注释：
1. Hyper: 构词词素，意思是：超，极度的；例如：hypersonic (超音速)，hyper text （超文本），hyperactive（极度活跃）。
2. Hyper-X：美国国家航空和宇宙航行局进行了多年的超音速飞机研究项目（Hyper X Program）中的一架实验飞机。
3. scramjet：该词由三个词素缩略而成：s(upersonic超音速)，c(ombustion：燃烧) 和 ramjet (喷气引擎)，即，一种喷气式飞机发动机，设计用于极超音速飞行，燃料在飞机产生的极超音速气流中燃烧。
4. Ann Arbor：美国密歇根州（Michigan）的一个城市，华盛顿郡郡政府所在地，因密歇根大学而闻名。
5. NASA：是National Aeronautics and Space Administration的缩写, 中文译名是：(美国) 国家航空和宇宙航行局。
练习：
1. The Hyper X broke the record because
A) It was the first air-breathing jet plane.
B) It flew along the equator.
C) It flew at speeds smaller than five times the speed of sound.
D) It traveled at a supersonic speed.
2. What kind of an engine did the Hyper X use?
A) A jet engine that gets oxygen from the air.
B) A scramjet engine that doesn’t carry its own oxygen supply.
C) A rocket engine that carries its own supply of oxygen.
D) A jet engine that uses no oxygen.
3. What is NOT true about the scramjet engine?
A) It goes slower than a rocket.
B) It extracts oxygen from the air that flows through the engine.
C) It works only at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound.
D) It doesn’t carry its own oxygen supply.
4. What did Werner J. A. Dahm of the University of Michigan say about the Hyper X test flight?
A) It indicated the birth of a very fast airplane.
B) It was self-powered, so it lasted only 11 seconds.
C) It can transport cargo quickly and cheaply to the brink of space
D) It is a major milestone in the journey of making a new type of very fast airplanes
5. What has NASA planned to do?
A) To make another 11-second hypersonic flight at 10 times the speed of the sound.
B) To make three more Hyper X experiments.
C) To retest the aircraft that is left.
D) To make the aircraft fly higher and longer.
答案与题解：
1. C Hyper X之所以打破记录是因为它的飞行速度是音速的7倍。它不是第一架空气喷气式飞机，也不是第一架超音速飞机，所以A和D都不对。Hyper X的试飞并未绕赤道飞行，所以B也是错误的选择。
2. B 第四段讲了三种发动机的氧气来源：喷气式发动机是从空气中汲取氧气，火箭发动机必须自携氧气，而超音速冲压喷气发动机则不必自携氧气，而这正是Hyper X使用的发动机装置。
3. A 根据第五段内容，B、C、D都是正确的说法。第四段最后一句告诉我们，A的说法是不正确的。
4. D 文章的第六段中，密歇根大学的研究人员Werner J. A. Dahm 说，Hyper X的试飞成功只是研制一种新式快速飞机过程中的一个里程碑 （a major milestone on the way to a new breed of very fast airplanes），而不是新型飞机的诞生。所以，D是正确选择，A是错误选择。B也不是Werner J. A. Dahm想要表达的意思，C是其它工程师而不是Werner J. A. Dahm说的话。
5. A 答案可在最后一段找到。
