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Chapter 16 Science General Knowledge (4)
Truck drivers are busy driving big trucks full of fuel that will be loaded into the rocket.Refueling is a very dangerous job, because the fuel is very explosive, and the rocket needs a lot of fuel to complete a long trip.Because the job is so dangerous, rockets are usually not fueled until just before launch.

It's the engineer's job to determine which direction the rocket will go.They map out an aerial path for a rocket, just as you might plan your trip to the Everglades.Engineers have to figure out how fast the rocket will go and how much fuel it needs to carry, and they can do that for them with computers.

Technicians perform technical inspections of the rockets to make sure they are really ready.Other technicians watch the rocket's flight on a screen and check its speed and direction.At a space center, technicians have a lot to do.Many specialists work in the rocket shelter, watching the rocket through special screens, because the rocket shield has no windows.

Construction workers completed many buildings around the space center.Some of them build the link, which is a tower on which the rocket will be inspected.Others move the dock on rails, pushing the rocket to its designated docking area before it launches.The purpose of moving the connecting frame is to prevent it from being burned by the high temperature generated when the rocket is ignited.

Building launch vehicles, satellites, spaceships, it takes a lot of workers, and these things tend to be done in other parts of the country.Then they will transport these things to the space center in big trucks.Once there, they work in teams with other staff.

Launching a rocket requires the joint efforts of many people.Many people are willing to work hard with their brains and hands to make a tough job a little easier.

Exercise
Ⅰ. Choose the correct answer and fill in the blanks.

1.Scientists at the space center study.

Space Children's Road
2.In the rocket launch shelter.

link rocket controller
3.Bracket is a kind of tower used.

build check sell
4.The rocket launch shelter does not.

worker screen windows
5.Launching requires the concerted efforts of many people.

rocket storm tower

6.Rockets carry a lot.

stone star fuel
Ⅱ. Connect the staff and their work content with lines.

1.scientist a.transportation fuel

2.truck driver b.Draw a path for the rocket
3.engineerc.Observe the rocket through the screen
4.Meteorologist d.Build towers and buildings

5.technical staff e.research space

6.Support worker f.Observing the storm

7.construction workers g.Move the connecting frame to the designated place

Ⅰ．1．space　2．controls　3．checked　4．windows　5．rocket
6. fuel
Ⅱ．1．e　2．a　3．b　4．f　5．c　6．g　7．d
05 The Zodiac Zodiac signs

The zodiac is a band of constellations that the Sun travels through in its annual trip around the sky. As the Earth travels around the Sun once a year, it looks like the Sun travels around the sky. The Sun travels through the 13 constellations, not just the 12 most people think of, and these are the constellations of the zodiac. The Moon and planets also stay within this band most of the time. The constellations of the zodiac are well known because the Sun, Moon, and planets travel through them , but many of them are minor constellations that contain no bright stars.
Have you ever heard the song “The Age of Aquarius”? Well, the true Age of Aquarius will begin in about 600 years, when, for the first time, the Sun will be in Aquarius on the first day of spring.
Aries
Aries is a large constellation with only three medium-bright stars in its northern part. These three stars form a simple pattern that is easy to recognize, but—despite its fame as a member of the zodiac—the constellation is not very interesting to observe . Aries is in the east in the autumn and high overhead in late December and January.
In Sumerian times, these stars were a “day laborer” who plowed a field to plant grain. It has been called a ram since at least the time of the ancient Greeks.
Four thousand years ago, the Earth was oriented so that the Sun was in Aries on the first day of spring, March 22, a day that then was considered the first day of the year. At that time, the Sun's position was called the " first point of Aries.” The Sun is now in Pisces on the first day of spring, but Aries is still called the first constellation of the zodiac in memory of this ancient alignment. When any planet is “visiting” Aries, the planet is brighter than any of the constellation's stars.
Cancer
Cancer is one of the faintest constellations of the zodiac. If it weren't for its membership in the zodiac, few people would have heard of it. It has no bright stars.
Cancer is midway between the major constellations Leo and Gemini. It is in the early evening sky from February through May. In Greek mythology, Cancer was a crab that was sent to bite Hercules. Hercules squashed it easily. Ancient Egyptians saw it as a scarab beetle, the Babylonians may have seen it as a turtle, and on some old star maps it was a lobster!

Pound
Libra is a box of four medium-bright stars to the right of Scorpius, resembling a diamond. It is at its best spot for viewing in the early summer, when it is in the southern sky.
Libra is a set of balance scales that work by balancing two pans hanging from a lever, like the scales of justice seen on court buildings. The Sumerians may have originally called these stars scales because the Sun was in front of these stars on the first day of autumn, when day and night are balanced in length.
Libra is the only constellation in the zodiac that isn't an animal. The stars of Libra were once seen as claws that belonged to Scorpio to the east. If you look at the Scorpion carefully, it is missing its claws. While it may make more sense for Libra's stars to be Scorpion's claws, ancient astronomers who wanted to divide the zodiac into 12 equal parts borrowed these stars to form a separate constellation.
Taurus
Taurus is one of the major constellations of the winter sky. It contains three bright stars and—even more importantly—two very bright star clusters. The Bull is above and to the right of Orion the Hunter, who is fighting the Bull and driving it westward across the sky.
Taurus looks like the front end of a giant bull.
Leo
Leo is a major constellation that is best seen in the springtime. The first appearance of Leo in the evening sky in March announces that spring is coming, and the Lion remains in the evening sky through June. It is one of the few constellations that can be made to look like what it is named after. Leo is Latin for “lion” and is one of the zodiacal constellations. Regulus, Leo's A brightest star, is Latin for “Little King.”

Few of us see lions today except at the zoo, but to ancient Sumerians 5 years ago, lions were familiar predators who ventured down to the river valleys during hot summer days and hunted sheep and goats. These stars have been seen as a lion since those prehistoric days.
Scorpio
The Scorpion, a member of the zodiac, is a major constellation in the summer sky. From the United States, it is low on the southern horizon, where we lose much of its splendid. Far south of the equator, where it passes overhead, it is a magnificent group of bright stars.
Scorpio truly looks like a scorpion, and people have been calling it the Scorpion since prehistoric times—at least 6 years.
Scorpio now has only three stars for stupid claws, but long ago the claws included the stars of Libra, to the right.
In Greek mythology, Scorpio was the enemy of Orion. Orion died from the scorpion's bite. Both he and the scorpion were placed in the sky, but on opposite sides, so one sets while the other rises.
The Milky Way runs through Scorpio. Like Sagittarius, it is filled with star clusters that are visible through binoculars or a small telescope. Two star clusters, M6 and M7, are bright enough to see without binoculars. They lie between the Scorpion's stinger and the western end of Sagittarius.
(End of this chapter)