单选题 Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors but also because of rays from the sun and other stars. The atmosphere again acts as our protective blanket on earth. Light gets through, and this is essential for plants to make the food which we eat. Heat, too, makes our environment endurable. Various kinds of rays come through the air from outer space, but enormous quantities of radiation from the sun are screened off. As soon as men leave the atmosphere they are exposed to this radiation. But their spacesuits or the walls of their spacecraft, if they are inside, do prevent a lot of radiation damage.
Radiation is the greatest known danger to explorers in space. The unit of radiation is called "rein". Scientists have reason to think that a man can put up with far more radiation than 0.1 ream without being damaged; the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on. The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to be sure about radiation damage——a person may feel perfectly well, but the cells of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will not be discovered until the birth of deformed (畸形的) children or even grandchildren. Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and, during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew accumulated a large amount of reams. So far, no dangerous amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short. We simply do not know yet how men are going to get on when they spend weeks and months outside the protection of the atmosphere, working in a space laboratory. Drugs might help to decrease the damage done by radiation, but no really effective ones have been found so far.
单选题 According to the first paragraph, the atmosphere is essential to man in that ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析] 具体细节题。第一段第二句说明大气层像毯子一样保护着地球;并具体说明了大气可以保护人类不受太阳辐射,与A相符。
单选题 We know from the passage that ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 第二段第四句,太阳辐射对人类的危害一时难以显现出来,而有时会延及好几代人的身体。
单选题 The harm radiation has done to the Apollo crew members ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析] 推断题。文章提及阿波罗号上的宇航员在执行任务时,虽聚积大量辐射,但由于时间太短,没有得出危险程度的报告,因此推断出,人们对太阳辐射的伤害了解还不甚清楚。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析] 主旨题。人类对太阳辐射的危害尚不能采取有效方法予以避免,因此,免受太阳辐射伤害并非易事。
单选题 The best title for this passage would be ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析] 文章主要讲述太阳与辐射对人类的危害需要一个时间过程才能逐渐显现出来,药物虽然可以减轻辐射所导致的伤害,但目前尚未研制出真正有效的药物。因此文章是围绕太阳辐射所导致的后果展开的。