理工类英语补充短文（二）

Tests Show Women Suited for Space Travel
　 
Between 1977 and 1981, three groups of American woman, ___(1)___, between the age of 35 and 65, were given month-long tests to determine how they would respond to conditions resembling those aboard the space shuttle.
　　Though ___(2)___, the women were volunteers and the pay was barely above the minimum wage. They were not allowed ___(3)____ during the tests, and they were expected to tolerate each other’s company at close quarters for the entire period. Among other things they had to stand pressure three times the force of gravity and carry out both physical and mental tasks __(4)__. At the end of ten days, they had to spend a further twenty days absolutely confined to bed, during which time they suffered backaches and other discomforts, and when they were finally allowed up, the more physically active women were especially subject to pains due to a slight calcium loss.
　　Results of the tests suggest that women will have significant advantages over men in space. They need less food and les oxygen and they stand up to radiation better. Men’s advantages __(5)__, meanwhile, are virtually wiped out by the zero-gravity condition in space.
EXERCISE:
A): to smoke or drink alcohol
B) carefully selected from among many applicants
C) numbering 27 in all
D) in terms of strength and stamina
E) those who are physically stronger
F) while exhausted from strenuous physical exercise
KEY:C B A F D
Development in Newspaper Organization
　One of the most important developments in newspaper organization during the first part of the twentieth century ______(1)_______, which are known as wire services. Wire-service companies employed reporters, who covered stories all over the world. Their news reports were sent to papers throughout the country by telegraph. The papers paid an annual fee for this service. Wire services continue _______(2)________. Today the major wire services are the Associated Press (AP) and United Press International (UPI). You will frequently find AP or UPI at the beginning of a news story.
　　Newspaper chains and mergers began to appear in the early 1900s. A chain consists of two or more newspapers _______(3)______. A merger involves combining two or more papers into one. During the nineteenth century many cities had more than one competitive independent paper. Today in most cities there are only one or two newspapers, and _______(4)______. Often newspapers in several cities belong to one chain. Papers have combined ________(5)_______. Chains and mergers have cut down production costs and brought the advantages of big-business methods to the newspaper industry.
A. to play an important role in newspaper operations
B. was the growth of telegraph services
C. and they usually enjoy great prestige
D. they are usually operated by a single owner
E. in order to survive under the pressure of rising costs
F. owned by a single person or organization
KEY: BAFDE