A
(2021·兰州模拟)
They may be teenagers, but 17-year-old Brittany Bull and 16-year-old Sesam Mngqengqiswa have grand ambitions—to launch Africa’s first private satellite into space. They are part of a team of high school girls from Cape Town, South Africa, who have designed and built equipment for a satellite that will orbit over the earth’s poles scanning Africa’s surface.
Once in space, the satellite will collect information on agriculture, and food security within the continent. “Using the data, we can try to determine and predict the problems Africa will be facing in the future, ” explains Bull, a student at Pelican Park High School. “Where our food is growing, where we can plant more trees and vegetation and also how we can monitor remote areas, ” she says. “We have a lot of forest fires and floods but we don’t always get out there in time. ” Information received twice a day will go towards disaster prevention.
It’s part of a project by South Africa’s Meta Economic Development Organization (MEDO) working with Morehead State University in the US.
The girls (14 in total) are being trained by satellite engineers from Cape Peninsula University of Technology, in an effort to encourage more African women into STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics).
Scheduled to launch in May 2017, if successful, it will make MEDO the first private company in Africa to build a satellite and send it into orbit.
Mngqengqiswa comes from a single parent household. Her mother is a domestic worker. By becoming a space engineer or astronaut, the teenager hopes to make her mother proud. “Discovering space and seeing the Earth’s atmosphere, it’s not something many black Africans have been able to do, or get the opportunity to look at. I want to see and experience these things for myself, ” says Mngqengqiswa.
Her teammate Bull agrees, “I want to show fellow girls that we don’t need to sit around or limit ourselves. Any career is possible—even aerospace. ”
【文章大意】本文是一篇新闻报道。文章介绍了为了吸引更多的非洲女性从事科技领域工作, 南非开展了一个项目, 让专家们培训女孩学习卫星发射技术。
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?
A. Information provided by the satellite.
B. The benefits brought by the satellite.
C. Problems African agriculture faces.
D. The way the satellite collects information.
【解析】选B。段落大意题。这一段主要讲述这颗卫星被发送到太空后将在许多方面发挥着重要作用, 所以第二段主要说明这颗卫星将给整个非洲带来的益处, 故选B。
2. Why are the experts teaching the girls satellite technology?
A. To turn them into good farmers.
B. To help African women to live better.
C. To train employees for a private company.
D. To attract more African women to sci-tech fields.
【解析】选D。细节理解题。由文章第四段内容, 尤其是关键信息“encourage more African women into STEM”可知, 专家教女孩们学习卫星技术是为了鼓励更多的非洲女性进入科技领域, 故选D。
3. What do you think of the girls in the text?
A. Ambitious and pioneering.
B. Generous and considerate.
C. Independent and modest.
D. Brave and tolerant.
【解析】选A。推理判断题。由文章倒数第二段中的“the teenager hopes to make her mother proud”, “it’s not something many black Africans have been able to do”, “I want to see and experience these things for myself”以及最后一段“Her teammate Bull agrees, ‘I want to show fellow girls that we don’t need to sit around or limit ourselves. Any career is possible—even aerospace. ’”可推知, 文中的女孩充满雄心壮志, 且具有开拓精神, 故选A。
【知识拓展】 长难句分析
They are part of a team of high school girls from Cape Town, South Africa, who have designed and built equipment for a satellite that will orbit over the earth’s poles scanning Africa’s surface.
分析:本句是主从复合句。本句who have designed and built equipment for a satellite that will orbit over the earth’s poles scanning Africa’s surface是high school girls的非限制定语从句。定语从句中含有a satellite 的定语从句 that will orbit over the earth’s poles scanning Africa’s surface, 后面现在分词scanning Africa’s surface作伴随状语。
翻译:她们是来自南非开普敦的一个高中女生小组的成员, 她们设计并制造了一颗卫星的设备, 该卫星将在地球两极上空运行, 扫描非洲的表面。
