第10章 Lesson 10 The Space Race

As World War II. drew to a close, The United States and The Soviet Union embarked on a new conflict — the Cold War. This was a non-military conflict in which each country tried to prove that it had a superior technology and economic system. However, the biggest part of the Cold War was humanity's attempts to make it into space.

The Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into space on October 4, 1957. It was named Sputnik and was unexpected by the Americans, who took it as a challenge. The US launched its first satellite a year later, and it was then that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created.

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 2, which was the first space probe to reach the Moon. After this, it became the goal of both countries to send a man into space. The US was close to doing so, but again the Soviets beat them to it, and in April, 1961, The Soviet Union launched Vostok I, making Yuri Gagarin, the first person to orbit Earth.

The US began a new project called Project Apollo, with the goal of putting a man on the Moon. However, Project Apollo was very expensive — 34000 NASA employees and 375000 university contractors needed to be paid. Eventually, however, the time and money paid off. In December of 1968, Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon. And seven months later, in Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon. The US had won the space race!

I. Word List

conflict: argument, fight

superior: better

probe: to explore

II. Opposites—Find the opposites to these words in the reading.

1. inferior - s _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2. last - f _ _ _ _

3. far away - c _ _ _ _

4. real - a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

5. cheap - e _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

III. Answer the following questions.

1. How was the Cold War different from other wars?

___________________________________________________________.

2. How did the US win the Cold War?

___________________________________________________________.

3. What did the Soviet Union do faster than the US?

___________________________________________________________.

4. Why did the Cold War end?

___________________________________________________________.

5. Would you like to visit the Moon? Why or why not?

___________________________________________________________.

IV. True or False—Read these sentences carefully—Write T (true) or F (false) for each one.

___ 1. Neil Armstrong was the first person in space.

___ 2. A lot of people died in the Cold War.

___ 3. Apollo 8 landed on the Moon.

___ 4. Apollo 11 came after Apollo 8

___ 5. Sputnik orbited the Moon.