Question

閱讀短文，按照題目要求用英語回答問題。

My name is Clara. I still remember that chilly December day, sitting in science class. I’d finished a worksheet early and picked up a Time for Kids magazine. A piece of news caught my eye. NASA was holding an essay contest to name its Mars rover (火星探測器). Before I even knew anything else about it, a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind: Curiosity.

I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay. That afternoon, I raced home, sat down at the computer, and typed until my fingers ached. “Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone’s mind…”

Five months later, my mom received a phone call, and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face.

On August 5, 2012, at 10:31 p.m., the rover named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars, and I was honored to have a front-row seat in NASA.

Curiosity is such an important part of who I am. I have always been fascinated by the stars, the planets, the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl, my grandmother and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. She’d tell me stories and point out the stars. Grandma lived in China, thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas, but the stars kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space.

People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars. My answer is simple because we’re curious. We human beings do not just hole up in one place. We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.

1.How did Clara get the news about the essay contest? (no more than 10 words)

2.Why did Clara have a front-row seat in NASA? (no more than 10 words)

3.What does Clara remember about the time spent with Grandma? (no more than 15 words)

4.What does the underlined phrase “hole up” mean? (1 word)

5.In your opinion, why is curiosity important? (no more than 20 words)

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.By reading a Time for Kids magazine. Or: From a Time for Kids magazine

2.She won the essay contest held by NASA. Or: She named the Mars rover “Curiosity”. Or: “Curiosity” was chosen as the name of the Mars rover.

3.She sat together with Grandma listening to her stories about stars. Or: Her grandma told her stories about stars. Or: They sat together talking about stars.

4.Stay/Remain/Live/Hide

5.Curiosity is important because it leads to discovery or inventions. Or: With curiosity, we keep asking questions and exploring the world unknown. Or: Curiosity drives us through our lives so that we never stop wondering about the things beyond our knowledge.

【解析】

【文章大意】這篇文章介紹了作者為什么給火星探測器命名為Curiosity：因為好奇才會進步、發展。

1.文章的第一段第二句話“I’d finished a worksheet early and picked up a Time for Kids magazine”明確指明了來源。對學生來說就是語言的組織問題了。題干中的the news暗示了答案可能出現的位置，又因為后面是談論競賽的內容，所以我們知道答案應該出現在前面那句話中。

2.題干中的關鍵信息“a front-row seat in NASA”告訴我們答案可能在第四段，第四段中有一個“the rover named Curiosity”再結合第二段中的“Curiosity is an…”的句子，我們就能得出正確答案了。

3.關鍵信息“the time spent with Grandma”說明答案應該出現在倒數第2段：I remember as a little girl, my grandmother and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. She’d tell me stories and point out the stars. 學生在組織語言的時候要把人物和事件都概括進來。

4.猜測詞義一定要根據語境，同時還要把出現這個詞的句子都挑出來進行考慮。結合語境，即我們人類不能老呆在一個地方。這里給出了人類好奇的部分原因。

5.這是一個開放性的問題，理解了原文之后，就比較容易回答了。但是，回答時一定不要偏離了文章的中心。文章多次提到curiosity或curious，我們要對除了專有名詞之外的地方進行概括提煉，揣摩作者的意思。