A. To entertain readers.

B. To tell a terrifying story.

C. To show wild animals are unsuitable pets.

D. To excite people's interest in keeping animals.

25. What can we infer from Paquette's words?

A. Tigers are illegal to own.

B. Taking care of tigers is exciting

C. Pet tigers are cute but grow quickly.

D. Keeping big cats as pets is dangerous.

26. What does the underlined word "squalid" in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. Scary B. Dirty

C. Normal D. Comfortable

27. Which of the following may Minshew agree with?

A. Keep rescuing tigers in the wild.

B. It is beneficial to pet baby tigers.

C. Stop taking wildlife out of the wild.

D. Sanctuaries are the best places for wild animals.

Should our planet become unable to sustain human life, our species' only hope would be to leave and settle on another planet. To ensure it a success, we first have to learn how to reproduce in space. The Netherlands-based project Spacelife Origin wants to get the ball rolling by sending a pregnant woman into space to give birth to a baby.

According to Egbert Edelbroek, one of the CEOS of the Dutch project, learning how to give birth in space is an insurance policy for the human race. Even if we ever discover or build an inhabitable(可居住的)place away from Earth, we must first uncover the secrets of space birth if we stand any chance of survival. He claims that he has already met with several spaceflight companies willing to transport the team 250 miles above the ground, some wealthy people willing to finance the experiment, and some women willing to become the first to give birth in space.

However, even if Spacelife Origin manages to find a volunteer, a commercial rocket and the money necessary to fund the whole thing. the mission is still bound to meet some problems. Getting the pregnant woman into space just before she's ready to deliver the baby sounds difficult enough, but it's the safety of the baby and the childbirth itself that experts are worried about. Astronauts usually experience three times the force of gravity during a rocket's rise to orbit, and no one knows how that will affect the baby or the mother. Assuming that everything goes right, there's still a problem of how to get back to Earth. These days, that means surviving a bone-rattling(震动骨头的)free fall through the atmosphere, followed by a parachute landing in some desert, not exactly the kind of experience a newborn and its mother should go through.

Spacelife Origin acknowledges that its plan still has unknowns, but that's the main reason for this pioneering mission, to find answers.

28. The purpose of the Netherlands-based project Spacelife Origin is _______.