Question

阅读理解 　　It’s not only rocket scientists and journalists who are following the course of“Shenzhou V”,or“Divine ship/vessel V”．There are also lexicographers, or dictionary compilers．The flight of the Spacecraft last week might help put some new words into orbit． 　　One of them is a western media coinage used to refer to the Chinese astronauts．It’s a combination of the Chinese pinyin“taikong”, meaning space, and the English“astronaut”, from classical Greek：“star sailor/navigator”, for people who was going into space as a career． 　　In the Reuters and AP reports of October 15,“taikonaut”was used as a proper noun．For example： 　　The long March 2F rocket carrying“taikonaut”Yang Liwei lifted off into a clear blue sky over the Gobi desert at 9 am and entered its orbit 10 minutes later． 　　A Long March 2F rocket called the Shemhou V－“divine ship”in Chinese－carried a single“taikonaut”named Yang Liwei, 38, following Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and American Alan Shepard in 1961． 　　The word“taikonaut”is not a newly coined term．It first emerged in November, 1999, when China launched its first unmanned“Shenzhou I”spacecraft． 　　At that lime, some English news media predicted that China would soon launch a manned space flight and created the word“taikonaut”for the Chinese astronauts．It was then borrowed by the Germans media． 　　But it was left out of mainstream dictionaries, such as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Cambridge Advanced English Learner’s Dictionary． 　　However, the launch of the“Shenzhou V”will most likely help boost its status since there is already a word referring specifically to Russian astronauts in the dictionary entry． 　　An astronaut of Russian(or the former Soviet Union)is called a“cosmonaut”, from the Russian“kosmonaut”．The word was derived from classical Greek：“kosmonaut”(universal)and“nautes”．One might argue that“cosmonaut”is a Russian variation on the earlier word“astronaut”． 　　On March 14,1995, US astronaut Norman Thagard became the first American to ride into space on-board a Russian launch vehicle, arguably making him the first American cosmonaut． 　　And if this trend of coinage continues, more English variations for astronaut will appear as more countries are able to send their own astronauts into outer space, what would Western journalists call an astronaut from India or Africa?We’ll have to wait to see． (1) Which of the following best suits the passage as a title? [　　] A． Why to Create the Word“Astronaut”? B． Why to Make a Lot of Variations for“Taikonaut”? C． How to Tell a“Taikonaut”from an Astronaut? D． How to Call Astronauts from Different Countries? (2) Which is the right statement in the following sentence? [　　] A． The word“taikonaut”was born with the launch of“Shenzhou V”spacecraft． B． Yang Liwei, Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard are all excellent taikonauts． C． The American newspapers such as Reuters coined the word“taikonaut”． D． Some new words have widely been put into use with the launch of the“Shenzhou V”spacecraft． (3) From the writer’s point of view, ________． [　　] A． lexicographers or dictionary compilers have also done a lot of things to help launch“Shenzhou V” B． the American astronaut Norman Thagard is not a cosmonaut C． the words coined or to be coined for astronauts of different countries usually have something to do with the name(s)of their countries D． the reason why there will be more variations for the word astronauts is that more and more countries will be able to send their own astronauts into space (4) What does the underlined word“coinage”mean in the passage? [　　] A． System of coins in use． B． Invention of word． C． New meaning of a word． D． Discovery of an old word．

Answer 1

答案：1．C;2．D;3．D;4．B;
解析：

(1)	主旨大意题。本文主要介绍了因为中国载人航天事业的发展而派生的一个新英语词汇“taikonaut”的由来。故C最佳。
(2)	细节题。根据The flight of the Spacecraft last week might help put some new words into orbit可知，随着“神舟5号”的发射升空，可能会诞生更多的新词汇。
(3)	细节题。根据more English variations for“astronaut”will appear，as more countries are able to send their own astronauts into outer space可知，astronauts之所以有这么多的派生词，是因为越来越多的国家能把自己国家的宇航员送上太空。故D项正确。
(4)	词义猜测题。我们可以通过它的派生词coined来帮助我们推测词义。文中有句话The word“taikonaut”is not a newly coined term。由知可知coinage是“新创词汇”的意思。