IX. Choose the correct answers to complete the passage.
SPACE TOURISM
Make your reservations now. The space tourism industry is (1) _______ open for business, and tickets are going for a mere $20 million for a one-week stay in space. Despite (2) _______ from NASA, Russia made American businessman Dennis Tito the world’s first space tourist. Tito flew into space aboard a Russian Soyuz (3) _______ that arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on April 30, 2001. The second space tourist, South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth, took (4) _______ aboard the Russian Soyuz on April 25,2002, also (5) _______ for the ISS. Greg Olsen, an American businessman, became tourist number three to the ISS on October 1, 2005.
On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari, a telecommunications entrepreneur, became the first female space tourist and the fourth space tourist (6) _______ . She was also the first person of Iranian descent to make (7) _______ into space. Charles Simonyi, a software architect, became the fifth space tourist on April 7,2007.
These trips are the beginning of (8) _______ could be a lucrative 21st century industry. There are already several space tourism companies planning to build suborbital vehicles and orbital cities within the next two decades. These companies have (9) _______ millions, believing that the space tourism industry is on the (10) _______ of taking off.
1. a. immediately b. officially c. formally d. definitely
2. a. acceptance b. reluctance c. insistence d. decision
3. a. launcher b. satellite c. rocket d. missile
4. a. in b. on c. over d. off
5. a. head b. make c. direct d. bound
6. a. thoroughly b. overall c. general d. together
7. a. it b. her c. way d. sense
8. a. when b. what c. which d. how
9. a. invented b. raised c. invested d. paid
10. a. verge b. border c. line d. strip