A teddy bear from Cumbria is launching into space to raise cash for charity(慈善).

Terence, an experienced traveller who has been to Iraq, will be the guest of honour on aviation(航行) legend Burt Rutan’s Spaceship One when it flies above Earth. The mission takes off from California on September 29, and on his return the cuddly toy will be auctioned off(拍卖) in aid of the North Air Ambulance Appeal(北部空中救护服务中心).

Spaceship One is the world’s first private spacecraft, and is competing for a prestigious space travel prize. Chief executive of the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), Graham Pickering, said “flying officer” Terence had been handed over to the RAF six months ago and staff had been receiving postcards from him ever since.

He said, “Terence was a fundraising idea that really took off. We have received pictures of him in a U2 craft, trying parachuting and even looking drunk and disorderly. When the RAF finally discharge him he will be a very rare bear indeed—we just hope he does not burn up on re-entry to Earth.”

GNAAS, which needs charitable donations of more than ￡2m a year, has three air ambulances(空中救护机).

Peter Bond, spokesman for the Royal Astronomical Society, said Terence’s safety was not guaranteed. He said, “This is a new and experimental craft and this will only be the second time it has flown. During its first voyage it developed technical problems but hopefully they have now been resolved.”

Since May, Terence has spent time with members of 100 Squadron(空军中队) based at RAF Leeming in Basra, Iraq, and at air shows with performing fighter planes.

Spaceship One will fly 100km (62 miles) above the Earth’s surface, just breaking through the planet’s atmosphere.

If it repeats the feat(技艺) inside two weeks, it will claim the $10m Ansari X-Prize set up to encourage the private space flight business.

Terence is ________.

A. a real bear living in England           B. an experienced astronaut

C. an air force officer                         D. a toy bear

We can infer that________.

A. after this space flight, Spaceship One will get the $10m Ansari X-Prize

B. it is dangerous for a spaceship to re-enter the earth atmosphere

C. Terence will be very safe on the flight

D. Spaceship One is just an ordinary plane

Which of the following is true of Spaceship One?

A. Spaceship One is the world’s first spacecraft.

B. The purpose of its flight is to collect money for the charity.

C. The purpose of its flight is to compete for a prestigious space travel prize.

D. Spaceship One has never flown.

Which of the following is the best title?

A. Teddy bear astronaut to lift off        B. Spaceship One to lift off

C. Space flight                                 D. The toy bear will be auctioned off

A teddy bear from Cumbria is launching into space to raise cash for charity(慈善)
Terence,an experienced traveller who has been to Iraq,will be the guest of honour on aviation（飞行）legend Burt Rutan’s Spaceship One when it flies above Earth.The mission takes off from California on September 29, and on his return the loveable toy will be auctioned off（拍卖）in aid of the North AIR Ambulance Appeal(北部空中救护服务中心).
Spaceship One is the world’s first private spacecraft,and is competing for a prestigious space travel prize.Chief executive of the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS),Graham Pickering,said”flying officer”Terence had been handed over to the RAF six months ago and staff had been receiving postcards from him ever since.
He said,“Terence was a fundraising idea that really took off. We have received pictures of him in a U2 craft,trying parachuting and even looking drunk and disorderly.When the RAF finally discharege him he will be a very rare bear indeed?--we just hope he does not bum up on re?entry to Earth”.
GNAAS,which needs charitable donations of more than ￡2m a year,has three air ambulances(空中救护机).
Peter Bond,spokesman for the Royal Astronimical Society,said Terence’s safety was not guaranteed. He said,“This is a new experimental craft and this will only be the second time it has flown.During its first voyage it developed technical problems but hopefully they have now been resolved.”
Since May,Terence has spent time with members of 100 squadron（空军中队）based at RAF Leeming Basra.Iraq,and at air shows with performing fighter planes.
Spaceship One will fly 100km(62 miles) above the Earth’s surface,just breaking through the planet’s atmosphere.
If it repeats the feat（技艺）inside two weeks,it will claim the $ 10 million Ansari X-Prize set up to encourage the private space flight business.
【小题1】Which of the following is the best title?

Erik Weihenmayer was born with an eye disorder. As a child his  eyesight became worse and then, at the age of 13, he lost his sight  completely. However, he did not lose his determination to lead a  full and active life  Erik became an adventurer. He took up parachuting, wrestling and scuba diving. He competed in long-distance biking, marathons and  skiing. His favorite sport, thought, is mountaineering.  As a young man, Erik started to climb mountains. He reached the summit of Mount McKinley in 1995 and then climbed the dangerous  1000-metre rock wall of EI Capitan. Two years later, while climbing   Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya with his girlfriend, they stopped for a  time at 13,000 feet above sea level－in order to get married. In 1999, he climbed Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America.  And then , on May 25, 2001, at the age of 33, Erik successfully completed the greatest mountaineering challenge of all. He climbed Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. Erik invented his own method for climbing mountains. He carries two long poles: one to lean on and the other to test the way ahead of  him. The climber in front of him wears a bell to guide him. Erik is  a good team member. He does his share of the job, such as setting up tents and building snow walls.  Although he could not enjoy the view, Erik felt the excitement of  being on the summit of Everest. He hopes that his success will change how people think about the blind. “When people think about a  blind person or blindness, now they will think about a person standing on the top of the world.
【小题1】When was Erik born?

Erik Weihenmayer was born with an eye disorder. As a child his eyesight became worse and then, at the age of 13, he lost his sight completely. However, he did not lost his determination to lead a full and active life.
Erik became an adventurer. He took up parachuting, wrestling and diving. He competed in long-distance biking, marathons and skiing. His favorite sport, though, is mountaineering.
As a young man, Erik started to climb mountains. He reached the summit of Mount McKinley in 1995 and then climbed the dangerous 1000-meter rock wall of EI Capitan. Two years later, while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya with his girlfriend, they stopped for a time at 13, 000 feet above sea level---in order to get married. In 1999, he climbed Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in South America. And then, on May25, 2001, at the age of 33, Erik successfully completed the greatest mountaineering challenge of all. He climbed Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
Erik invented his own method for climbing mountains. He carries two long poles, one to lean on and the other to test the way ahead of him. The climber in front of him wears a bell to guide him. Erik is a good team member. He does his share of the job, such as setting up tents and building snow walls.
Although he could not enjoy the view, Erik felt the excitement of being on the summit of Everest. He hopes that his success will change how people think about the blind. “When people think about a blind person or blindness, now they will think about a person standing on top of the world.”
60. What was unusual about his wedding?
A. He got married on the summit of Mount McKinley.
B. He got married when climbing Mount Everest.
C. His wedding was held after he prepared a lot.
D. His wedding was held at 13, 000 feet above sea level.
61. What is Erik’s special method for climbing a mountain?
A. He takes his girlfriend with him.                     B. He does his share of his jobs.
C. He uses two long poles to help himself.         D. He keeps a good team around him.
62. Which of the following shows the right order of what happened?
a. He topped Mount McKinley.                            b. He became blind.
c. He challenged Mount Everest.                               d. He reached the peak of Kilimanjaro.
e. He climbed the rock wall of EI Capitan.
A. b, e, d, c, a                    B. b, a, e, d, c          C. b, a, e, c, d          D. b, e, a, d, c

Most people consider skydiving (高空跳伞) a product of the 20th century, but its history actually goes further back than that. The Chinese attempted to parachute (跳伞) in the 10th century, a thousand years before we did. The Chinese did what we would today call base diving; that is, they jumped off a place that would allow them to float from a height to the ground.

The first person to attempt to parachute was a Frenchman named Jacques Garnerin. He jumped from his hot-air balloon at the end of the 18th century and did tricks on the way down and stupefied the crowds by landing safely on the ground. At the end of the 19th century, Kathie Paulus, a brave German woman, became famous for her skydiving skills.

Once the airplane was invented, skydiving took on a whole new form. The airplane made it possible to dive from greater heights at greater speeds, allowing for more range in the movements in the air. A woman named Tiny Broadwick became the first woman to jump from a plane in 1913 and dive free fall in 1914.

Skydiving was not called skydiving until the middle of the 1950s, when Ronald Young invented the word. It had been called parachuting before this and was mainly used by the military (军事) to land troops in inland locations, or for pilots to jump out of their planes when necessary. Once World War I was over, parachuting became a sport, which we now call skydiving.

After World War II, this activity became more a hobby than a military action. Soldiers were trained in parachuting and enjoyed the thrill so much that they continued on for fun. From this, teams and competitions were formed. Skydiving schools appeared in the late 1950s and now it is a recognized extreme sport enjoyed by many.

1.The underlined word “stupefied” in paragraph 2 probably means “_______”.

2.Who was the first woman to jump from a plane?

3.Which of the following is TRUE?

4.What can we infer from the passage?

5.What would be the best title for this text?