经济学人443:太空之旅 送我入太空

 　　THE space race between America and the Soviet¹ Union was as much about ideological² one-upmanship as extraterrestrial exploration. A new space race to the moon has an even less lofty goal: sightseeing. Two space-tourism companies are planning rival lunar missions that could see private individuals paying to fly to Earth's nearest celestial³ neighbour.

　　美国和苏联的空间竞争是关于外星探索上谁高人一等的问题。一个新的到月球的竞争有一个更加崇高的目标：旅游观光。两个空间旅游公司计划在月球项目上竞争以使私人个体可以掏钱飞上地球最近的天体邻居。

　　On June 19th Excalibur Almaz, a space company based on the Isle⁴ of Man, a British dependency in the Irish Sea, became the second company-after Space Adventures, an American space-tourism firm-to offer tickets for a commercial moonshot. Both firms are charging $150m a seat, a price that includes months of ground-based training. Neither is offering a descent to the moon's surface-just a lunar fly-by.

　　一个英国支持的位于英国曼岛的神剑在六月19号成为第为继美国空间旅游公司空间探险公司之后第二家空间旅行公司为登月的商业用途提供票。两个公司都要1500万一个座位，包括数月的地上训练。两个公司都不提供降落地面的服务————仅仅是绕月飞行。

　　Whereas the Americans won the first space race, the Russians are favourites for the rematch. Both Excalibur Almaz and Space Adventures are using Russian-made rockets and spacecraft. Space Adventures plans to re-engineer the veteran Soyuz craft that it has used to shuttle seven space tourists up to the International Space Station (ISS). Excalibur Almaz intends to refit two Almaz space stations that were originally made for the Soviet armed forces.

　　鉴于美国赢得了第一次空间竞赛，俄罗斯人热衷于重新开赛。神剑和太空探险两家公司都使用俄罗斯生产的火箭和飞船。空间探险公司计划重新设计自身的联盟号宇宙飞船，该飞船曾经把7位旅客送进国际航空站。神剑公司倾向于使用重新整修的2号钻石空间站，该站由以前的苏联军队建造。

　　The space-tourism business is famously long on hype but rather short, so far, on results. And both firms face big engineering challenges, to put it mildly. The easier task probably falls to Space Adventures, whose well-tested Soyuzcapsules-which have been flying, in one form or another, since the 1960s-require a beefier communications system, larger portholes (everyone wants a window seat, after all) and a better heat shield for re-entry. A separate booster rocket will be necessary to break the craft out of Earth orbit.

　　到目前为止，空间旅游已经大力宣传了很长时间，但是实际上刚刚开始。两个公司都面临着巨大的工程挑战，使他们抓狂。比较简单的任务可能降落在空间探险公司身上，其调试良好的联盟号飞船自从20世纪60年代以来已经以一种形式或另一种形式飞过——仅仅需要加装强大的制动装置，大的舷窗（毕竟每个人都想坐在离窗户近的地方）另外为重新进入加装好的隔热层。助推火箭分离器需要有强大的推力使航天器脱离地球轨道。

　　Excalibur Almaz's bulky space stations will need a lot more work to convert into lunar spacecraft. The first step will be to attach engines. The company plans to use ion thrusters, a high-tech⁵ propulsion system in which propellant is ejected using an electric field. Such motors are extremely efficient, and can be powered from a station's solar panels. But they generate little thrust, meaning that Excalibur Almaz's mission will take at least six months, compared with just six days for Space Adventures' chemical-powered craft. In fact, the low-energy trajectory⁶ planned by Excalibur Almaz will take its crew members farther from the Earth than any other humans have been.

　　神剑的庞大空间站需要更多的工作使其成为旅月航天器。第一步将需要安装引擎。公司计划使用例子推动器，这是一种高科技的推动系统其推动剂是一种电场。这种发动机效率非常高，并且可以从空间站太阳能电极板得到能量。但是他们进展缓慢，意思是神剑的使命可能至少推迟6个月，相比于空间探索公司仅仅需要6天就能加注的化学推动剂飞船。事实上，神剑计划的低能量轨道将能把它的工作人员送到离地球比以前所有人都远的地方。

　　A journey that long would be risky⁷. One danger is from unpredictable and potentially deadly solar flares⁸, giant releases of stellar energy that would bombard the craft with radiation and fry its occupants. To protect its passengers, the company plans to build an internal "storm shelter" that uses the spacecraft's water supplies to absorb radiation.

　　长距离的旅行将很危险。危险之一来自不可预定和可能的致命的太阳耀斑，恒星能量的巨大释放将用射线炸毁飞船并且烧焦乘客。为了保护乘客，该公司计划建立内部"风暴掩体"用飞船的供水系统来吸收射线。

　　Neither firm will start refitting its spacecraft, a process expected to take around three years, until it has sold all the seats on its maiden⁹ flights (two for Space Adventures, three for Excalibur Almaz). The companies are marketing¹⁰ their lunar missions to the same high-tech entrepreneurs and ultra-rich thrill-seekers who have snapped up tourist visits to the ISS and suborbital joyrides-long planned, but yet to fly-with firms such as Virgin¹¹ Galactic.

　　这一计划预计需要三年的时间，两个公司都将不重新修理飞船知道其卖掉所有的处女飞行的座位（两个太空研究者，三个旅行者），两公司想类似的高科技公司和富有刺激性的富人们宣传市场，这些人把计划很长时间但是没有实施的去国际空间站和轨道兜风的旅游票一抢而空比如Virgin Galactic公司。

　　Space Adventures already claims to have sold one ticket. That has led Excalibur Almaz to sweeten its deal by offering equity¹² in the company to its first paying passengers. But filling seats may prove tricky¹³. Not only is the asking price more than seven times the $20m cost of a jaunt¹⁴ to the ISS, it also requires months of demanding physical and psychological training. And even if the engineering can be perfected, it remains¹⁵ to be seen how many daredevil billionaires will be willing to spend months cooped up in a metal tube eating freeze-dried food.

　　空间探索公司已经声明卖出一张票。这促使神剑公司推出为首位付款游客提供装备的优惠政策。但是填充座位可能很棘手。这不仅仅需要超过到达空间站所需200万美元七倍的价格，还需要花费数月来进行体力和心理的锻炼。并且即使发动机非常好，还需要看有多少不怕死的亿万富翁将希望花费数月被关闭在金属的容器内吃着冰冷干燥的食物。

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

3 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

4 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

5 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

6 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

7 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

8 flares   

n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开

参考例句：

• The side of a ship flares from the keel to the deck. 船舷从龙骨向甲板外倾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation. 他是火爆性子，一点就着。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

10 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

11 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

12 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

13 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

14 jaunt   

v.短程旅游；n.游览

参考例句：

• They are off for a day's jaunt to the beach.他们出去到海边玩一天。
• They jaunt about quite a lot,especially during the summer.他们常常到处闲逛，夏天更是如此。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。