Animal astronauts 动物宇航员

马洁

人類在50多年前首次登陆月球。但你知道人类并不是首个进行太空旅行并环绕月球飞行的生物吗？这项荣誉属于两只乌龟和其他几只小生物。

On September 14， 1968， the Soviet space program sent two tortoises—along with some flies and worms—into space for a trip around the Moon. NASA calls it “the first successful circumlunar mission”.

After a week?long trip， the tortoises landed on the Earth by parachute （降落伞） in the In?dian Ocean. They traveled back to Moscow on October 7. Both tortoises survived the trip but not the experiment. NASA records state that the animals were dissected on October 11， 1968， to see how their bodies were affected by the space travel. The dissection showed that “The main structural changes in the tortoises were caused by a lack of food but not the space travel. ” The tortoises had lost about 10 percent of their body weight. But they had stayed active and showed no loss of appetite.

While tortoises were the first to travel around the Moon， other animals have helped humans understand and explore space. On its website， NASA explains its history with animals in space. In 1948， the US began launching rhesus monkeys into space aboard a spacecraft called the V?2 Blossom. The monkey Albert Ⅰ went up on June 11. On June 14， 1949， aboard another V?2 flight， Albert Ⅱ reached a height of about 133 kilometers. Albert Ⅱ died from impact at re?entry.

While the United States was experimenting with a lot of monkeys， the Soviet Union was experimenting with a lot of dogs. On November 3， 1957， the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 into the Earths orbit with a dog named Laika on board. Laika died after a few hours. Sputnik 2 continued to orbit for five months and then burned up in the outer atmosphere in April 1958. Then later that year on December 13， the US launched a squirrel monkey named Gordo about 965 kilometers high in a Jupiter rocket. Scientists were able to observe his body functions. Gordos capsule was never found in the Atlantic Ocean. He died from splashdown when a flotation device failed.

These are just a few examples of how animals have helped humans explore space. We should not forget that mice and cats have also been used to help scientists better understand how travel beyond the Earth affects living things.

[Reading][Check]

1. Which animal survived the space travel？

A. Two tortoises.

B. Rhesus monkeys.

C. A dog named Laika.

D. Mice and cats.

2. What do we know about the two tortoises that travelled in space？

A. They had a loss of appetite.

B. They travelled 7 days in space.

C. They landed safely on the Earth in the Pacific Ocean.

D. They both survived the trip and the experiment.

3. According to the last but two paragraph， a squirrel monkey named Gordo died           .

A. due to floation device failure when it landed on the sea

B. from impact at re?entry

C. of hunger

D. of disease

4. How many kinds of animals that travelled in space are mentioned？

A. 5. B. 6.

C. 7. D. 8.

[Language][Study]

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence

While tortoises were the first to travel around the Moon， other animals have helped humans understand and explore space. 虽然乌龟是首批绕月旅行的动物，但其他动物也在了解和探索太空方面为人类提供了帮助。

【点石成金】这是一个主从复合句。other animals have helped humans understand and explore space是主句，While tortoises were the first to travel around the Moon是从句，while引导让步状语从句，意为“虽然;尽管”。

Ⅱ. Text?centered chunks

along with 与……一起

land on 着陆

burn up 烧毁

reach a height of 达到……高度