Question

【題目】George Aldrich, whose official title is chemical specialist, works at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. He uses his nose to protect astronauts from unpleasant or harmful odors (氣味). His near four-decade career has involved smelling objects from technical handbooks to astronauts’ personal things.

It’s crucial that all items taken aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are odorless. Since astronauts are allowed to bring personal items aboard, all their objects must be smell-checked before leaving Earth. In a video provided by Science Channel, Aldrich relates one specific occasion when an astronaut wanted to build a ship in a bottle in space. Everything in the ship-building process had to be sniffed—right down to the glue.

Aldrich and his team are responsible for making sure that objects are not only odorless but also harmless to astronauts. When the ISS heats up, a process called off-gassing occurs, which means chemicals flow out from certain substances (物質(zhì)). Objects that would be safe on Earth could give off unpleasant odors or become dangerous when exposed to high temperatures in the ISS’s unique environment.

Of course, humans aren’t the only testers or the first to be exposed to potentially dangerous objects. Before Aldrich sticks his nose into a substance, it has been examined by machines. Even though machines can detect unsafe substances, computers cannot tell exactly how things smell to humans. While something could be technically fine, it could be smelly to an astronaut.

Aldrich’s nose is not alone there. He is the head of a hard-sniffing team of smell testers. Together they smell each object and rate it on a scale (等級) of 1 to 4. According to NASA, 1 cannot be detected, and 4 is considered not bearable. After the scientists conclude their tests, the scores are averaged. If an item is rated more than 2.4 on the scale, it fails the test and is not allowed on the flight.

【1】Which can describe the smell check from Paragraph 2?

A. Quite dangerous. B. Extremely strict

C. Rather boring. D. Very complex.

【2】What is a threat to astronauts’ safety at the ISS?

A. Negative emotions. B. Odor-related disease.

C. The off-gassing process. D. Changes in temperature.

【3】What should be done before Aldrich and his team start their work?

A. Using machines to test objects.

B. Having a meeting to make the scale.

C. Using computers to examine their noses.

D. Listing potentially dangerous substances.

【4】What is the text mainly about?

A. An unusual smell tester.

B. Astronauts’ life at the ISS.

C. Strong odors in a spaceship.

D. The smell of personal items.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】B

【2】C

【3】A

【4】A

【解析】本文講述了一個化學專家George Aldrich在美國宇航局新墨西哥白沙試驗工廠工作，由于國際空間站上的所有物品都要求是無氣味的，所以他用他的鼻子來保護宇航員免受不良或有害的氣味。

【1】推理判斷題。根據(jù)文章第二段“It’s crucial that all items taken aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are odorless. …all their objects must be smell-checked before leaving Earth”以及第三、四、五段的內(nèi)容可知，宇航員離開地球前所攜帶的東西必須經(jīng)過嗅覺檢查，空間站的東西也必須是無味的，而且要經(jīng)過人和機器的雙重檢查，所以可推知嗅覺檢查是非常嚴格的。故選B。

【2】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第三段“When the ISS heats up, a process called off-gassing occurs, which means chemicals flow out from certain substances (物質(zhì)). Objects that would be safe on Earth could give off unpleasant odors or become dangerous when exposed to high temperatures in the ISS’s unique environment.”可知，當國際空間站溫度升高，一種叫排氣的過程發(fā)生了，化學成分會從某些物質(zhì)中散發(fā)出來，地球上安全的物體在國際空間站獨特的高溫環(huán)境下會發(fā)出難聞的氣味或變得危險，這些對宇航員是一種威脅。故選C。

【3】細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)文章第四段“Of course, humans aren’t the only testers or the first to be exposed to potentially dangerous objects. Before Aldrich sticks his nose into a substance, it has been examined by machines.”可知，人類并不是唯一有可能接觸到潛在危險物體的測試者，Aldrich在工作前已經(jīng)用機器測試了物質(zhì)。故選A。

【4】主旨大意題。通讀文章可知，本文講述了一個化學專家George Aldrich用他的鼻子來保護宇航員免受不良或有害的氣味。這是一個非同尋常的氣味測試儀。結合選項，故選A。