Read the passage carefully , then choose the correct answer
The Space Race
In 1957, Russia launched a small metal ball, Sputnik, into space. As it circled the Earth, it did nothing but send a simple radio message back to Earth. That message, however, was enough to frighten the Americans badly. The Russians were winning the space race. But what was the space race? Very simply, it was a race to see which country could get into space first. Both Russia and the United States wanted to win very much. With Sputnik, Russia won the first part of the race, but the next stage, putting a man into space, was far more important to both countries. The American program to put a man into space was the Mercury program. The Americans chose Alan Shepard, a Navy test pilot, to be their first astronaut. They called his mission Mercury Freedom 7. Shepard went through months of training for his mission. Meanwhile, the engineers and scientists tested every part of his spaceship to make sure it was safe. Finally, in 1961, after the Americans safely sent a monkey into space, they were ready to send Shepard. In the last week of February, Shepard’s Redstone rocket was on the launch pad, but a last minute problem meant that they could not launch. They rescheduled the launch for May 5. Then on April 12, the Americans received terrible news. Yuri Gagarin, a Russian, was in space. The Russians had beaten the Americans again.
15. According to paragraph 1, the term space race is best explained as ______ .
16. The word They in the passage refers to ______ .
17. According to paragraph 3, why did the Americans lose the second part of the space race?
18. It can be inferred from the passage that the Americans sent a monkey into space in order to ______ .
19. According to the passage, when did the first human go into space?
20. The word rescheduled in the passage is closest in meaning to ______ .
