宇航員在空間站里是怎么睡覺的？《隨身英語》介紹在國際空間站里工作的宇航員們每天要做的奇特工作。

課文內容

詞匯:  Space 太空

Bored with your life? Dreaming of something different? When I feel like that I look up and wonder what life would be like 400km above my head. That's where the International Space Station orbits the Earth, with six astronauts living and working on board, for months at a time.

How do they sleep? They spend the night floating in a sleeping bag inside a small cubicle on the ceiling. American astronaut Sunita Williams explains: "It's like a little phone booth but it's pretty comfy and it doesn't matter if I turn over and sleep upside down. I don't have any sensation in my head that tells me I'm upside down."

Brushing your teeth in a place where you can't have a tap or a sink can be a challenge. Can you imagine the mess that running water would make in zero gravity? Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield uses a straw to put a big blob of water from a sealed bag onto an ordinary toothbrush and adds a little toothpaste - which he has to swallow when he's done.

Daily exercise is essential. The lack of gravity makes bones more brittle and muscles lose strength – so astronauts are encouraged to work out for at least two hours a day.

The role of astronauts in the International Space Station is to act as lab technicians for scientists back on Earth. So they spend their time maintaining their environment and performing and monitoring experiments in a confined space about the size of a Boeing 747. Almost every task is carefully planned by mission control - although most astronauts spend their first days losing stuff until they get used to sticking everything they use to the walls with Velcro, duct tape or clips.

One of their most valued perks is the view from "the office", dominated by that gigantic blue ball down there, sitting in the darkness of space. Wow! Absolutely breathtaking!

詞匯表

International Space Station  國際空間站
to orbit  環繞……軌道運行
an astronaut  宇航員
a sleeping bag  睡袋
comfy  舒服的
upside down  倒置地，顛倒過來地
gravity  重力
sealed  密封的
essential  必不可少的
brittle  容易斷裂的
lab technician  實驗室技術人員
a confined space  一個有限的空間
mission control  航天地面指揮中心
Velcro  尼龍搭扣
duct tape  牛皮膠布
perk  好處
breathtaking  令人驚嘆的，壯觀的

測驗與練習

1. 閱讀課文并回答問題。

1. How high up is the International Space Station?  

2. True or false? Astronauts get dizzy when they sleep upside down.

3. Why do astronauts lose things?

4. What becomes weak if astronauts don't exercise?

5. Who tells astronauts what to do?

2. 請你在不參考課文的情況下完成下列練習。從每個表格中選擇一個意思合適的單詞填入句子的空格處。

1. Here's __________. You can use it to keep the sheets of your essay together. 

Velcro      a clip      a straw      some perks

2. My job is just to keep an eye on this experiment and see if there is anything different. I'm just __________ it.

performing      maintaining      monitoring      floating

3. My mobile, my keys... wait till I get my __________ and we are ready to leave.

stuff      duct tape      Velcro      gravity

4. You look tired after walking all day. Come on, sit on this __________ chair.

upside down      comfy      confined      brittle

5. If the company is to survive the economic downturn, increasing profitability is __________!

 a choice      a plan      essential      a perk

答案

1. 閱讀課文并回答問題。

1. How high up is the International Space Station?
It orbits 400km above the Earth's surface.

2. True or false? Astronauts get dizzy when they sleep upside down.
False. According to astronaut Sunita Williams, they don't have any sensations in their head telling them they are upside down. They don't even feel it.

3. Why do astronauts lose things?
Because in zero gravity, everything that is not stuck down, floats.

4. What becomes weak if astronauts don't exercise?
Their bones and muscles. 

5.Who tells astronauts what to do?
Scientists on Earth and mission control.

2. 請你在不參考課文的情況下完成下列練習。從每個表格中選擇一個意思合適的單詞填入句子的空格處。

1. Here's a clip. You can use it to keep the sheets of your essay together.

2. My job is just to keep an eye on this experiment and see if there is anything different. I'm just monitoring it.

3. My mobile, my keys... wait till I get my stuff and we are ready to leave.

4. You look tired after walking all day. Come on, sit on this comfy chair.

5. If the company is to survive the economic downturn, increasing profitability is essential!