2020年高考英語外刊時事命題閱讀理解：美國女孩Alyssa Carson的星際之旅 Shooting for the Stars

ShootingfortheStars美國女孩AlyssaCarson的星際之旅“I’mready,”saidAlyssaCarson,an19-year-oldAmericangirl.WewereinUniversal’sIslandsofAdventure,athemeparkinOrlando,Florida,standingbeforetheentranceofTheIncredibleHulk.It’sarollercoasterthataccelerates(加速)upto108kilometersperhourintwosecondsandtravelsupsidedownseventimes.Ihadn’teatenforhours,butAlyssawasenjoyinganicecream.“Doyouwanttowaituntilyou’vedigestedthat?”Iasked.“No,”sherespondedforcefully.“Let’sgo!”ForAlyssa,afterall,ridingthemostaggressiverollercoasterintheparkisnotsuchabigdeal.Ifallgoeswell,NASAwillsendherandothersuitablecandidatestoMarsinthe2030s,whichwillmakeheroneofthefirstpeopletoeversetfootontheredplanet.Shewillspendtwotothreeyearscolonizing(將……建為殖民地)it,growingfood,performingscienceexperiments,andsearchingforsignsoflife.Alyssahasdecidedtodevoteherentirelifetopreparingforthisjourney.Nowanastronaut-in-trainingatNASA,Alyssabecameinterestedinspaceafterwatchingacartoonattheageofthree.Inoneepisode,fiveanimalfriendshaveanimaginaryadventuretoMars.Atthatmoment,shethoughtthisstrangeredplanetlookedsocoolandshestartedtodreamofgoingtoMars.Whensheturnedseven,Alyssa’sfathertookhertoaNASAspacecampinHuntsville,Alabama.Shegottoseealife-sizedrocket.Shegottomasterthebasics(基本知識)ofspacescience.Shegottomeettheveteran(資深的)astronautSandraMagnuswhoconvincedherthatherloveofspacewasnotjustapassinginterest.Fiveyearslater,AlyssabecamethefirstpersoninhistorytoattendallthreeNASAspacecamps.Apartfromtraining,Alyssaalsotravelstodifferentcountriestospeaktoherpeers.Shegetsthemexcitedaboutspaceexplorationandencouragesthemtofollowtheirowndreams.WhenImether,shewasspeakingto3,500teenagersfromaroundtheworldattheInternationalConventionofBBYO,aJewishyouthgroupthatfocusesonleadershipandsocialaction.“WearetheMarsGeneration,”Alyssasaid.“Together,wecandoanything.”Still,sometimesAlyssawantstobejustaregularteenager.BBYOrentedoutUniversal’sIslandsofAdventuretheSaturdaynightoftheconference.WhenwerodeTheIncredibleHulktogether,wesatamongstrowsofteenagers.Andjustlikethem,thegirlwithherlongbrownhairscreamedfortheentiretwo-minuteridelikeanykidhavingfunatthefair.（選自Sciencemag）1.Accordingtothearticle,AlyssaCarson______.A.showedinterestinMarswhenshewasreadingabookaboutspaceB.begantoreceiveprofessionaltrainingattheageofsevenC.hadattendedallthreeNASAspacecampsbythetimeshewas12D.willlikelybesenttoMarsattheageof352.AlyssaCarsontravelsaroundtheworldto______.A.havespacetrainingcoursesB.meetotherteenagersC.raisemoneyforNASA’sMarsprogramD.inspireyoungpeopletokeeptheirowndreamsalive3.WhatCANNOTbeinferredfromthearticle?A.TheIncredibleHulkisanexcitingamusementride.B.AlyssawillhavemanytaskstocompleteifshelandsonMarssuccessfully.C.Alyssawasforcedtolearnthebasicsofspacesciencebyherfather.D.Alyssaenjoysridingrollercoasterslikemanyotheryoungpeople.譯文：“我準(zhǔn)備好了，”一名19歲的美國女孩艾麗莎·卡森說。我們當(dāng)時站在佛羅里達(dá)州奧蘭多市的主題公園環(huán)球冒險島上，正站在《綠巨人》入口之前。這是一款過山車，可在兩秒鐘內(nèi)加速達(dá)到108公里，然后倒置七次。我已經(jīng)好幾個小時沒吃東西了，但Alyssa卻在享用冰淇淋?！澳氲鹊较陠?？”我問。

“不，”她用力地回答?！拔覀冏甙?！”

畢竟，對于Alyssa而言，乘坐公園里最具侵略性的過山車并不是一件大事。如果一切順利，美國宇航局將在2030年代將她和其他合適的候選人送往火星，這將使她成為有史以來最早踏上這顆紅色星球的人之一。她將花兩到三年的時間對其進(jìn)行定殖，種植食物，進(jìn)行科學(xué)實(shí)驗(yàn)并尋找生命的跡象。阿麗莎決定畢生致力于這一旅程。如今，阿莉莎現(xiàn)在是美國國家航空航天局的一名宇航員，在三歲的時候看了一部卡通漫畫后就對太空產(chǎn)生了興趣。在一個情節(jié)中，五個動物朋友對火星進(jìn)行了一次虛構(gòu)的冒險。那一刻，她以為這顆奇怪的紅色星球看起來如此酷，她開始夢想去火星。當(dāng)她七歲的時候，阿麗莎的父親帶她去了阿拉巴馬州亨茨維爾的NASA太空營。她得看一架真人大小的火箭。她掌握了空間科學(xué)的基礎(chǔ)知識。她遇到了資深的宇航員桑德拉·馬格努斯，后者說服了她，對太空的熱愛不僅是一種短暫的興趣。五年后，阿麗莎成為歷史上第一個參加所有三個NASA太空營地的人。除培訓(xùn)外，Alyssa還前往其他國家與同齡人交談。她使他們對太空探索感到興奮，并鼓勵他們遵循自己的夢想。當(dāng)我遇到她時，她正在BBYO國際大會上與來自世界各地的3500名青少年交談，BBYO是一個致力于領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力和社會行為的猶太青年團(tuán)體?！拔覀兪腔鹦且淮?，”阿麗莎說?！拔覀冊谝黄鹂梢宰鋈魏问虑?。”盡管如此，有時Alyssa還是想成為一名普通的少年。在會議的星期六晚上，BBYO出租了環(huán)球冒險島。當(dāng)我們一起騎著《綠巨人》時，我們坐在成排的少年中間。就像他們一樣，有著長長的棕色頭發(fā)的女孩在整個兩分鐘的行程中尖叫著，就像任何在博覽會上玩耍的孩子一樣。背景信息：NASAwasestablishedin1958,succeedingtheNationalAdvisoryCommitteeforAeronautics(NACA).Thenewagencywastohaveadistinctlycivilianorientation,encouragingpeacefulapplicationsinspacescience.Sinceitsestablishment,mostUSspaceexplorationeffortshavebeenledbyNASA,includingtheApolloMoonlandingmissions,theSkylabspacestation,andlatertheSpaceShuttle.NASAissupportingtheInternationalSpaceStationandisoverseeingthedevelopmentoftheOrionMulti-PurposeCrewVehicle,theSpaceLaunchSystemandCommercialCrewvehicles.TheagencyisalsoresponsiblefortheLaunchServicesProgramwhichprovidesoversightoflaunchoperationsandcountdownmanagementforuncrewedNASAlaunches.NASA成立于1958年，是國家航空咨詢委員會（NACA）的繼任者。新機(jī)構(gòu)將以平民為導(dǎo)向，鼓勵和平應(yīng)用在空間科學(xué)中。自成立以來，大多數(shù)美國太空探索工作都是由NASA領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的，包括阿波羅登月任務(wù)，Skylab空間站以及后來的航天飛機(jī)。美國國家航空航天局（NASA）支持國際空間站，并監(jiān)督“獵戶座”多功能乘員飛行器，空間發(fā)射系統(tǒng)和商用乘員飛行器的開發(fā)。該機(jī)構(gòu)還負(fù)責(zé)“發(fā)射服務(wù)計(jì)劃”，該計(jì)劃對未執(zhí)行的NASA發(fā)射進(jìn)行發(fā)射操作監(jiān)督和倒計(jì)時管理。單詞：1.digestv.tochangefoodthatyouhavejusteatenintosubstancesthatyourbodycanuse消化（食物）2.candidaten.sb.whoisbeingconsideredforajoboriscompetinginanelection候選人3.devotev.(~oneselftosb./sth.)touseallormostofyourtime,effect,etc.inordertodosth.orhelpsb.把……奉獻(xiàn)給→devotionn.奉獻(xiàn)4.convincev.(~sb.ofsth.)tomakesb.feelcertainthats