2017考研英語拓展閱讀：中國計劃2036年登月

　　A senior Chinese official announced yet another ambitious plan for the space-faring nation at a press conference on Saturday. PLA Lt. Gen. Zhang Yulin -- who is also deputy commander of the China Manned Space Program -- told reporters that China plans to land an astronaut on the Moon by 2036. This announcement eclipses China’s earlier claims that it will explore the dark side of the moon in 2018 and launch two new space stations (one this year, another in 2022). It already sent a rover to the moon in 2013. The country will reportedly use the next "15 to 20 years", according to Reuters, to build out the necessary infrastructure.

　　周六，中國載人航天工程副總指揮、中央軍委裝備發(fā)展部副部長張育林中將在座談會上宣布了另一個航天項目計劃。他告訴記者，中國計劃在2036年將一位宇航員送上月球。這個計劃比中國早前宣布的2018年探索月球計劃以及發(fā)射兩座新空間站(分別于今年和2022年發(fā)射)的計劃更為宏大。在2013年，中國已經(jīng)發(fā)射了一臺月球探測車。據(jù)報道，中國使用了“下一個15年到20年”來建設必須的基建設施。

　　Specifically, China currently lacks a carrier rocket powerful enough to get a crew to the moon. If they don’t build their own, they’d have to do what the US did after retiring the shuttle program -- that is, ask the Russians for a lift -- or at least get America to spot them a go-round on the SLS. Of course, they’ll also need to invent a lunar module as well as functional spacesuits for the time they’re there.

　　目前中國還缺少登月必需的運載火箭。如果中國無法制造出自己的運載火箭，那么他們只能和美國一樣，在太空飛船項目擱淺后向俄羅斯尋求技術支持，或者是讓美國參與進他們的太空發(fā)射系統(tǒng)項目。當然，他們也需要制造登月艙和特定航天服，為登月做準備。

　　That may sound like a good deal of work but if America could put a man on the moon back in the ’60s in less than a decade -- which might as well have been the stone age by today’s standards -- China, the economic and intellectual powerhouse that it is, shouldn’t have much issue getting their program together in the modern era. That said, unlike NASA and the ESA, China’s space program is notoriously secretive, which means we may not know if they’re even capable of doing it until they actually do it.

　　這聽上去也許是個巨大的工程。但如果美國當年在如今看來是石器時代的六十年代都能夠讓宇航員成功登月，那么作為同時擁有強大經(jīng)濟和人才的現(xiàn)代中國應該能夠解決這些麻煩。和美國國家航空和宇宙航行局和歐洲航天局不同的是，中國的航天項目嚴格保密。這意味著我們在其完成項目之前并不清楚其是否有這種實力。