British singer Sarah Brightman began training for a 2015 flight to the International Space Station where she hopes to become the first professional musician to sing from space, the company arranging the trip said on Tuesday.

Brightman, a famed soprano (女高音) who starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber' s "Phantom of the Opera" , will pay about $ 52 million for a 10-day stay aboard the orbital outpost, Tom Shelley, president of privately owned Space Adventures, said.

Brightman, who will become the eighth privately funded space tourist, is scheduled to fly in September 2015. Her training to fly on a Russian Soyuz capsule began last fall.

Brightman has planned to be the first professional musician to sing from space. But she faces competition from Lady Gaga, who, according to media reports late last year, intends to be the first when she performs one song in space in early 2015 on a Virgin Galactic flight. Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, plans to offer suborbital(亚轨道的) space flights.

Brightman said in 2012 that she would travel to the space station, but her plans haven't been confirmed until now. So far. Space Adventures has arranged for nine private missions to the space station, a $ 100 billion research laboratory that flies about 260 miles above the earth. Microsoft co-founder Charles Simonyi made two trips.

Brightman will be the first private citizen to visit the station since Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Lalibarte paid about $ 35 million for an 11-day stay in September 2009.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has an option to fly on the next available Soyuz seat after Brightman, which most likely will be in 2017, Shelley told Reuters.

1. What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To praise Brightman.

B. To persuade the readers that Brightman is more famous than Lady Gaga.

C. To instruct the readers how to begin a space flight.

D. To give some information about Brightman.

2. When did Brightman start training for her space travel?

A. Last winter. B. Last autumn.

C. Next spring. D. Next summer.

3. The underlined word "she" in Paragraph 4 refers to ____.

A. Brightman B. Lady Gaga

C. Andrew Lloyd Webber D. Tom Shelley

4. The fifth paragraph is mainly carried out ____.

A. in time order B. in space order

C. by giving examples D. by comparison

Each of us struggles for self-respect and self-worth to some degree. I spent much time trying to achieve perfection in every aspect of my life.

I was a happy kid with a lot of friends and a supportive family. But growing up was really and even scary sometimes.

During my childhood, I was constantly involved in something that included people’s viewing my achievements or my _ . I wanted everyone’s praise and acceptance, but I was my own toughest critic (挑剔的人).

After I graduated from high school, my to be “thin” began to trouble me. I began trying to diet by my food.

In the beginning, I felt great—attractive and successful, almost superhuman. I even thought that I was better than everyone else. What I didn’t see was that I was slowly _ myself.

People around me began to my weight loss. They said with concern. “You’re losing too much weight.” “Elisa, you’re so thin.” All their words only suggested that I was getting closer to “ ” .

Sadly, I took my physical the first important in my life, that it was the way to become successful and accepted.

Then I cut down my more and more, until a day consisted of half a teaspoon of nonfat yoghurt and coffee in the morning and a cup of grapes at night.

But my poor began to cause me to lose . Then one night, like many nights before, I couldn’t sleep and my heart felt as though it might beat out of my chest. I tried to , but I couldn’t. The beating became so rapid and so strong that I could no longer . What I had done to diet nearly caused me to have a heart attack. I stood up, and immediately fell down. I was really , and I knew I needed help. My roommate rushed me to the , beginning the long road to my . It took a lot—doctors, nurses, nutritionists, food supplements…

And most important, a sense of what was true about myself got back on track with reality. I realized that, with my of trying to be “perfect” on the , I had sacrificed who I was on the inside. What I know now is, we are—each and every one of us—already perfect.

1.A. hard B. natural C. easy D. possible

2.A. natures B. failures C. backgrounds D. scores

3.A. problem B. promise C. way D. desire

4.A. controlling B. checking C. collecting D. balancing

5.A. questioning B. forgetting C. asking D. killing

6.A. help B. accept C. notice D. reject

7.A. devotion B. perfection C. destination D. attention

8.A. appearance B. exercise C. examination D. strength

9.A. pretending B. realizing C. believing D. declaring

10.A. expense B. food C. movement D. travel

11.A. pleasant B. typical C. different D. difficult

12.A. nutrition B. memory C. knowledge D. taste

13.A. sleep B. hope C. weight D. job

14.A. walk B. cry C. relax D. talk

15.A. resist B. breathe C. wake D. remember

16.A. disappointed B. annoyed C. discouraged D. scared

17.A. bed B. hospital C. school D. office

18.A. glory B. discovery C. recovery D. victory

19.A. experience B. decision C. skill D. deal

20.A. outside B. face C. mind D. whole

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