Question

【题目】【原创】Humans are well-equipped for life on Earth. But in space, it is different. Low or zero gravity changes how the blood flows and causes motion sickness, muscle loss and tiredness. Weightlessness can also cause bone loss. But scientists are experimenting with little worms to better understand how space travel affects astronauts.

The millimeter-long worm is called C. elegans. The see-through worm is often used in medical studies because its life is only about two weeks long. Seventy percent of its DNA is the same as human DNA.

Sabanayagam is a scientist, who built a micro-gravity simulator to test how C. elegans would perform in the actual zero gravity of space.

Scientists put the worms into the simiulator full of water. After a week they take out the worms. They look for changes in the worms' epigenome,which are chemical markers that tell the DNA in the cells how to perform. The epigenome can be changed by the environment. And those changes pass from one generation of worms to the next.

"When the worms are in a liquid environment, some epigenomic marks remain even when we take the animal out of the liquid environment and put it back into normal ground conditions. So its offspring keeps this epigenomic memory of the parents' liquid environment or microgravity environment."

The information the scientists have gathered suggests that the epigenomic marks appear during the early part of a worm’s life.

Mr. Sabanayagam says he thinks scientists can find genes in the human similar to those in the worms that responded to microgravity and scientists could possibly observe those genes closely when astronauts travel in space.

Sabanayagam expects C. elegans to visit the International Space Station within two years. He says he hopes information gathered from the worm studies can be used to develop simple, low-cost and quick tests to measure an astronaut's health.

【1】What does the underlined word” zero gravity” mean?

A. Seasickness B. Muscle loss

C. Weightlessness D. Tiredness.

【2】 From the passage we can know C. elegans _____.

A. has exactly the same DNA as human

B. is harmful to human

C. is often used in agricultural research

D. has a short life period

【3】Why do scientists experiment with C. elegans?

A. Because it has strong life power in water.

B. Because they want to find how space travel affects astronauts

C. Because the worm will be taken into space.

D. Because they want to find what its DNA like.

【4】What is Sabanayagam’s attitude toward the result of the experiment?

A. Hopeful and satisfied.

B. Doubtful and unsure.

C. Sad and disappointed.

D. Surprised and unbelievable.

【5】Which section of a newspaper can you find the passage?

A. Education. B. Science.

C. Advertisement. D. Entertainment.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】D

【3】B

【4】A

【5】B

【解析】

文章大意：零重力会引起人体血流量的变化，从而造成肌肉损伤和疲劳等状况。同时失重也可引起骨质流失。目前科学家们正在用线虫做试验来更好地了解太空旅行对宇航员的影响。

【1】C词义猜测题。根据文章首段Weightlessness can also cause bone loss.可以推断前面内容均说的是失重对人的影响，故判断选C。

【2】D细节理解题。根据第二段内容because its life is only about two weeks long.可知用于实验的线虫寿命很短，故选D。

【3】B细节理解题。根据第一段末句But scientists are experimenting with little worms to better understand how space travel affects astronauts.可知科学家用线虫做实验的目的是想发现太空飞行对宇航员的影响，选B。

【4】A推理判断题。根据文章末段内容判断Sabanayagam对实验结果很满意，对未来实验充满希望，提示词expect 、hope，故选A。

【5】推理判断题。本文介绍了科学家用虫子来实验，观察零重力对人体的影响，故属于科学类文章，选B。