Question

【題目】【原創(chuàng)】Humans are well-equipped for life on Earth. But in space, it is different. Low or zero gravity changes how the blood flows and causes motion sickness, muscle loss and tiredness. Weightlessness can also cause bone loss. But scientists are experimenting with little worms to better understand how space travel affects astronauts.

The millimeter-long worm is called C. elegans. The see-through worm is often used in medical studies because its life is only about two weeks long. Seventy percent of its DNA is the same as human DNA.

Sabanayagam is a scientist, who built a micro-gravity simulator to test how C. elegans would perform in the actual zero gravity of space.

Scientists put the worms into the simiulator full of water. After a week they take out the worms. They look for changes in the worms' epigenome,which are chemical markers that tell the DNA in the cells how to perform. The epigenome can be changed by the environment. And those changes pass from one generation of worms to the next.

"When the worms are in a liquid environment, some epigenomic marks remain even when we take the animal out of the liquid environment and put it back into normal ground conditions. So its offspring keeps this epigenomic memory of the parents' liquid environment or microgravity environment."

The information the scientists have gathered suggests that the epigenomic marks appear during the early part of a worm’s life.

Mr. Sabanayagam says he thinks scientists can find genes in the human similar to those in the worms that responded to microgravity and scientists could possibly observe those genes closely when astronauts travel in space.

Sabanayagam expects C. elegans to visit the International Space Station within two years. He says he hopes information gathered from the worm studies can be used to develop simple, low-cost and quick tests to measure an astronaut's health.

【1】What does the underlined word” zero gravity” mean?

A. Seasickness B. Muscle loss

C. Weightlessness D. Tiredness.

【2】 From the passage we can know C. elegans _____.

A. has exactly the same DNA as human

B. is harmful to human

C. is often used in agricultural research

D. has a short life period

【3】Why do scientists experiment with C. elegans?

A. Because it has strong life power in water.

B. Because they want to find how space travel affects astronauts

C. Because the worm will be taken into space.

D. Because they want to find what its DNA like.

【4】What is Sabanayagam’s attitude toward the result of the experiment?

A. Hopeful and satisfied.

B. Doubtful and unsure.

C. Sad and disappointed.

D. Surprised and unbelievable.

【5】Which section of a newspaper can you find the passage?

A. Education. B. Science.

C. Advertisement. D. Entertainment.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】C

【2】D

【3】B

【4】A

【5】B

【解析】

文章大意：零重力會引起人體血流量的變化，從而造成肌肉損傷和疲勞等狀況。同時失重也可引起骨質(zhì)流失。目前科學(xué)家們正在用線蟲做試驗來更好地了解太空旅行對宇航員的影響。

【1】C詞義猜測題。根據(jù)文章首段Weightlessness can also cause bone loss.可以推斷前面內(nèi)容均說的是失重對人的影響，故判斷選C。

【2】D細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段內(nèi)容because its life is only about two weeks long.可知用于實驗的線蟲壽命很短，故選D。

【3】B細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段末句But scientists are experimenting with little worms to better understand how space travel affects astronauts.可知科學(xué)家用線蟲做實驗的目的是想發(fā)現(xiàn)太空飛行對宇航員的影響，選B。

【4】A推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章末段內(nèi)容判斷Sabanayagam對實驗結(jié)果很滿意，對未來實驗充滿希望，提示詞expect 、hope，故選A。

【5】推理判斷題。本文介紹了科學(xué)家用蟲子來實驗，觀察零重力對人體的影響，故屬于科學(xué)類文章，選B。