Ｒｅｃｙｃｌｅｄ Ｗａｔｅｒ

张　宇

If you knew a bottle of water had been recycled from urine（尿）， would you drink it？ Astronauts at the International Space Station （ISS） may soon do so.

NASA（美国航空航天局） said it would use a high-tech machine（高科技机器） to recycle wastewater at the ISS. The machine will recycle everything from sweat（汗）， the water for washing hands， shower water， water used for brushing teeth， and even urine， to make drinking water.

It will save NASA millions of dollars each year. At present， each ISS astronaut uses about 4.4 liters（升） of water every day. It costs about $24 million a year to transport water up to the ISS. NASA says that a liter of water costs about $11，000.

The machine will be sent to the ISS in October 2008. NASA hopes it will recycle about 93% of all water used on the station.

Will the water be clean？ Scientists say the wastewater will go through a very complicated process（复杂的过程）. For example， different chemicals will be put in the wastewater; the water will be heated to 130℃ to get rid of bacteria（细菌）. The recycled water is thousands of times better than the water from a city tap， scientists say.

1. NASA will use a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater at the ISS to___.

A. protect the ISS

B. make astronauts at the ISS work harder

C. provide better water and food for the ISS astronauts

D. save the cost of transporting water up to the ISS

2. At present it costs NASA about____ dollars to transport water up to an astronaut at the ISS a day.

A. 4.4 thousand B. 11 thousand

C. 48.4 thousand D. 24 million

3. Scientists plan to get rid of bacteria in the wastewater by____.

A. freezing B. heating

C. shaking D. precipitating（沉淀）

4. The reading mainly tells us something about____.

A. water recycling B. the International Space Station

C. a high-tech machine D. the cost of NASA

5. According to the passage which of the following statements is TRUE？

A. The recycled water is much better than that from a city tap.

B. The high-tech machine will recycle all the water used on the station.

C. At present， each ISS astronaut uses more water than the people living on the earth.

D. The high-tech machine can only recycle urine to make water at present.

Key： 1. D2. C3. B4. A5. A