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A home science experiment recently took the world by storm. Two teens from Toronto, in Canada, sent a Lego man rising above the Earth and captured their tiny astronaut’s trip on film.
Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad, both 17, used a weather balloon to launch their plastic lego model 16 miles above the Earth. This is inside a part of Earth’s atmosphere.
The two teens were inspired by a similar project performed by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The MIT students had launched a weather balloon with a camera into near space and taken many unusual images of the Earth. Mathew and Asad then spent four months figuring out how to launch their own spacecraft into the space.
Traveling to space is expensive for NASA, but Mathew and Asad worked hard to keep their costs down. They bought much of their equipment used and even sewed the Lego man’s parachute (降落伞) by hand. In total, the project cost only $400.
“We had a lot of anxiety on launch day because there were high winds when we were going up，” Mathew told reporters. They had to pump extra helium (氦) into the balloon so that it would rise quickly and avoid being blown too far off course by the strong winds.
The toy astronaut’s journey lasted 97 minutes before the balloon broke and he fell back to Earth. Mathew and Asad then spent two weekends looking for their spacecraft. It had landed 76 miles away from the launch site.
The student scientists are currently finishing up their final year of high school and applying for colleges. They are also looking into more doityourself space projects.
“I guess the sky is not really the limit anymore，” Mathew told reporters. “We never knew we’d get this far. It’s been a lesson for us that hard work pays off.”
【解题导语】 本文主要介绍了两个青少年利用气象气球把他们的玩具乐高人送到太空的过程和结果。
1．By saying “took the world by storm” in the first paragraph, the writer meant the experiment ________．
A．destroyed the world
B．flooded the world
C．fascinated the world
D．managed the world
C 解析：词义猜测题。根据第一段的第二句话可知两个青少年把一个玩具乐高人送入了太空，并把过程拍了下来，因此作者想要表达的是这个试验吸引了世人的目光。
2．Which of the following about the students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is RIGHT?
A．They were examples for Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad.
B．They helped Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad to achieve dream.
C．They launched weather balloon together with Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad.
D．They studied with Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad in the same school.
A 解析：细节理解题。根据文章第三段的第一句话可知选A。
3．How did Mathew and Asad keep their costs down?
A．By sewing the weather balloon themselves.
B．By borrowing spacecraft from the MIT students.
C．By making their spacecraft by hand.
D．By using secondhand equipment.
D 解析：细节理解题。结合文章第四段的第二句话可知他们使用二手的设备来节省费用。
4．What problems did Mathew and Asad have on launch day?
A．They ran out of helium.
B．The wind was too strong.
C．The balloon suddenly broke.
D．Their spacecraft was blown away.
B 解析：细节理解题。根据文章第五段中的“We had a lot of anxiety on launch day because there were high winds when we were going up”可知，在他们进行发射的那天遇到的问题是风比较大。
