Section_ⅠIntroduction & Reading - Pre­reading

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　　Chinese Taikonaut Back on Earth!

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　　China's firsttaikonaut① Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei landed② safely this morning in the ShenzhouVcapsule③ in Inner Mongolia, 300 kilometres northwest of Beijing④. Yang was in space⑤ for twenty­one and a half hours and made 14 orbits⑥ of the earth.

　　"It is a great moment⑦ in the history of⑧ China - and also the greatest day of my life，" said Yang. When he was orbiting in the capsule, he took photographs⑨ of planet earth. "Our planet is so beautiful，" he said.

　　The Beijing Space Control Centre said the flight⑩ was a "complete success⑪". When Yang landed, Premier Wen Jiabao telephoned⑫ the Control Centre to offer⑬ his congratulations⑭.

　　When Yang took off⑮ from Jiuquan in northwest China at 9 am yesterday, China became the third nation to send a man into space⑯. Yang is the 438th person to travel in space, including⑰ astronauts from 32 countries. In total⑱， these astronauts have spent more than 26,000 days in space.

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　　While he was travelling in space⑲， Yang spoke to two astronauts aboard the International Space Station⑳， which is orbiting the earth, American astronaut Edward Lu and Russian cosmonaut\s\up1(21(21) Yuri Malenchenko. Lu, whose parents were born in China, spoke to Yang in Chinese during his flight. "Welcome\s\up1(22(22) to space，" he said. Malenchenko said, "I am glad there is somebody else in space with us. It's great work by thousands and thousands of\s\up1(23(23) people from China."

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　　Many countries around the world sent messages of\s\up1(24(24) congratulations. Sean O'Keefe from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the US said that Yang's space flight was "an important historical\s\up1(25(25)achievement\s\up1(26(26) and NASA wishes China continuing success with its space flight programme". United Nations Secretary­General Kofi Annan called the flight "a step forward for the whole world". 　　①taikonaut/'taIkəˌnɔːt/n.太空人；宇航员

　　宇航员一般称astronaut，俄罗斯宇航员称cosmonaut，中国宇航员称taikonaut。

　　②land v．降落；着陆

　　③capsule/'kæpsjuːl/n.太空舱

　　④300 ... Beijing是Inner Mongolia的同位语。

　　⑤in space 在太空

　　⑥orbit/'ɔːbIt/n.轨道 vt.绕轨道飞行

　　⑦a great moment 一个伟大的时刻

　　⑧in the history of 在......的历史上

　　⑨photograph/'fəʊtəˌgraːf/n.照片

　　take photographs of 拍照

　　⑩flight/flaIt/n.飞行；班机

　　⑪a success 一件成功之事

　　⑫telephone vt.打电话

　　⑬offer v．主动提出；提供

　　⑭congratulation/kənˌgrætʃʊ'leIʃn/n.祝贺

　　⑮take off 起飞

　　⑯send ...to space 把......送入太空

　　to send ...为不定式短语作the third nation的定语。

　　⑰including prep.包括

　　⑱in total 总共；合计

　　⑲while引导时间状语从句。

　　⑳aboard/ə'bɔːd/adv. &prep. 在船(飞机、火车、公共汽车)上；上船(飞机、火车等)

　　aboard ...为two astronauts的后置定语。

　　\s\up1(21(21)cosmonaut/'kɒzməˌnɔːt/n.宇航员

　　American ... cosmonaut是two astronauts的同位语。

　　\s\up1(22(22)welcome/'welkəm/vt.欢迎

　　welcome to (some place) 欢迎到(某地)来

　　\s\up1(23(23)thousands and thousands of 成千上万的

　　\s\up1(24(24)send messages of 发送......信息

　　\s\up1(25(25)historical/hI'stɒrIkl/adj.历史性的

　　\s\up1(26(26)achievement/ə'tʃiːvmənt/n.成就；功业；伟绩