What if you touched the moon

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1Over ten people have walked on the moon since humans landed there,but no one has ever directly touched its surface.Those astronauts wore spacesuits outside the lander.No one ever took off a glove or a boot while standing on the moon.

2“Once we got inside and took off our suits and gloves,we did have some lunar dust on the floor,and rocks that were not bagged,”said Apollo astronaut Charlie Duke,who walked on the moon in 1972.“On the way home,I collected the rocks floating around the spacecraft.When I got back,I stuck them in a little jar,and then I turned them back into NASA.”

3While touching lunar rocks inside a spacecraft is one thing,removing a glove and exposing yourself to the vacuum （真空）of space is another.In science fiction,terrible things happen to such astronauts:their blood boils away;their insides get sucked out.

4But removing a glove wouldn't necessarily be fatal.For the most part,human skin is tough enough to handle brief exposure to a vacuum.If you had a custom spacesuit with a seal around your forearm,you could probably remove your glove during a moonwalk without suffering lasting damage.

5On Earth,the hottest sun-baked rocks might reach 170 degrees Fahrenheit,but on the moon,where the sun stays visible for weeks at a time,it never gets cloudy,and there's no breeze to carry away the heat—it gets even hotter.

6If your hand hit a rock,you might find yourself pulling it back instantly in pain.Moon dust may not burn you,but it's no picnic.Like the sand on the earth,moon dust is effectively made of tiny glass shards（尖利的碎片）,whose edges have not been worn down by erosion.As a result,it can be pretty unhealthy.

7But so long as you avoided touching rocks or metal,washed your hands afterwards and didn't mind some temporary （暂时的） swelling（肿胀）,you could probably touch the moon and survive.

Reading Check

Choose the best answers according to the text.

Detail 1.What did Charlie Duke get from the moon in his adventure in 1972?

A.A little jar.

B.Some lunar dust.

C.His suits and gloves.

D.Some unbagged rocks.

Vocabulary 2.What does the underlined word “fatal”in Para.4 probably mean?

A.Deadly. B.Harmful. C.Pleasant. D.Dangerous.

Gist 3.What does paragraph 5 mainly talk about?

A.The climate characteristics.

B.The hottest sun-baked rocks.

C.The temperature differences.

D.The atmosphere on the moon.

Detail 4.What prevents you touching moon dust according to Para.6?

A.Lack of air.

B.Its sharpness.

C.Harmful elements.

D.Staying in the lander.

Language Study

Memorize some text-centered chunks

take off脱下

happen to sb发生在某人身上

boil away （液体）烧干

suck out吸出

for the most part大部分情况下

carry away带走

in pain痛苦地

wear down磨损

as a result结果

avoid doing避免做……