17．A group of college students is hoping to place a satellite powered only by water into an orbit aroud the moon．
The students are from Cornell University in the state of New York．They are takking part in a compete team is called the CisLunar Explorers．The word cislunar means"between Eatrth and the-moon"．
The challenge is simple：to design，build and deliver
"flight-qualified，small satellites"．NASA official say the satellites must be able to perform"advanced operations near and beyond the moon"．
Ten teams are taking part in the competition．But the CisLunar Kxplorer satellites are the only ones using water to power their spaceceraft．The idea for a water-powered vehicle came from Mason Peck，who works at Cornell University．He has always wanted to use something other than rockets to push beyond earth．
The craft is two connected satellites，both shaped like the English latter"I"．Water is storel in the lower part of the satellite．The sun will separate the water into two elements：bydrogen and oxy-gen．When one combines hydrogen and oxygen with a spark （火花）an explosion results．This pro-vides a forward movement，known as thrust．
Another cool thing about the CixLunar Explorer is how the team is teaching it to navigate its way through spare．The idea in to ropy how old-lime sailors used the moon，sun and stars to fix their posi-tion on the oceans．The satellite is equipped with cameras．The cameras will takepictures of their sun，Earth and the moon and compare their positions and theirsize．Based on wherethe sun，moon and Earth are at any given time，the Cislunar Explorers will do the matheroatics to find their position．
33．What do the Cornell students plan to do？D
A．Place an earth satellite into orbit．
B．Meet the challenge of joining NASA．
C．Explore space by means of satellites．
D．Send up a water-powered moon salellite．
34．What can we learn about the CisLunar Explorer satellites？A
A．Theyare unusual．
B．They areordinary．
C．Theyare simple．
D．They areexpensive．
35．How do the CisLunar Explorer find inspiration for guiding their spacecraft？C
A．By Inking space pictures．
B．By doingcomputingtasks．
C．From the ancient sailors．
D．From theposition ofthem oceans．
分析 本文介绍了在一个科技竞赛中，一组大学生尝试能能将一颗仅由水驱动的卫星送入月球轨道．
解答 33．D．细节理解题．由第一段A group of college students is hoping to place a satellite powered only by water into an orbit aroud the moon可知一组大学生希望能将一颗仅由水驱动的卫星送入月球轨道，故选D．
34．A．理解推断题．由第三段Ten teams are taking part in the competition．But the CisLunar Kxplorer satellites are the only ones using water to power their spaceceraft可知，共有十个团队参加比赛，但他们的卫星是唯一使用水力作为动力的，因此很特别，故选A．
35．C．理解推断题．由最后一段The idea in to ropy how old-lime sailors used the moon，sun and stars to fix their posi-tion on the oceans可知，他们的想法来自古时的水手，故选C．
点评 本篇阅读难度比一般阅读较大，它存在的生词比较多，因此考生应当综合略读、跳读和查读，猜词等阅读技巧来做题，平时也应加强练习．
