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Unit 9
DIALOGUE I
If I Had the Chance to Travel in Space
A: If I had the chance, I would take a trip through the entire solar system. It's been my long-cherished dream since childhood to be able to visit the planets, satellites, comets, and other heavenly bodies in the solar system.
B: I've had the same wild dream for years. If I had the chance, I would first go to the moon, the earth's satellite. Then when I looked back, the earth would look like a big moon hanging in the sky.
A: You wouldn't be the first person to land on the moon, would you?
B: No, but that wouldn't matter. Although I could not leave my "name" there, I would certainly leave my footprints on the moon, anyway.
A: If I had the chance, my first stop would be Venus. It's the brightest planet in the solar system and the one that comes closest to the earth. If I were able to make the trip, I would not only leave my footprints but also our national flag on Venus.
B: You'd better do it now, or this planet will be occupied by creatures from outer space and you won't be allowed to leave even your footprints of fingerprints there.
A: If that should happen, we would live in peace and harmony with outer space creatures. Anyway, Venus is not so far away from the earth and it has no moon. I think it would be strange to see no moon it the sky at night.
B: But you don't see the moon every day from the earth anyway, do you? In my case, I would travel to Jupiter after my trip to the moon. You know Jupiter has eleven moons. Can you imagine seeing eleven moons in the sky at the same time? What a strange sight it would be!
A: Oh, I would go farther than you. Saturn has nine moons and beautiful rings around it, too. Wouldn't that be a rarer sight to see than a mere cluster of eleven moons?
B: Both planets are worth seeing, actually. Let's count in both Jupiter and Saturn on our itinerary. But I will definitely spare Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in my schedule. They are too far away from the earth. Besides, too little is known about them.
A: We'd certainly go to Mars, wouldn't we? It's closer to the earth and better known. I'd go there and explore its canals; and if I were lucky enough, I might meet a couple of Martians.
B: The Martians? I wonder if there are living creatures there. Where else in space could we go?
A: Mercury. Don't forget Mercury. I would be able to break the world's records in the high jump on Mercury and make a name in history. You know, the gravity there is only about a third as strong as it is on the earth.
B: Really. It's very ambitious of us to come up with the idea of touring around the solar system, I wonder if it will happen in three hundred years.
DIALOGUE II
Dialogue:
A: Hello, Bob.
B: Hello, Richard. How are you?
A: Fine, thanks, and you?
B: Not too bad. I'm thinking of going on holiday somewhere next month. I don't know if you've made your holiday plans yet, but if not, perhaps you'd like to come with me.
A: Thanks, that's very kind of you. Where are you planning to go?
B: I thought I might go camping in Scotland. What do you think of that?
A: Fine. Sounds like a good idea. And for how long — a fortnight?
B: Yes. I'm hoping to have two weeks' holiday next month.
A: Good. Well, providing I finish all my work on time, I'll be able to have two weeks' holiday, too.
B: Will Joyce be coming with us?
A: I'm not sure. Maybe. The problem is that she always gets one week's holiday, and of course she can't really afford a holiday this year.
B: Oh, dear! That's a pity! Well, the holiday shouldn't cost very much.
A: Supposing you had a lot of money, Bob, where would you like to go for a holiday?
B: Oh, I don't know. I think I would probably go to America or Japan.
A: If I had a lot of money, and 4 weeks' holiday I would go to Asia, I think, and travel.
B: Yes, that would be fantastic. Anyway, stop dreaming. We're going to Scotland and I hope it doesn't rain.
READING I
How Far Is the Sun from the Earth?
How far is the sun from the earth? This is a question you might have asked yourself ever since you began asking about anything. In fact, for thousands of years astronomers had been asking the same question. But they had no way of getting an accurate answer because the sun was so far, far away. Now with the use of the radio telescope, they are able to give a very accurate answer: the sun is 92,956,000 miles away from the earth.
Can you imagine how far away that is?
The jet airliner today travels at a speed of 700 miles an hour. Imagine that you were flying to the sun in this airliner. You could make no stops for rest, nor for gas or oil, because there would be no place for you to stop. You would fly day and night at such a speed. Yet by the time you arrived, fifteen years would have passed.
The electric train can travel as fast as 110 miles an hour. If a railway could be built on a sunbeam, it would take the train nearly 100 years to reach the sun. You would get very, very tired even if you lived long enough to finish the journey.
The aircraft carrier is one of the fastest warships, having a speed of about forty miles per hour. If the ship could sail through space, it would take more than 200 years for her to get to the sun. A little over two hundred years ago America won her independence from Britain. Suppose someone had set off to the sun in this ship when George Washington became President of the United States. Now after traveling all these years, he would still have a long journey before him.
Suppose you lived with your parents in New York and you wanted to visit your grandmother in Philadelphia. You would be on the train for nearly an hour and a half. If you took a million trips to your grandmother's, you would have traveled as far as from the earth to the sun.
What a long way it is to the sun! Have you ever thought that the sun was as far away from us as that?
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