Next Stop: Planet Mars Fly me to the moon? That's not far enough. On September 14, 2011, NASA released designs for a superrocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). This time the final destination will be Mars. The SLS is a huge, liquid-fuelled rocket. If it is fully developed, it will be the most powerful rocket ever built. Its lift capability will be much bigger than that of the space shuttle of Saturn 5, the rocket that sent the Apollo missions to the moon. NASA is planning to launch its first unmanned test flight in 2017. It is hoped that the first crew will fly in 2021 and astronauts will make it to a nearby asteroid in 2025. NASA hopes to send the rocket and astronauts to Mars from the asteroid by the 2030s, according to the Associated Press (AP). NASA used liquid rockets to send Apollo, Gemini and Mercury into space, but later changed to solid rockets boosters because they were cheaper. Tragically, however, a booster flaw caused the space shuttle Challenger to crash in 1986. The new project plans to return to liquid fuel. According to AP, the rockets will at first be able to carry 77 to 110 tons of payload . Eventually they will be able to carry 143 tons into space, maybe even as many as 165 tons, NASA officials said. By comparison, the Saturn 5 booster could lift 130 tons and the space shuttle just 27 tons. However, unlike reusable shuttles, these powerful rockets are mostly one use only. New ones have to be built for every launch. This will be very costly. NASA estimates that it will cost about $3 billion (19 billion yuan) per year, or $18 billion until the first test flight in 2017. NASA hopes to make money by allowing private companies to send astronauts to the International Space Station like giant taxi services, so that the program can be "sustainable". "This is perhaps the biggest thing for space exploration in decades," said Senator Bill Nelson, a former astronaut. "The goal is to fly humans safely beyond low-Earth orbit and deep into outer space where we cannot only survive, but one day also live." According to NASA's schedule, it will take _ years to fully complete the SLS program. A) about 6 B) about 10 C) less than 14 D) more than 19
D
(Question)
In the English language, there are many expressions using the word "mouth". For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say "Do not bad mouth me." Sometimes, people say something to a friend or family member that they later regret because it hurts that person's feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell. The speaker might say :"I really put my foot in my mouth this time." If this should happen, the speaker might feel down in the mouth. In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing. Information is often spread through word of mouth. This is general communication between people, like friends talking to each other. "How did you hear about that new movie?" someone might ask. "Oh, by word of mouth." Sometimes when one person is speaking ,he says the same thing that his friend was going to say . When this happens, the friend might say "You took the words right out of my mouth." Sometimes a person has a bad or unpleasant experience with another person ,he might say "I had my heart in my mouth." Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. You might say such a person "was born with a silver spoon in his mouth ." This rich person is the opposite of a person who lives from hand to mouth. This person is very poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life. Parents might sometimes keep sweet food from a child ad punishment for saying bad things, For example , if a child says things she should not say to her parents , she might be described as a mouthy child. The parents might even tell the child to stop mouthing off. A person describe as living from hand to mouth I is usually _ . A) brave B) poor C) rude D) clever
(Answer)
B
One day in my class, the children were busy preparing for the coming concert. Suddenly Patty came up to me and said, "Every year I-g-g-g-get to be a quiet student. The other kids are always in a p-p-p-play or something. This year, I w-w-want to recite a p-p-p-poem myself!" Watching her eager eyes, I had no way to refuse her request. So I had to promise her that she would have a "reciting" part. That promise proved to be very difficult to keep. None of my books had any proper poems for her. So I had to spend most of the night writing a poem for her. It was not excellent, but it was enough to cope with Patty's speech problem. From then on, Patty spent a lot of time practicing the reciting every day. With my help, she made great progress. However, an unexpected thing happened when the concert was about to start. The MC came to me with anger, waving his printed program. "There has been a mistake! You have listed Patty for a recitation. That girl can't even say her own name without stuttering." Because there was not enough time for explanations, I said to him angrily, "We know what we are doing." The concert was going very well. When it was time for Patty's recitation, the MC again said that Patty would embarrass everyone. Losing patience, I shouted to him loudly, "Patty will do her part. You do yours. Just introduce her number." The curtain parted to show Patty, excited and confident. In perfect control, Patty uttered each syllable clearly helped by my gestures. At last, she made her bow, with tears in her eyes. The curtain closed. At first silence held the audience, then the silence gave way to warm and lasting applause. Patty threw her arms around me and said to me excitedly, "We d-d-d-did it!" From the passage we can learn that _ . A) where there is a will, there is a way B) experience is the mother of wisdom C) strike while the iron is hot D) the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
A