed.
The Russian company has boasted such claims mainly because they ______.

A:get more financial support from the government. B:explore the moon and acquire more natural resources for human beings. C:transfer harmful industries to the moon to prevent our environment. D:attract more space travelers to develop the space tourism industry.

A:explore space. B:entertain people. C:move much faster. D:do all of the housework.

A:explore space． B:entertain people C:move much faster． D:do all of the housework．

? ?下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每道题后面有4个选项。请根据文章的内容，从每题所给的4个选项中选择1个最佳答案。
{{B}}第一篇{{/B}}

A:explore space. B:entertain people. C:move much faster. D:de all of the housework.

{{B}}第三篇{{/B}}

A:explore space. B:entertain people. C:move much faster. D:do all of the housework.

第三篇 Almost Human? Scientists are racing to build the world’s first thinking robot .This is not science fiction：some say they will have made it by the year 2020.Carol Packer repots． Machines that walk，speak and feel are no longer science fiction．Kismet is the name of an android(机器人)which scientists have built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)．Kismet is different from the tradition。al robot because it can show human emotions．Its eyes．Ears and lips move to show when it feels happy．sad or bored．Kismet is one of the first of a new generation of androids—robots that 100k like human beings—which can imitate human feelings．Cog，another android invented by the MIT, imitates the action of a mother Howere, scientists admit that so far Cog has the mental ability of a two．year．old． The optimists(乐观主义者)say that by the year 2020 we will have created humanoids(机器人)with brains similar to those of an adult human being．These robots will be designed to look like people to make them more attractive and easier to sell to the public．What kind of jobs will they do? In the future，robots like Robonaut ，a humanoid invented by NASA，will be doing dangerous jobs，like repairing space stations They will also be doing more and more of the household work for US．In Japan，scientists are designing androids that will entertain US by dancing and playing the piano． Some people worry about what the future holds：will robots become monsters(怪物)?Will people themselves become increasingly like robots? Experts predict that more and more people will be wearing micro-computers，connected to the Internet，in the future．People will have micro-chips in various parts of their body，which will connect them to a wide variety of gadgets (小装置)．Perhaps we should not exaggerate(夸大)the importance of technology，but one wonders whether , in years to come，we will still be falling in love，and whether we will still feel pain．Who knows? In the future robots will also

A:explore space． B:entertain people C:move much faster． D:do all of the housework．

A:explore space. B:entertain people. C:move much faster. D:do all of the housework.