Question

Entering Space, astronauts can give us a fascinating account of a shuttle flight, describing the pressure of a countdown and launch, the complexities of living the days in the strange weightless environment, the challenges of working in space, the emotional effect of seeing earth from space, the drama of the meteoric landing.

However, there are also plenty of things that astronauts can’t do because of their weightless environment, and that’s very sad. What’s more, they can’t even let their sadness show, because it’s impossible to cry in zero gravity.

Of course, astronauts can still produce tears. But crying is much more difficult in space, reported The Atlantic in January. Without gravity, tears don’t flow downward out of the eyes like they do here on Earth. This means that when you cry in space, your tears have nowhere to go – they just stick to your eyes.

In May 2011, astronaut Andrew Feustel experienced this during one of his spacewalks. “Tears,” he said, “don’t fall off of your eye... They just kind of stay there.”

Besides making your vision unclear, this can also cause physical pain. Back on Earth, tears are supposed to bring comfort to the eyes. But that’s not the case in space. The space environment dries out astronauts’ eyes, and when tears suddenly wet the eyes, it can cause pain rather than comfort. “My right eye is painful like crazy.” Feustel told his teammate during the walk.

Since gravity doesn’t work in space, astronauts need some extra help to get rid of the tears. Feustel chose to rub his eyes against his helmet to wipe the tears away. Another choice is to just wait – “When the tears get big enough they simply break free of the eye and float around,” astronaut Ron Parise told The Atlantic.

There are lots of small things – things like crying – that we are so used to on Earth. We usually take them for granted, until they become a problem in a totally different environment, like space. There, astronauts can’t talk to each other directly. They also can’t eat or drink in normal ways. They can’t even burp (打嗝), because there is no gravity to hold the food down in their stomach. If they do burp, they just end up throwing up (嘔吐) everything in their stomach, according to the UK National Space Center.

Thus, perhaps it’s only space explorers who can honestly say: “Gravity, you’re the best.”

1.What can we conclude from the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs?

A. Astronauts are unable to feel sad in space.

B. Tears produced in space don’t flow downward.

C. Astronauts produce fewer tears in space.

D. Tears produced in space flow down more slowly.

2.What can the astronaut do to get rid of the tears?

A. Get the tears big enough to break away from his eyes.

B. Get the tears big enough to fall off of his eyes.

C. Rub his eyes against his helmet to let the tears float forward.

D. Rub his eyes by hand to let the tears float around.

3.What’s the second-to-last paragraph mainly about?

A. Suggestions on how astronauts can stay comfortable in space.

B. Why burping is impossible in space.

C. Things that humans can’t do without gravity.

D. Other basic things that are difficult to do in space.

4.What can be the best title of this passage?

A. In the sky, you can’t cry

B. In the sky, you can’t burp

C. No Gravity, no tears

D. Better life with gravity

 

Answer 1

1.B

2.A

3.D

4.A

【解析】

試題分析：宇航員會描述如何在失去重力的太空中所面對的挑戰(zhàn)，然而因為重力的原故，太空有許多看似在地球上平常的事卻是不能做的，比如悲傷，眼淚會四處飛散

1.B 細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段提到Without gravity, tears don’t flow downward out of the eyes like they do here on Earth沒有地球引力，眼淚不可能象地球上那樣向上流，故選B項。

2.A 細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第三段提到When the tears get big enough they simply break free of the eye and float around,當眼淚足夠多時，他們會脫離眼睛，飛到周圍，故選A項。

3.D 細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段提到There are lots of small things – things like crying – that we are so used to on Earth. We usually take them for granted, until they become a problem in a totally different environment, like space許多在地球很正常的小事在太空中無法做，故選D項。

4.A 主旨標題。宇航員會描述如何在失去重力的太空中所面對的挑戰(zhàn)，然而因為重力的原故，太空有許多看似在地球上平常的事卻是不能做的，比如悲傷，眼淚會四處飛散，故A符合文意。

考點：科普類閱讀。