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Increasing reading speed
Directions：Do the phrase recognition drill below．Ｑuickly underline or mark the key phrase every time it appears in the columns．Try to finish in 10 seconds or less by reading down the column，not left to right．
Starting Time：
Key phrase：the unmanned rocketthe unmanned rocketthe unperfect paper
the unmanned planethe unmanned rocket
the unmanned robotthe unreacted salts
the unmanned rocketthe unmanned probe
the unmanned craftthe unmanned rocket
the unmanned liftthe unlearned person
the unmanned rocketthe unlearned woman
the unmarked radiothe unmanned rocket
the unmetalled roadthe uneducated woman
the unmanned rocketthe uneducated lady
the unmelted riverthe unmanned rocket
the unowned bottlethe unopened port
the unmanned rocketthe untreated water
the unowned bicyclethe unmanned rocket
Finishing Time： Total Reading Time：
Check each line very carefully．Key phrase appears 10 times．
Soviet March to Mars Startles the WestThe complexity and boldness of Soviet plans to explore Mars over the next decade have stunned space scientists in the US. The Soviets are to launch up to four missions，including one to return chunks of the planet to Earth. "Our programme is threadbare compared to what the Soviets have in mind，" Michael Carr， an astrogeologist at the US Geological Survey said last week. "They truly have a programme with one mission leading logically to the next as distinct from bits and pieces."
Some 400 scientists and engineers from the US，Europe and Japan heard the Soviet plans in surprising detail during a symposium called the International Conference on Solar System Exploration which was held in Pasadena，California， from 19 to 22 May. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory organized the meeting.
It is not the first time that Soviet scientists have discussed their plans for Mars, but，according to several scientists in the US，each time they talk，they unveil more details and their plans become more ambitious. Their programme could change as the launch dates approach，but scientists in the US are convinced that the Soviets have made a firm commitment to explore the Red Planet.
"What is really staggering is the total payload that the Soviets are planning to launch，" said Bruce Murray，a professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology. "It could be as much as 45,000 kilograms — that's more than twice as much as the entire payload the US has launched since its planetary programme began.
The Soviets have a launch vehicle called the Proton that carries up to 4，500 kilograms at a time — 25 per cent more than the US has ever launched with one vehicle.
Murray，a former director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory，said that the ultimate aim of the Soviet Union was human exploration of Mars. "The Soviets have recognized that Mars is the next step in space exploration and have staked it out. They will be leaders. The US still has to decide whether or not it will be a coleader，play a secondary role，or opt out.
"We have become bogged down in the fantasies of low Earth orbit，the shuttleand the space station."Murray predicted that the American public could be in for a shock similar to that caused by the launch of Sputnik in the 1950's unless the USs space effort changes drastically. "We have been living in the past，still imagining that our Apollo achierement — the lunar landing — granted us supremacy in space."Murray said that the Soviets were keen to cooperate with other nations，but that the US cannot decide whether it wants to compete or collaborate. "They will go to Europe if the US won't do it. They can't lose."
The Soviet missions to Mars are due to begin in June next year when a spacecraft is to be launched on a 400 day mission to Phobos，one of the Red Planet's two moons. It will come within 50 metres of the moon's surface，drop a probe and do some remote sensing. At the meeting，three Soviet scientists presented the Mars programme. They were Roald Kremnev， director of the Soviet Center for Unmanned Space craft，Viatcheslav Linkin，from the Soviet Institute for Space Research，and Valeriy Barsukov，director of the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry in Moscow.
They revealed at the meeting in Pasadena that the second mission in 1992 will include a "rover"that will roam over the surface of the planet for distances of tens of kilometres. They were also considering small machines that would tunnel 20 or 30 metres into the Martian soil，like mechanised moles. Balloons will drift over vast distances of the Martian surface， landing in the cool of the night to collect samples，and taking off again during the day when the atmosphere warms up.
In 1994 or 1996，they are planning a "long range" rover that could traverse up to 500 kilometers of the planet. Another mission — launched either in 1996 or in 1998 — will bring back samples of the planet if contamination is not considered a danger.
The only firm commitment the US has made to Mars is the Mars Observer to be launched in 1992. It will map the planet from an orbit of about 350 kilometres. But Murray said that NASA，although weak and "under the thumb，"deserved credit for having established scientific and engineering working groups to plan a sample return mission to Mars. "At least if we decide one day to go to Mars，the preparation would have been done." 1998 is considered the earliest date that the US could launch a mission.
——from New Scientist，June 4，1987
Time： 790 words= wpm
minutes
EXERCISESⅠ．READING COＭPREＨENSION
Select the answer which is most accurate according to the information given in the passage．
1. According to Michael Carr，the four space missions planned by the Soviets are
A. logically related to one anotherB. irrelevant to one another
C. bits and pieces D. to be launched five years from now
2. As it is used in the passage，the phrase "the Red Planet" refers to
A. the EarthB. MercuryC. MarsD. Venus
3. It can be learned from the passage that the total payload launched by the U. S. since the beginning of its planetary program is .
A. 45,000 kg B. more than 22,500 kgC. just 22,500 kgD. less than 22,500 kg
4. Having planned four missions for the next decade，the Soviet Union aims at
A. taking the lead in the space raceB. conquering the space
C. exploring the Planet MarsD. returning chunks of Mars to Earth
5. In Murray's opinion，why has the American space program come to a halt？
A. NASA lacks funds to further its space exploration.
B. The Americans have still been dwelling on their past achievements in space.
C. The Americans have lost their interest in space competitions.
D. The American space technology is inferior to that of the Soviet Union.
6. If everything goes well as planned， spacecrafts launched by the Soviets will land on Mars.
A. the latter threeB. the first threeC. all fourD. both the first and the third
7. The last mission planned by the Soviet scientists will return samples of Mars if .
A. the spaceship does not pollute the planet
B. the samples are not polluted by the cosmonauts
C. the samples do not bring about pollution to the EarthD. none of the above
8. What does the passage mainly tell us about？
A. The International Conference on Solar System Exploration.
B. The Soviet plans for exploring Mars.
C. The space race between the two superpowers.
D. The firm commitment the Soviet Union has made to explore the Solar System.
Ⅱ． CONTEXTUAL REFERENCE
Guess the meaning of the following words in italics using reading techniques．
1. Steady flight means unaccelerated flight，or flight in which the velocity does not change.
2. A speedometer is an instrument in a vehicle for telling its speed.
3. The spacecraft itself weighed more than 45 tonnes. It was made up of three sections. They are as follows：
the command module，which carried the astronauts and commanded most of the instrument. It was cone shaped and was the only part that returned to earth.
the service module，which contained the main rocket motor，its fuel and some instruments.
the lunar excursion module，called the Falcon，which carried the astronauts from the command module to the moon's surface and back again.
4. The diaries of cosmonauts like Valentin，who logged seven months on Salyut 7 in 1982，recorded the day to day struggle of the space marathoner. After 116 days in orbit，barely halfway through his mission，Lebedev wrote， "Humming to myself，I float through the station. Is it possible that some day I'll be back on earth among my loved ones， and everything will be all right?"
5. America's Space Agency has begun operating a new modern computer system. Space Agency officials say the system is the world's fastest and most powerful supercomputer. It is able to work with 250 million pieces of information in just one second. This is the amount of work normally done by 50,000 small personal computers. Aeronautic engineers plan to use the supercomputer to help design a plane that would travel at almost 25 times the speed of sound. Scientists believe such a plane could take off from an airport in Washington，go directly into orbit，and arrive in Tokyo just two hours later.
6. A strange homecoming took place on the steppes ［（尤指西伯利亚地）无树林的平原］of central As. Leonid Kizim，Vladimir Solovyev，and Oleg Atkov，clad in white space，suits sat side by side near their charred （变成焦黑的）capsule amid a small crowd of technicians，doctors，and onlookers. After 237 days aboard the Salyut 7 space station — the longest space flight in history — the three Soviet cosmonauts hardly looked as though they belonged on earth at all. Under the sudden onslaught of gravity，they could barely lift their arms. A reporter at the landing site wanted to know how it felt to be home. "We're happy to be back with our friends on earth，" came the answer. "But we already miss the station."
Ⅲ． CLOZE
Complete the following passage by filling in the blanks with appropriate words．
Russians Put Man into Space
Today Major Yuri Gagarin became the first man to be sent into space. This twenty seven year old 1 pilot circled the earth 2 108 minutes in the space ship Vostok I. His spaceship weighed four and a half 3 and traveled 4 a speed of 5 17,000 miles an hour. It passed over Siberia，then 6 three oceans to Africa and back to Russia. At seven minutes past nine the big rocket 7 began to 8 from the ground. Soon it was circling the earth 9 a height of nearly 200 miles.
Major Gagarin found that 10 space the sky was very black. He saw the 11 appeared more clearly 12 the 13 of continents，big rivers，mountains，forests，and the shadows of clouds 14 the ground. He had no weight and could float 15 his cabin.
At 9∶52 a.m. Vostok I 16 over the southern point of South America. Gagarin sent back a report that he was 17 well. At 10∶15 a.m. he 18 the coast of Africa. Ten minutes later the space ship began to 19 speed and drop towards the earth. 20 half an hour it approached the Russian town of Saratov. Major Gagarin landed safely by parachute at 10∶55 a.m.
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