Giant leap for China

    A few days ago, he was just Colonel (上校) Yang; Few people knew his name or recognized his face. But last Thursday, when he came back to the earth after a 21-hour trip to space, Yang Liwe's smile was seen across the world above the magic words:China’s first spaceman.

    The 38-year-old astronaut was sent into space at 9 a. m. last Wednesday by China’s Shenzhou V spacecraft, which orbited the earth 14 times. He landed safely at 6: 23 a. m. the next day, making China the third country to successfully send a person into space, after the former Soviet Union and the US.

    Yang was satisfied with his job. “I have seen many landing scenes before on video, and I think ours was one of the most successful,” he said on a special plane to Beijing after landing.

    Born into an ordinary family in Liaoning Province, he became a pilot in the Chinese Air Force in 1987, spending 1, 350 hours in the air. He joined the Chinese space programmer 11 years later.

    While in space, Yang recorded everything he saw as well as showing China’s national flag and the United Nations’ flag to the people watching on TV at home. He also ate a meal of diced chicken and fried rice, before taking a 3-hour nap. The whole project went according to plan, but space exploration is not as easy as it seems.

    Anyone who saw the destruction of the US space shuttle Columbia in February this year will know that Yang took a great risk.

    He experienced extremely high temperatures, while the gravitational forces (重力) on takeoff and landing were strong enough to force tears from his eyes.

    He has spent five years training to become a spaceman.

    "I eat all of my meals at the space programmer’s dinning room and have never been able to take my son to kindergarten," he said. "I’ve never met his teachers."

    But becoming China’s first spaceman has made all the effort worthwhile.

    When I boarded the spacecraft for the first time, I couldn’t help feeling excited,he said.I decided that I had to fly it.

    To Chinese people, Yang is now a hero. One visitor to a Xinhua news agency online forum (网上论坛) said:Yang’s trip is a giant leap forward for China.

    Officials say the next Shenzhou will be launched by 2005. China also plans to develop space walking and a space lab.

1. What is the main idea of the story?

    A. China’s first manned space flight.

    B. A hero with great courage

    C. The first Chinese man in space

    D. How Yang Liwei became China’s first spaceman

2. How long did each of Yang’s orbits take on average?

    A. 1 hour.        B. 1. 5 hours.     C. 6 hours.        D. The story didn’t mention.

3. Why did the writer mention the gravitational forces on takeoff and landing?

    A. To stress the hardship and the spaceman had to experience.

    B. Because it was a very special experience for any spacemen.

    C. To stress how much training he had to do to prepare for the flight

    D. To show that Yang is lucky.

4. Why did the writer usegiant leapin the title?

    A. Because the space flight marked China’s great progress in the field of space exploration.

    B. Because Neil Armstrong said it was a "giant leap" for mankind when he first set foot on the moon.

    C. Because the space flight was a huge success.

    D. Both A and B.

 

Giant leap for China

    A few days ago, he was just Colonel (上校) Yang; Few people knew his name or recognized his face. But last Thursday, when he came back to the earth after a 21-hour trip to space, Yang Liwe's smile was seen across the world above the magic words:China’s first spaceman.

    The 38-year-old astronaut was sent into space at 9 a. m. last Wednesday by China’s Shenzhou V spacecraft, which orbited the earth 14 times. He landed safely at 6: 23 a. m. the next day, making China the third country to successfully send a person into space, after the former Soviet Union and the US.

    Yang was satisfied with his job. “I have seen many landing scenes before on video, and I think ours was one of the most successful,” he said on a special plane to Beijing after landing.

    Born into an ordinary family in Liaoning Province, he became a pilot in the Chinese Air Force in 1987, spending 1, 350 hours in the air. He joined the Chinese space programmer 11 years later.

    While in space, Yang recorded everything he saw as well as showing China’s national flag and the United Nations’ flag to the people watching on TV at home. He also ate a meal of diced chicken and fried rice, before taking a 3-hour nap. The whole project went according to plan, but space exploration is not as easy as it seems.

    Anyone who saw the destruction of the US space shuttle Columbia in February this year will know that Yang took a great risk.

    He experienced extremely high temperatures, while the gravitational forces (重力) on takeoff and landing were strong enough to force tears from his eyes.

    He has spent five years training to become a spaceman.

    "I eat all of my meals at the space programmer’s dinning room and have never been able to take my son to kindergarten," he said. "I’ve never met his teachers."

    But becoming China’s first spaceman has made all the effort worthwhile.

    When I boarded the spacecraft for the first time, I couldn’t help feeling excited,he said.I decided that I had to fly it.

    To Chinese people, Yang is now a hero. One visitor to a Xinhua news agency online forum (网上论坛) said:Yang’s trip is a giant leap forward for China.

    Officials say the next Shenzhou will be launched by 2005. China also plans to develop space walking and a space lab.

1. What is the main idea of the story?

    A. China’s first manned space flight.

    B. A hero with great courage

    C. The first Chinese man in space

    D. How Yang Liwei became China’s first spaceman

2. How long did each of Yang’s orbits take on average?

    A. 1 hour.        B. 1. 5 hours.     C. 6 hours.        D. The story didn’t mention.

3. Why did the writer mention the gravitational forces on takeoff and landing?

    A. To stress the hardship and the spaceman had to experience.

    B. Because it was a very special experience for any spacemen.

    C. To stress how much training he had to do to prepare for the flight

    D. To show that Yang is lucky.

4. Why did the writer usegiant leapin the title?

    A. Because the space flight marked China’s great progress in the field of space exploration.

    B. Because Neil Armstrong said it was a "giant leap" for mankind when he first set foot on the moon.

    C. Because the space flight was a huge success.

    D. Both A and B.

 

  话题链接:China's First Spaceman Yang Liwe

  With a Long March-II-F carrier rocket(运载火箭)pushing Shenzhou Ⅴ into the orbit some 300 kilometers away from the Earth Wednesday morning, Yang Liwei, 38, turns out to be China's first astronaut in space.

  At 9 am Wednesday(Beijing time), Yang, aboard Shenzhou Ⅴ white in color, took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the Gobi desert in northwest China's Gansu province.

  He is expected to land somewhere on central Inner Mongolia grassland at 7 a.m.Thursday, after orbiting the earth 14 times.Yang will be traveling some 500 000 kilometers in space in 21 hours, a “traveler's record” in the world's most populous nation with a 5000-year-old civilization(文明).

  When Shenzhou-5 entered orbit on schedule, the ground command center received a message sent by Yang from outer space, saying that “everything goes smoothly”.His name, however, had remained unknown until 5 am Wednesday.At 5 am sharp Wednesday, Yang was seen waving his hands to a group of journalists from inside a glass-shielded(有防护玻璃的)room at the Jiuquan launch center, with two other astronauts sitting beside him as “backups”.Yang, who looked calm, found himself in a shower of camera flashlights.He responded with a broad smile.

  In an exclusive(高级)interview with Xinhua, Yang expressed full confidence in China's first manned space flight.

  Su Shuangning, director-general and chief designer of the astronaut system under China's manned space program, described Yang as a sober-minded(沉着冷静的)person with a “superb capability of self-control”.

  While a fighter pilot, Yang had 1350 hours of flight experience.He was chosen, along with 13 others, from among 1500 pilots for space flight training.Yang's colleagues described him as a man with a good team spirit, a man of dedication(奉献) to his career.Friends at his hometown, Suizhong County of northeast China's Liaoning Province, remember that Yang had dreamed of flying when still a child.Yang was recruited(招募)by the No.2 Aviation College of the PLA Air Force in September 1983 and became a fighter pilot after graduation with bachelor's degree.In 1998, Yang became a member of China's first team of astronauts.Yang, 168 cm tall, is a lieutenant colonel.He has an eight-year-old son, and his wife, Zhang Yumei, also serves in China's space program.

  According to Su Shuangning, China's first team of astronauts are all capable of working and living in space thanks to five years of rigid(严格的)physical, psychological and technical training.He said that Yang Liwei was one of the best in the team.

  In an Astronaut Training Base in Beijing, China's would-be astronauts had lessons necessary for space flight, including aviation dynamics, air dynamics, geophysics, meteorology, astronomy, space navigation, design principle and structure of rockets and spacecraft, as well as equipment examination.Moreover, they received systematic(系统的)training in space flight in simulators(模拟器).

  “To establish myself as a qualified astronaut, I have studied harder than in my college years and have received training much tougher than for a fighter pilot, ” said Yang.

  If the spaceship's re-entry module(模块)could not land at the pre-set areas and the recovery team could not rush to the spot on time, the astronaut must act for self-rescue.“Therefore, survival skills have become one of the most important knowledge for the astronauts to grasp, ”said Su Shuangning.“Through rigorous(严酷的)training, our astronauts have learned how to survive under extreme conditions.”Twenty-five days before the launch of Shenzhou-5, the would-be astronauts started exercising in the real spacecraft at the Jiuquan Launch Center.

  “When I boarded the spacecraft for the first time, I couldn't help feeling excited, ” Yang recalled.“I decided that I must fly it.”

  At 6∶15 a.m.Wednesday, Yang got seated in the re-entry module of Shenzhou-5, atop a 58.3-meter-high Long March-II-F carrier rocket.Between 1999 and 2002, Long March-II-F carrier rockets were used to launch four unmanned spacecraft into orbit, and all the launches were successful.

想一想:After reading the passage, what made him become successful?What can you learn from him?

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