To walk among me stars has been a dream of human kind since the beginning of time, wandering among the heavens that inspire legends and fantasies across the ages. Today, that dream has become a reality, a memory of some of the greatest human achievements in history: walking on the moon, sending probes to distant planets and discovering the secrets behind the mysteries of the cosmos. In the middle of the twentieth century, however, humans were at the halfway point between viewing space travel as a dream and as a reality. To them it was a goal rather than a memory, and the two main forces working toward that goal were the world"s two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. Both of the great nations, on the advent of incredibly efficient rocket thrusters capable of propelling manmade objects into space, strove to achieve the victory of finding a place among the stars and securing the considerable international prestige associated with that monumental achievement. The Soviet Union gained the initial upper hand in the "Space Race," as it is commonly called, sending the first animal into space with. its Sputnik program. Its success and momentum carried it forward, achieving the second remarkable goal of putting a human cosmonaut into orbit around the earth and, more importantly, bringing him safely back to earth. The United States, sensing its losing position in the Space Race, set out to achieve the most ambitious goal yeti, to put a man on the moon. The resources of the entire nation were mobilized to work toward that goal under the orders of President John F. Kennedy, in an attempt to assert itself as a contender in the Space Race despite the Soviet Union"s early victories. After several years, all the efforts bore fruit, when Neil Armstrong, an American became the first man to walk on file moon. With the utterance of his famous words, "That"s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong stated what everyone was thinking. The impossible has been achieved, for such a feat was considered impossible a scant hundred years prior. With the space program continuing forward, the future does indeed seem to hold unlimited possibilities for human kind. An international space station is now orbiting the earth and there are even plans for colonizing planets, bringing the dreams and fantasies of yesterday in line with the reality of today. The author brings up the topic of the international space station in order to______.
A. continue to stress the idea that what was previously thought impossible is now being achieved
B. indicate the next great achievement to be accomplished in the space program
C. demonstrate that the "Space Race" is now a cooperative effort between nations
D. convince the reader that the "space program is producing positive results
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When a disease of epidemic proportions rips into the populace, scientists immediately get to work, trying to locate the source of the affliction and find ways to combat it. Oftentimes, success is achieved, as medical science is able to isolate the parasite, germ or cell that causes the problem and finds ways to effectively kill or contain it. In the most serious of cases, in which the entire population of a region or country may be at grave risk, it is deemed necessary to protect the entire population through vaccination, so as to safeguard lives and ensure that the disease will not spread. The process of vaccination allows the patient"s body to develop immunity to the virus or disease so that, if it is encountered, one can fight it off naturally. To accomplish this, a small weak or dead strain of the disease is actually injected into the patient in a controlled environment, so that his body"s immune system can learn to fight the invader properly. Information on how to penetrate the disease"s defenses is transmitted to all elements of the patient"s immune system in a process that occurs naturally, in which genetic information is passed from cell to cell. This makes sure that, should the patient later come into contact with the real problem, his body is well equipped and trained to deal with it, having already done so before. There are dangers inherent in the process, however. On occasion, even the weakened version of the disease contained in the vaccine proves too much for the body to handle, resulting in the immune system succumbing, and, therefore, the patient"s death. Such is the case of the smallpox vaccine, designed to eradicate the smallpox epidemic that nearly wiped out the entire Native American population and killed massive numbers of settlers. Approximately one in 10,000 people who receives the vaccine contract the smallpox disease from the vaccine itself and dies from it. Thus, if the entire population of the United States were to receive the Smallpox Vaccine today, 3000 Americans would be left dead. Fortunately, the smallpox virus was considered eradicated in the early 1970"s, ending the mandatory vaccination of all babies in America. In the event of a re-introduction of the disease, however, mandatory vaccinations may resume, resulting in more unexpected deaths from vaccination. The process, which is truly a blessing, may indeed hide some hidden curses. What does the example of the smallpox vaccine illustrate
A. The way that vaccines protect people from diseases.
B. The effectiveness of vaccines in eradicating certain diseases.
C. The practical use of a vaccine to control an epidemic disease.
D. The possible negative outcome of administering vaccines.
To walk among me stars has been a dream of human kind since the beginning of time, wandering among the heavens that inspire legends and fantasies across the ages. Today, that dream has become a reality, a memory of some of the greatest human achievements in history: walking on the moon, sending probes to distant planets and discovering the secrets behind the mysteries of the cosmos. In the middle of the twentieth century, however, humans were at the halfway point between viewing space travel as a dream and as a reality. To them it was a goal rather than a memory, and the two main forces working toward that goal were the world"s two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. Both of the great nations, on the advent of incredibly efficient rocket thrusters capable of propelling manmade objects into space, strove to achieve the victory of finding a place among the stars and securing the considerable international prestige associated with that monumental achievement. The Soviet Union gained the initial upper hand in the "Space Race," as it is commonly called, sending the first animal into space with. its Sputnik program. Its success and momentum carried it forward, achieving the second remarkable goal of putting a human cosmonaut into orbit around the earth and, more importantly, bringing him safely back to earth. The United States, sensing its losing position in the Space Race, set out to achieve the most ambitious goal yeti, to put a man on the moon. The resources of the entire nation were mobilized to work toward that goal under the orders of President John F. Kennedy, in an attempt to assert itself as a contender in the Space Race despite the Soviet Union"s early victories. After several years, all the efforts bore fruit, when Neil Armstrong, an American became the first man to walk on file moon. With the utterance of his famous words, "That"s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," Armstrong stated what everyone was thinking. The impossible has been achieved, for such a feat was considered impossible a scant hundred years prior. With the space program continuing forward, the future does indeed seem to hold unlimited possibilities for human kind. An international space station is now orbiting the earth and there are even plans for colonizing planets, bringing the dreams and fantasies of yesterday in line with the reality of today. Armstrong"s quote is utilized in the last paragraph because______.
A. it exemplifies the attitude of the nations as a result of the Space Race
B. it is important to hear and understand the words of the pioneers who took part in the project
C. it summarizes the philosophy that the author is attempting to convey in the text
D. it defied all expectation and signaled a great step forward for technology
Considered by many to be one of the greatest statesmen of all time, Benjamin Franklin has, without a doubt, left an indelible mark on history for all time. The man who would come to impact the course of the United States" development came from the most humble of backgrounds. Born the fifteenth child of a candle maker in Boston, Massachusetts, young Benjamin only attended two years of formal schooling before entering the candle making business himself at the age of ten. After his stint in the candle shop, he worked in a printing shop for five years, educating himself all the while by constantly reading and writing. Franklin"s intellectual and political growth continued unabated for decades, with such notable achievements along the way as the famous "Poor Richard"s Almanac" which was used as a tool by farmers and as entertainment by more intellectual patrons. Also personally responsible for the founding of the first public library in the United States, the University of Pennsylvania, the fire department and police force of his state, young Franklin was seldom seen at rest, preferring to utilize his talents for the betterment of his community. He was particularly crucial in the formation of the new American republic after its war of independence from Britain, using his considerable intellectual clout to influence thinkers of the period and garner support for the revolution. In 1776, Franklin traveled to France on a diplomatic mission, the culmination of which was a strategic alliance that greatly assisted the ailing American military with France"s naval power. Franklin was still not satisfied to rest on his laurels after liberation from England was achieved, rather continuing on his rapid pace of accomplishments. In 1785 he returned to Pennsylvania to take part in the Constitutional Convention, and ended up writing a good deal of the constitution himself. Smaller feats were continually achieved, up until the time of his death on April 17, 1790. He was busy until the end, constantly working toward the betterment of humanity. A telling tribute is the fact that just two months prior to his death, he performed his last political action by signing a petition to Congress, which called for the abolition of the institution of slavery. The purpose of the last paragraph is to______.
A. stress that Benjamin Franklin kept the interests of humanity constantly in mind
B. remind the reader that Franklin remained productive all the way to the end of his life
C. bring up the topic of Franklin"s contribution to politics through the constitutional convention
D. raise more facts to support the claim that Franklin was a genius
Human beings are animals. We breathe, eat and digest, and reproduce the same life (1)_____ common to all animals. In a biological laboratory, rats, monkeys, and humans seem very much the same. However, biological understanding is not enough: (2)_____ itself, it can never tell us what human beings are. (3)_____ to our physical equipment—the naked human body—we are not an (4)_____ animal. We are tropical creatures, (5)_____ hairless and sensitive to cold. We are not fast and have neither claws nor sharp teeth to defend ourselves. We need a lot of food but have almost no physical equipment to help us get it. In the purely physical (6)_____, our species seems a poor (7)_____ for survival. But we have survived—survived and multiplied and (8)_____ the earth. Some day we will have a (9)_____ living on the moon, a place with neither air nor water and with temperatures that mm gases into solids. How can we have done all these things Part of the answer is physical. (10)_____ its limitations, our physical equipment has some important (11)_____. We have excellent vision and hands that can (12)_____ objects with a precision unmatched by any other (13)_____ Most importantly, we have a large brain with an almost (14)_____ number of neural (15)_____. We have used this physical equipment to create culture, the key to our survival and success. If we live in the Arctic, we supply the warmth for our tropical bodies need (16)_____ clothing, shelter, and (17)_____ heat. If a million people want to live in a desert that supplies natural food for only a few hundred, we find water to grow food and (18)_____ deficits by transporting supplies from distant places. Inhabitants of our eventual moon colony will bring their own food and oxygen and then create an artificial earth environment to supply necessities. With culture, we can overcome our natural limitations. It was not always (19)_____ Our distant ancestors were just animals, faced with the limits of their physical equipment. They had no (20)_____ and lacked the physical Capacity to use it.
A. Stripped
B. Pared
C. Peeled
D. Removed