备战北京2024年英语中考训练之阅读理解50篇其三

备战北京2024年英语中考训练之阅读理解50篇其三 U In the Chinese lunar calendar，there are 12 animal signs.Each of them is a symbol of a lunar year.The year 2023 is the Year of Rabbit.The animals appear in a certain order and the cycle （周期） repeats every 12 years.It is believed that people born under the same animal sign may have similar characters. 12 Animal Signs and Characters 1.How many animal signs are there in the Chinese lunar calendar？ ______ A. 10. B. 11. C. 12. 2.What animal sign is it in 2023？ ______ A. Tiger B. Rabbit C. Dragon. 3.Lucy was born in the Year of Monkey，and she is believed to be ______ . A. clever B. true C. Honest V Sending astronauts to Mars is a big challenge.Astronauts will have to take everything they need，including food，air and water.The room inside the spaceship is too limited to hold many things.So packing a spaceship is a huge challenge for a trip to Mars. Six astronauts on an eight-month trip to Mars will need at least 18，000 kilograms of water for drinking and washing.They'll also need water to protect themselves from space rays which can pass right through spaceship walls and harm astronauts' living cells.But a layer of water placed around the ship can stop the harm. That's a lot of water.And sending water into space is too expensive.It costs ＄33，000 to send one cup of water to Mars.The more you take，the more it costs.We have the technology to get to Mars，but the problem is that it's too expensive. But Flynn，an engineer at NASA，thinks he has a way of solving the problem.Instead of building a heavy spaceship and packing it full-of stuff（物料），why not use the stuff as part of the spaceship？ Imagine a spaceship that blows up like a balloon.Inside，the walls have pockets like a big honeycomb （蜂巢）.These hold lots of plastic bags filled with water，dried food and algae （水菜）.All these make hard walls and great radiation （辐射） protection.And stopping radiation doesn't influence the food or water itself- it's safe to eat and drink.And what if the same water