(
课件网) Unit 4 SPACE EXPLORATION Period Ⅱ Reading and Thinking 课文预读 SPACE：THE FINAL FRONTIER “Are we alone What's out there？” People have always looked up at the stars and wondered about space. Today, scientists design vehicles① to carry astronauts into space to make important discoveries. Space exploration has come a long way，and we now hope to discover other planets that are suitable enough to support life. Before the mid 20th century，most people felt travelling into space was only a dream that could never come true.? However，scientists were determined② to realise that dream. After many experiments，they succeeded in making rockets③ that could escape Earth's gravity④. On 4 October 1957，the Sputnik 1 satellite⑤ was launched⑥ by the USSR and successfully orbited⑦around Earth. Afterwards，the USSR focused on⑧ sending people into space，and on 12 April 1961，Yuri Gagarin became the first person in the world to enter space?. Over eight years later，on 20 July 1969，American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon，famously saying，“That's one small step for [a] man，one giant⑨ leap⑩ for mankind .” Following this，there were many more important space achievements. For example，on 5 September 1977, America's NASA space agency launched Voyager 1 to study deep space，and it still transmits data to this day. And the International Space Station (1998) has provided a continuous human presence in space, with astronauts from many different countries on board. ?本句是复合句。felt后是省略了that的宾语从句，该从句中v. ing短语travelling into space作主语。 ?此处为“the＋序数词＋名词＋动词不定式”结构。 Although scientists try to make sure nothing goes wrong，accidents can still happen. For example, all the astronauts on the Soyuz 11, Challenger，and Columbia spacecrafts died during their missions. However, while such disasters brought much sadness and disappointment ，the desire to explore the universe did not die. This is because people believe in the importance of carrying on space exploration despite the huge risks . China's space programme started later than those of Russia and the US，but it has made great progress in a short time. China became the third country in the world to independently send humans into space in 2003，when Yang Liwei successfully orbited Earth in the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft . Then Shenzhou 6 and 7 completed a second manned orbit and the first Chinese spacewalk ，followed by the vehicle Jade Rabbit being sent to the moon to study its surface.? On 23 July 2020, China sent Tianwen 1 to explore the surface of Mars. It arrived in February 2021 and then sent back lots of valuable information. And from 2021 to 2022, China completed a number of rocket missions to establish its own space station?. In 2022, the launch of the Mengtian module signaled the basic completion of the Tiangong Space Station. This modern space station will allow astronauts to conduct ma ... ...
