Shakespeare’s birthplace was the childhood home of William Shakespeare. The house has been exactly furnished, and includes both original and copy items similar to those which would have been there in the house
As a nature photographer, I enjoy working outside in the wild. Last summer in Yellowstone National Park, I followed a path that took me through a dark forest.
3 . Wang Yaping’s dream of becoming an astronaut was inspired by Yang Liwei’s 2003 space flight, which was China’s first manned space mission.
Born in a small village in Yantai, Shandong Province in 1980, Wang had been an enthusiastic long-distance runner since primary school, and competed in local sports meetings.
In 1997, Wang, a high school student, was encouraged to register for the pilot recruitment program by her classmates because she was good at sports and didn’t wear glasses. The 17-year-old had been considering applying to a teaching college, as her parents suggested.
Given her strong build and ability to stay calm under pressure, Wang passed all tests as well as physical examinations and became a female pilot in China. After four years of systemic education and tough training, Wang eventually learned to fly four different types of aircraft before graduation.
During her service as a military pilot, she accumulated 1,567 hours of flight time and was involved in major tasks such as the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief effort and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
In May 2010, Wang became a member of China’s first batch of female astronauts. The joy of being selected did not last long as the hard training quickly sank in.
In the first year, Wang could not get the top level in the high-G training, during which she had to endure eight times the force of gravity in a spinning centrifuge. The training imitates the environment when the spacecraft takes off, enters orbit and returns. Wang improved her performance by doing extra core-strength exercises every day to strengthen her back and abdominal muscles. She got the top level at the end of 2011. Wang realized her space dream in 2013 as part of the Shenzhou-10 mission.
Over the past two years, Wang has logged in over 6,000 hours of strict training. The most tiring exercise was the seven-hour underwater training session during which she had to wear a special suit that weighed over 100 kilograms to simulate extravehicular activities in a weightless environment.
Wang has become the first female taikonaut to work in China’s Tiangong space station as well as the first Chinese woman to perform a spacewalk.
1. Why did Wang want to become an astronaut?| A．Because she was able to stay calm under pressure. |
| B．Because she was good at sports and didn’t wear glasses. |
| C．Because she was influenced by China’s first manned space flight. |
| D．Because she was advised to register for the pilot program by her parents. |
| A．Wang won a long-distance runner championship |
| B．Wang was the first Chinese female to take a spacewalk |
| C．Wang went to a teaching college encouraged by her classmates |
| D．Wang thought the seven-hour underwater training session was easy |
| A．She learned to fly four different types of aircraft. |
| B．She participated in the Shenzhou-10 mission of China. |
| C．She received four years of systemic education in university. |
| D．She got involved in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake relief effort. |
| A．Calm and friendly. | B．Warm-hearted and creative. |
| C．Modest and honest. | D．Hardworking and determined. |
4 . Very far away from the city lived a poor farmer and his wife. In front of their house was a small dirt road. Very few cars drove on this road because it was so far from the city. On the dirt road, there was a big hole filled with water. The hole was very deep, but drivers on the road didn’t know just how deep. Drivers always drove into the hole, but they never drove out.
One day, a man in a new car was driving down the road. He saw the hole with the water, but he didn’t think it was very deep. He drove into the hole, but he couldn’t drive out. The man saw the farmer on his tractor working in the field, and he signaled to the farmer. The farmer drove over to the man in the new car.
“Is there a problem?” asked the farmer.
“Yes,” said the man. “My car is stuck in this hole. Can you help me?”
“Maybe,” said the farmer. “But I’m very busy.”
“If you help me, I’ll pay you,” said the man.
“OK,” said the farmer. The farmer pulled the car out of the hole with his tractor, and the man paid him a lot of money. The man looked at the farmer and said, “You must make a lot of money pulling cars out of this hole day and night.”
“Actually, no,” said the farmer.
“Why not?” asked the man.
“The hole is very deep, and a lot of people get stuck and ask for help. But I don’t make money day and night because I don’t pull cars out at night.”
“At night I’m busy filling the hole with water,” answered the farmer.
1. Why did very few cars drive on the small dirt road?| A．Because the road was dirty. | B．Because it was so far from the city. |
| C．Because very few people knew the way. | D．Because the drivers knew there was a hole. |
| A．he just learnt to drive a car | B．it was the first time that he passed there |
| C．he knew how deep the hole was | D．he knew the farmer in the field |
| A．Drivers didn’t see there was a hole on the road. |
| B．The man drove into the hole and never drove out. |
| C．The farmer was busy filling the hole with water at night. |
| D．The driver made a lot of money pulling cars out of the hole day and night. |
| A．The road | B．The city | C．The car | D．The man |
