Around 50 Mars missions have been launched globally so far since 1960. Yet more than half of them have _______ to reach the planet some 55 million kilometers away from the Earth. So after China’s Mars probe, Tianwen-1, was _______ on July 23 last year, there was an _______ wait to learn its progress.

The craft landed _______ on the surface of the planet on Saturday. The news has been met with both _______ and celebration in the country. The landing was _______ exactly as planned, which has made China the latest member of the club of the world’s pioneering _______, and shows that China has _______ the technologies on its own.

It is the can-do spirit that has played a key role in China’s scientific and technological development in recent decades _______ some failures to explore outer space.

China made its early ________ in rocket and space technologies starting from the 1960s ________ the country remained largely a backward agricultural country. ________, the country has made the most of what it had over the past more than six decades, making efforts to move ahead in the aerospace cause.

Late last month, China sent Tianhe into space, ________ a series of launches that will complete the building of the station around 2022.

All these achievements have ________ greatly to the peaceful use of outer space. ________ its Mars mission, China has worked with European partners and others and will help push humankind to travel faster and farther in the future.

Anyone who has ever witnessed the miracle in which infants progress from mewling to “Mama” to “Mine!” knows how critical it is for youngsters to hear normally before they speak their first words. _______, many children who don’t talk by age two turn out to be deaf. The sooner their disability is discovered and _______, the less likely they are to fall behind in the development of important language and social skills. That is why a growing number of hearing specialists (audiologists) and parents are campaigning for _______ screening of newborns for hearing loss.

Their _______ has registered in some powerful ears. To date, 22 states have passed legislation requiring at least partial screening programs. Part of the push stems from _______ in technology that, among other things, allow children as young as two months to be _______ hearing aids. But there are limits to the technology. One thing parents should realize before they start is that the screening tests are far from _______. A bad result doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem.

Audiologists estimate that 3 out of every 1,000 babies are born with some kind of hearing loss. Of those three infants, one is profoundly deaf. About half the time, doctors can identify a possible cause, such as a birth weight less than 5 pounds, or a family history of _______. The rest of the time there is simply no _______ as to why a newborn’s hearing may have been affected.

The screening tests work by introducing a sound into a baby’s ear and then measuring either the ________ of the ear’s internal mechanisms or the electrical activity of the auditory portion of the brain (the auditory brain-stem response test). Just because a baby fails either test, ________, does not mean that there is a hearing problem. A temporary buildup of fluid in the ear canal or excessive noise in the nursery can ________ the results. For this reason, experts say, hospitals should ________ the screening tests for any baby who doesn’t pass the first time before telling the parents to consult an audiologist for more thorough testing.

It is at this stage that things get a bit ________. Though 20 of every 1,000 babies fail the two-step screen, most prove on further examination to be just fine. Is it worth ________ 17 families of perfectly normal children - not to mention asking them to spend several hundred dollars on advanced tests — to identify three infants with hearing loss?

The International Space Station (ISS) is a huge space station. It is being _________ by thousands of people from 16 countries. All these people are trying to find out if humans can one day build _________ in space.

Floating 230 miles above Earth, the International Space Station currently _________ huge building-block project out in space. US space shuttles and Russian rockets have been _________ tools and pieces of the _________ into space to help finish building it. From the beginning of its construction in 1998 to its _________ more than 100 major pieces will be put together to create this amazing space station. When _________, it will be the largest structure ever to fly above Earth. The ISS will be larger than a football field and will weigh about one million pounds.

In addition to helping build the space station, _________ are trying to answer such questions as these: How does space travel affect germs? Does the human body break down food _________ in space? Someday, the station may even serve as a launchpad (发射台) for trips to other __________, such as Mars. Because of its impressive size, the ISS needs a lot of __________. Like other man-made bodies in space, its power comes from the sun. To create solar, energy, large panels (嵌板) are lined with special materials. These materials __________ the sun’s energy and change it into electricity.

So what does it cost to build such a __________ ? It costs over $ 60 billion dollars. __________ this may seem astronomical, it may be a small price to pay for a project that enables some of the world’s finest scientists to work together, exploring space for the world‘s __________.