太空微波炉

周国梅

随着科技的发展，宇航员的食物已经从最初的“牙膏食品”发展到多种营养食物。目前，一款太空微波炉已经问世，这或许会给宇航员的食物带来更大的改变。

1. dough /d/ n. 生面团

2. silicone /slkn/ n. 硅酮

Astronauts on the Inter national Space Station（ISS） will soon test a new oven for making chocolate chip cookies. The goal is to explore the possibility of making freshly baked cookies for space travelers. American company Nanoracks designed and built the oven and helped with organizing the flight to the space station. Hilton DoubleTree hotels supplied the cookie dough the astronauts will use.

In the past， space station crews have created their own pizzas using a thin， flat piece of bread known as flatbread. Astronauts have tried other creative ways to make food， such as creating salads from vegetables grown in the space station. Results have been mixed.

The oven can heat just one cookie at a time. It could be weeks before the astronauts have time to try out the oven. Five unbaked cookies have been in a space station freezer for several weeks. Each is in its own individual clear bag made of silicone. The oven can heat foods to temperatures as high as 177 degrees Celsius. That is twice the temperature of the US and Russian food warmers on the space station. The oven uses electric heating elements.

Mary Murphy is with Nanoracks. Murphy said she expects a baking time of 15 to 20 minutes for each cookie when the oven is heated to about 163 degrees Celsius. She added that the smell of baking cookies should fill the space station each time a cookie comes out of the oven. The oven s first use will be the real test. Without the force of gravity， the astronauts do not know exactly how the cookie will look. Three of the space baked cookies are to be returned to Earth for testing. “Baking doesn t always go according to plan， even on the ground，” said Murphy.

The American space agency NASA has agreements with two companies， Northrop Grumman and SpaceX， to keep the space station supplied.

1. Why will astronauts try out using a new oven on the ISS？

A. To offer enough food for those who travel to space.

B. To test if it s possible to make freshly baked cookies.

C. To ensure people enjoy similar food when in space.

D. To compare the cooking between space and Earth.

2. What can we infer from the third paragraph？

A. It s not easy to make a shaped cookie.

B. Making cookies in space will cost more.

C. The oven can t heat two cookies once.

D. Cookies made in space can stay fresh longer.

3. It is difficult for astronauts to know the shape of the cookie because                  .

A. the baking process of the space cookie remains a secret

B. there is no gravity in space

C. the oven is different from the one people use in daily life

D. there isn t enough information about the cookie s materials

Sentence for writing

She added that the smell of baking cookies should fill the space station each time a cookie comes out of the oven. 她補充说，每次饼干从微波炉中出炉时，烤饼干的味道就会充满太空站。

【信息提取】句中each time用作连词，引导时间状语从句，意为“每次”。

【句式仿写】每次经过国家博物馆时，我总有一种想进去看看的欲望。