【小题1】(bear) in a poor family, Wilma Rudolph had a difficult start of her life When she was four years old, a serious【小题2】(ill) made her left leg useless. She had to wear an iron leg brace (支架). Yet she was fortunate in having a mother 【小题3】gave her lots of encouragement.

At nine years of age, she took【小题4】first step which was impossible according to the doctors. Then she got the dream that she would like to be the world’s greatest woman runner. At the age of 13, she entered a race. But she came in last in every race. Everyone advised her【小题5】(stop). However, one day, she came in next to last. And then one day, she got the first place in a race! From then on, Wilma Rudolph 【小题6】(win) every race that she entered.

Years【小题7】(late), Wilma went to Tennessee State University, where she met Ed Temple, a great coach. He trained her so well【小题8】in 1960 she went to the Olympic Games in Room. There she beat a German girl Jutta Heine, the【小题9】(great) woman runner of the day. That day Wilma made history as she became the first woman who had won three gold【小题10】(medal) in the same Olympic Games.

According to legend, Wan Hu, a Chinese astronaut, was crazy about the stars and had a rather bold (大胆的) plan to get 【小题1】 (he) closer to them. He set out to become the world’s first astronaut. Picking up on China’s then developed technology in rocketry, he took up the task of building a spaceship.

Wan Hu’s pioneering spacecraft 【小题2】 (build) around a strong chair, two kites and forty-seven of the largest gunpowder- filled rockets. 【小题3】 the launch day, Wan Hu strapped (用绳子系) himself in the chair and called upon his forty-seven servants, each armed with a flaming torch, 【小题4】 ( light) the forty-seven fuses (导火线).

Their job done, the servants speedily ran to a safe 【小题5】 (distant) and waited nervously. 【小题6】 came next was a loud noise. When the smoke eventually cleared, Wan Hu, the Chinese astronaut, and his chair were nowhere to be seen. Whether Wan Hu 【小题7】 (actual) made it or not has never been made clear.

Despite (尽管) the fact 【小题8】 the story is considered untrue by some people today, Wan Hu found his place in Chinese popular culture.

At the beginning of the 21st century, China finally launched a man into space and turned Wan Hu’s centuries-old dream into 【小题9】 (real). In 2003, Yang Liwei was launched aboard Shenzhou 5, 【小题10】 (become) the first person sent into space by the Chinese space program.

Born in China in 1911, Qian Xuesen majored in railroad engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University but switched to aeronautics (航空学) in 1935 【小题1】he came to the United States to pursue graduate studies.

He 【小题2】(earn) a master’s degree in 1936 from MIT and then a PhD in 1939. Shortly thereafter, he worked in America and played a contributing role in the American space program. In 1950, 【小题3】(he) request to return to China was denied.【小题4】(eventual), he left with his family for China in 1955 as a result of diplomatic negotiations(协商) in Geneva. Upon his return to China, Qian 【小题5】(appoint) as director of the Institute of Mechanics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he helped China conduct the first test of an atomic bomb 【小题6】(deliver) by a medium-range missile in 1966. Furthermore, he contributed 【小题7】China launching its first satellite in 1970.

In his later years, Qian was also honoured in China for 【小题8】(provide) critical support for the human space flight program when it faced cutbacks. He was especially influential in his 【小题9】(promote) of systems engineering in aerospace (航天航空工业) projects and other areas until his death in 2009. Qian was regarded as 【小题10】pioneering figure in the history of China’s space program.