The fish eggs, all 200 of them, were settled and ready to go. The ground crew had counted the eggs carefully, and sealed them tightly within a plate filled precisely to the edge with seawater.

The countdown, and then—ignition (点火)! For two full minutes, the precious eggs suffered a violent shaking as the rocket’s engines exploded to life, and then rise to the heavens. These eggs were on their way to low Earth orbit. Next stop: the moon.

Well, they haven’t actually left yet. But after a recent simulation (模拟) designed to re-create the intense shaking of a typical takeoff, researchers in France found that the eggs survived. It’s a crucial discovery in the progress of the Lunar Hatch, a program that aims to determine whether astronauts could successfully raise fish on a future moon base.

Finally, Cyrille Przybyla, an aquaculture (水产养殖) researcher at the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea who led the research, dreams of designing a lunar fish farm that uses water already on the moon to help feed residents of the future Moon Village set to be established by the European Space Agency (ESA).

Przybyla’s hope is to offer lunar residents fresh, inviting, protein-rich fish—not just packets of freeze-dried food. “I proposed the idea to send eggs, not fish, because eggs are very strong,” he says.

Besides, Przybyla suggests there will be other benefits for astronauts who may one day find themselves raising animals in space. “From the psychological point of view, it’s better to have a reminder of Earth–you have a garden; you have a tank with fish,” he says.

Designing self-contained and self-supporting systems for food production beyond Earth will be crucial for future space exploration programs, says Luke Roberson, a researcher at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And he says Przybyla’s study is “a great first step” toward showing that aquaculture is a practical part of that future.

【小题1】What is Paragraph 2 about?

A．An imagination.

B．An experience.

C．An experiment.

D．An adventure.

【小题2】Why do the researchers want to send the eggs to the moon?

A．To offer eggs to astronauts as food.	B．To test whether the eggs are strong.
C．To promote aquaculture on the earth.	D．To see the possibility of raising fish on the moon.

【小题3】What’s the psychological advantage of raising animals in space?

A．It can get rid of loneliness.	B．It diversifies the space food.
C．It gives astronauts something to do.	D．It helps astronauts remember the Earth.

【小题4】What’s Luke Roberson’s attitude to the plan to raise fish on the moon?

A．Doubtful.

B．Favorable.

C．Disapproving.

D．Neutral.