单元检测（二十三） A Trip Along the Three Gorges

　　Ⅰ.阅读理解

　　A

　　I learnt to fly in a balloon in a race across the Atlantic Ocean in 1992 and became extremely interested in the sport. In the same way that a mountain climber dreams of climbing the world's highest mountain, I dreamed about flying non­stop around the world.

　　I spent six years planning the flight and failed twice before I and my team managed to succeed. For some reason, we had to go first to North Africa to catch the right winds. That added 10,000 kilometres, and another week, to our journey. But because of this, our flight broke all the records for distance and time spent in the air.

　　The most memorable part of the trip for me is that we lived in the air for 20 days and that the rising sun was the most amazing thing we saw. We had to go out of the balloon's capsule (舱), in which we were transported, three times while in the air to repair the fuel system. We didn't have any safety equipment but when you are in a situation like that, you just do what you have to do without thinking about feeling afraid.

　　Landing was a fantastic moment. I remember that when I got out of the capsule, I looked at my footprint in the sand. I remembered the astronaut Neil Armstrong, who was so happy to put his footprint on the moon, so far away from Earth. At that moment, I was so happy to have my foot back on Earth!

　　语篇解读：本文是一篇记叙文。文章讲述了作者乘热气球环球旅行的经历。

　　1．The author became interested in ballooning because of ________.

　　A．a cross­ocean race　　　　 B．a mountain climb

　　C．a childhood dream D．a long sea journey

　　解析：选A　细节理解题。由第一段第一句"I learnt to fly in a balloon in a race ... became extremely interested in the sport."可知，作者对乘热气球飞行的兴趣源自一场比赛。

　　2．What can be inferred from Paragraph 2 about the author and his team's flight?

　　A．They set a new record.

　　B．They shortened their flight.

　　C．Their flight went very smoothly.

　　D．Their flight covered 10,000 kilometres.

　　解析：选A　细节理解题。由第二段最后一句"But because of this, our flight broke all the records for distance and time spent in the air."可知，他们的飞行创造了新纪录。

　　3．Why did the balloonists get out of the capsule during the flight?

A．To fight their fear.