out of this world experience

\”all right, everyone, let\'s settle down a bit,\” said mr. singh, addressing his class of excited eight-graders. \”we have ms. reba farrow here with us today. ms. farrow is an astronaut who is a veteran of three space flights, and she\'s here to answer your questions.\” he turned to the woman seated in the chair next to his desk. \”ms. farrow, we\'re thrilled to have you here. the kids have been talking about nothing else for days,\” he confessed.

ms. farrow got up and faced the class. \”i don\'t know if i\'ve ever had such anticipation for one of my visits before! i\'ll do my best to live up to your expectations,\” she added. \”as mr. singh mentioned, i\'ve participated in three flights into space. my undergraduate degree (n. 本科學位) is in biology, and i have a phd (n. 博士學位) in biochemistry. i\'ve been fascinated by space ever since i was a little girl and first learned, during a library story time, that humans had walked on the moon. on my next trip into space, i\'ll be spending six months on the international space station,\” ms. farrow paused and sipped from a glass of water on the desk. \”so, tell me--what are your questions about space or being an astronaut\”

hands quickly shot up across that classroom. ms. farrow pointed to a girl in the back of the class with a ponytail (n. 馬尾辮). \”what should you study in college if you want to be an astronaut\” she asked.

\”you should study whatever you most enjoy,\” responded ms. farrow, \”because that will make you a passionate and hard worker. there is no one single field of study for astronauts, and in fact, a crew is often made up of people with fairly different backgrounds. it\'s helpful to have folks with various areas of expertise (n. 專長), so my advice is to study technology, engineering, math, chemistry--whatever field you excel in.\”

ms. farrow smiled as hands eagerly extended back into the air. \”what was the most interesting or amazing or surprising part about going into space\” asked micah reynolds.

\”walking in space for the first time was one of the greatest, most memorable moments of my life,\” said ms. farrow thoughtfully. \”the absolute immensity (n. 巨大) of space is almost overwhelming,\” she added, \”and the amazing progress that humans have made to send us there makes me enormously proud.\”

\”do you think that there are other plas with intelligent life\” asked kristopher.

\”i\'m asked that question probably more than any other,\” replied ms. farrow, \”although it\'s one that i obviously have no concrete answer for. the short answer is yes, i do believe that intelligent life exists on other plas. based on the size of the universe and the vast (adj. 廣闊的) number of stars, it seems a bit arrogant (adj. 傲慢的) to me to think that our sun and pla earth are the only ones that can support life.\”

ms. farrow gestured to a girl near the window, and lina cleared her throat. \”do you have to go through any special medical tests before you van bee an astronaut\” she asked.

ms. farrow nodded, \”yes, that\'s a fairly important part of the process. it would really be quite a crisis if an astronaut had a heart attack in space or suffered a seizure or a stroke. because ess to medical treatment is so limited, nasa does its best to insure that only people with no serious medical issues travel into space. in addition, the mere fact of being in space is hard on your body. because of the lack of gravity, you get less blood to your calves (n. 小腿) and feet, your bones can lose calcium. even depression van set in during long missions.\”

\”i\'m going to stop you there,\” said mr. singh, waving one hand at the students who groaned. \”we can talk a little more with ms. farrow following lunch. i like your thoughtful question,\” he added. \”just hold on to them for about 45 minutes!\”

問題:

1. ording to ms. farrow, what should you study in college if you want to bee an astronaut

2. who is the protagonist in this story

3. ording to the second line of the dialogue in paragraph 6, what does this line tell you about ms. farrow

4. this selection is written almost as an interview with ms. farrow. did the author\'s choice of style work for this story

5. in paragraph 8, ms. farrow says, \”it seems a bit arrogant to me to think that our sun and pla earth are the only ones that can support life.\” what do you think she means by this