On Monday, China launched Mengtian, the last part of its Tiangong Space Station. After a 13-hour trip, Mengtian got together with the space station on Tuesday morning. Mengtian was launched from Hainan Island by a large rocket, a Long March 5B.
Back to 2011, China wasn't allowed (允许) to use the International Space Station, so China worked hard to build its own space station, called Tiangong. Last year, the launching of the three parts of Tiangong began. The first and most important part was launched in April 2021. It has the energy and working centre as well as the living area for the scientists in space. Then, in July 2022, China launched a lab cabin (实验舱) called “Wentian”. This time, the new part, Mengtian is also made as a lab cabin with 8 rooms for experiments (实验).
With Mengtian, scientists can do experiments outside the station by operating a machine arm. They can learn more about space. One of the first things they will do on Mengtian is to test how plants grow in space.
At the moment, there are three scientists on the Tiangong. They’ll return to Earth in December. But they may work with three new scientists who will arrive later. Tiangong is now large enough for six people to live and work.
China’s space station will also work with the European space scientists on some experiments on the Mengtian. China says that one day, foreign scientists will also be able to visit Tiangong.
【小题1】When did China launch Mengtian?| A．On October 31st. | B．On November 2nd. | C．On November 3rd. | D．On November 4th. |
| A．2. | B．4. | C．6. | D．8. |
| A．Riding. | B．Using. | C．Teaching. | D．Catching. |
a. China launched Mengtian.
b. China launched the first lab cabin.
c. Scientists will test how plants grow in space.
d. China launched the main part of Tiangong.
e. China couldn't use the International Space Station.
| A．e-d-b-a-c | B．e-a-d-b-c | C．a-d-b-c-e | D．a-c-e-b-d |
| A．poster | B．guide | C．piece of news | D．story |
