Section A Directions: In this
section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements.
Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements
in the fewest possible words. Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following
passage. On March 18,1965, Leonov, the Russian
astronaut, walked in outer space for the first time. Several months later, a
similar feat was performed by the first American astronaut. Both of these space
walkers had spent months previous to their flights learning how to control their
movements under the strange conditions which exist in space. Wearing their thick
space suits, they learned to deal with an environment where there is neither
weight nor gravity, neither up nor down. We don’t realize how
much we depend on the earth’s gravity until we are deprived of it. Then our feet
no longer stay on the ground; we float around in the air, the slightest touch
may send us drifting off in the opposite direction. In the
laboratories where astronauts are trained for their journeys, they are subjected
to conditions that resemble those of flight. It takes time for them to prepare
for the great changes that occur in space. When the spaceship leaves tile earth
at tremendous speed, the astronauts feel as if they are being crushed against
the spaceship floor. Later, when they leave the zone of the earth’s gravitation,
they are unable to stay in one place. Simple actions, such as eating and
drinking, become very difficult to perform. You may get an inkling of what the
astronauts have to deal with if you try to drink a glass of water while standing
on your head or while just lying down. Tremendous speeds must be
attained to reach other planets in a reasonable time. If spaceships were
launched from space, the absence of weight Would permit the ships to be launched
with great speed at reduced pressures. To illustrate this point, remember how
strong the wind feels if we are traveling fast in a car, then imagine a car
traveling through an area where there is no wind. The windless condition is
comparable to the condition in outer space.