21世紀大學英語讀寫教程第3冊第9單元課文解讀
導語：預計從火星發(fā)現(xiàn)可能的生命形式將會恢復公眾對太空探索的興趣，但公共支持國際空間的努力是必要的，因為政治家似乎決心推動它。下面是一篇講述這方面內(nèi)容的英語課文，歡迎大家來學習。
Pre-reading Activities
1. As you listen to the conversation, note down the answers to the following questions:
What is the destination of the mission that's just been approved? _____
What is the mission expected to cost? ______
Who lives in that neighborhood? ______
What does the speaker think would be a better use for the money? _____
2. Do you know the answer to the last question asked in the dialog?
Space Politics
It is expected that the discovery of possible life-forms from the planet Mars will revive public interest in space exploration. But is public support for the international space effort necessary, given that politicians seem determined to press ahead with it anyway?
The race to the moon, which was won by the Americans in 1969, was driven almost entirely by politics. The rivalry between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union meant that the two countries were determined to be the first to put a man on the moon. President John F. Kennedy promised that America would win this race and, as one of the most popular presidents in American history, he inspired a nation to think of space exploration as the ultimate test of America's superiority over her Soviet enemy.
America's success as the first nation to reach the moon, coupled with continuing Cold War rivalry, created much public support for the space programme and Washington was able to fund many more missions. During the 1970s, the moon was visited again, unmanned missions were sent to Mars and, for the first time, man-made craft were put on paths that would take them out of the solar system.
But, by the 1980s, public support for space exploration was declining. It faded almost entirely after the Challenger space shuttle disaster of 1986, and the U.S. government was under pressure to scale back its space programme. Politicians reacted by demanding cuts in spending, which put the future of many space missions in doubt.
In Russia, funding was also a problem. The end of the Soviet Union meant the country could no longer afford to sustain its space programme. In fact, spending became so tight that there was often not enough money to bring home astronauts working on the country's Mir space station.
But, in the last few years, politicians seem to have changed their attitude to space exploration, even though there is little evidence that the public have. New missions to Mars are planned, and plenty of money is being spent on other extraterrestrial activities. Last year, for instance, the U.S. spent more on space research and development than on any other area of research, except health and the military.
And spending is likely to increase in the coming years: currently, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is planning a number of missions to Mars, and it is pressing ahead with the most expensive space-exploration project ever undertaken — the International Space Station. (Three years ago, this project — a collaboration between the U.S., Canada, Russia, Europe and Japan — came within one vote of being canceled by the American House of Representatives.)
And the Americans are not the only ones spending huge sums on space exploration. The Europeans, Canadians and Japanese are expected to spend $9 billion on their share of the space station, and Europe has already spent huge sums developing its Ariane rockets, the most recent of which — Ariane 5 — blew up shortly after it was launched. The Russians, too, claim they are committed to supporting the International Space Station — an expense that country seems ill able to afford.
So, if there is little public support for space exploration, where does the impetus to fund these activities come from? Promoting the cause of science is one possible answer. But recently there has been considerable controversy over whether projects like the International Space Station have enough scientific value to merit the billions that have been and will be spent on it.
NASA's reasons for building the space station are "to develop new materials [and] technologies that will have immediate, practical applications". However, for such research to be worthwhile, NASA needs private companies to develop (and help pay for) extraterrestrial research. Unfortunately, the cost of sending anything into orbit is so high that most private companies favour improving techniques on Earth. Significantly, NASA has so far not managed to get any substantial private investment to manufacture products in space.
The result is that the station seems, at present, to have only one concrete objective: research into how people can live and work safely and efficiently in space. But how important is this research? And can it possibly justify the cost of this huge orbiting laboratory?
The only purpose of studying how humans live and work in space would be to prepare for long-term space missions. At present, none are planned, and this seems unlikely to change in the near future. The main reasons for this are the costs. A manned mission to our nearest planetary neighbour Mars, for example, would cost around $400 billion. This is $50 billion more than Russia's present Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
And even if one accepts that this research is important, can it justify building a space station the size of 14 tennis courts, at a cost which is eventually expected to exceed $100 billion? Given the shortage of funds in many other areas of scientific research, it would seem not.
So why build it? There are good political reasons for doing so. It will provide work for the thousands of unemployed defence workers who depended on the Cold War for their jobs, and who make up a substantial proportion of voters in both Russia and the U.S. It will also help keep American/Russian ties strong — another reason NASA believes the space station is a good investment. (Critics argue that there are far cheaper ways to keep the U.S. and Russia on good terms.)
And then there is the legacy of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall may have fallen, but NASA and the U.S. government still seem to believe in the ideal of one nation's superiority in space. Indeed, NASA describes the space station as "a powerful symbol of U.S. leadership".
It seems that the world's politicians are caught in a timewarp. They still believe, as they did in the 1960s, that man must conquer space in order to prove he is master of his surroundings. If only it weren't so expensive.
New Words
* rivalry
n. active competition between people 競爭;對抗
craft
n. 1. (pl. unchanged) a boat, ship, aircraft, etc. 小船;船;飛機;飛行器
2. skill and care in doing or making sth. 工藝;手藝
3. a trade or profession requiring skill and care (需要特種手藝的)行業(yè);職業(yè)
4. 詭計;手腕
* shuttle
n. 航天飛機
v. go from one place to another 穿梭往返
extraterrestrial
a. happening, existing or coming from somewhere beyond Earth 地球(或其大氣圈)外的;行星際的;宇宙的
military
a. of or for soldiers or an army 軍事的
n. (the ～ ) soldiers or the army; the armed forces 軍人;軍隊;武裝部隊
aeronautics
n. the scientific study or practice of constructing and flying aircraft 航空學
space exploration
n. 外層空間探索
* collaboration
n. working together with sb., esp. to create or produce sth. 合作，協(xié)作
cancel
vt. order (sth.) to be stopped; make (sth.) no longer valid 取消;廢除
rocket
n. 火箭
vi. move very fast; rise quickly and suddenly 飛速前進;猛漲
* impetus
n. a force that encourages a process to develop more quickly 推動力;刺激
controversy
n. fierce argument or disagreement about sth., esp. one that is carried on in public over a long period 爭論;爭議
worthwhile
a. worth doing; worth the trouble taken 值得做的;值得花費時間(精力)的
orbit
n. a path followed by an object, eg. a spacecraft, round a planet, star, etc. [天]軌道
v. move in orbit round sth. 環(huán)繞(天體的)軌道運行
planetary
a. 行星的`
gross
a. total; whole 總的;毛的
timewarp
n. (in science fiction) a situation in which people or things from one point in time are moved to or trapped in another point in time (科幻作品中)時間異常(或間斷、暫停)
warp
n. 1. a bend or twist 變形;翹曲
2. a fault or abnormality in a person's character 反常心理;乖戾
Phrases and Expressions
press ahead (with sth.)
continue doing a task or pursuing an aim despite difficulties, objections, etc. (不顧困難地)繼續(xù)進行
coupled with
together with 與…一起;連同
scale back
reduce in size 按比例縮減，相應縮減
put sth. in doubt
make sth. uncertain 使某事物不確定
blow up
explode; be destroyed by an explosion 爆炸;炸毀
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
the annual total value of goods produced, and services provided, in a country 國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值
be on good terms
have a good relationship 關(guān)系好
be caught in
be involved in 陷入，卷入
Proper Names
the Soviet Union
蘇聯(lián)(蘇維埃社會主義共和國聯(lián)盟，現(xiàn)已解體為獨聯(lián)體)
John F. Kennedy
約翰·F·肯尼迪(1917—1963，美國第三十五任總統(tǒng)[1961—1963])
the Cold War
a state of hostility between the U.S. and the USSR without actual fighting after World War II (第二次世界大戰(zhàn)后為爭奪世界霸權(quán)的)美蘇冷戰(zhàn)(時期)
the Challenger disaster
explosion of the spaceship "Challenger" in which seven people were killed, including a woman teacher who was the first non-astronaut to be invited on a flight into space 美國“挑戰(zhàn)者”號航天飛機升空后73秒爆炸這一慘劇(1986)
Mir
(前蘇聯(lián)和現(xiàn)俄羅斯的)“和平”號空間站
the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA)
an agency of the U.S. government established to direct and aid civilian research and development in aeronautics and aerospace technology (美國)國家航空和航天局
the International Space Station
(多國合作的)國際空間站
the House of Representatives
(美國)眾議院
Ariane
阿麗亞娜(歐洲航天局研制的火箭名)
the Berlin wall
柏林墻(1961年由東德政府修筑，1900年拆除)
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