2024年3月17日发(作者：)

Reading and Thinking

SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER

太空：最后的边境

“Are we alone? What’s out there?” Looking up at the stars, people have always

wanted to learn more about space, and scientists work hard to find answers. They make

vehicles to carry brave people into space to find out the secrets of the universe. They

also really wish to discover other planets that are suitable enough to support life.

“我们是否孤独？太空以外是什么？” 仰望星空，人们一直想更多地了解太

空，科学家们也在努力寻找答案。他们制造运载勇敢的人儿进入太空的交通工

具来探索宇宙的秘密。他们也非常希望发现其他适合生命存在的行星。

Before the mid-20th century, most people felt travelling into space was an

impossible dream. However, some scientists were determined to help humans realise

their dream to explore space. After many experiments, they succeeded in making

rockets that could escape Earth’s gravity. On 4 October 1957, the Sputnik 1 satellite

was lunched by the USSR and successfully orbited around Earth. Afterwards, the

USSR focused on sending people into space, and on 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin

became the first person in the world to go into space. Over eight years later, on 20 July

1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, famously saying,

“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” Following this, many

more goals were achieved. For example, America’s NASA space agency launched

Voyager 1 on 5 September 1977 to study deep space, and it still transmits data today.

在20世纪中叶之前，大多数人都认为进入太空是不可能实现的梦想。然

而，一些科学家决意要帮助人类实现探索太空的梦想。经过多次实验，他们成

功制造出能逃脱地球引力的火箭。1957年10月4日，苏联发射了人造卫星“旅

伴一号”，并成功环绕地球运行。此后，苏联将重点放在将人类送入太空，

1961年4月12日，尤里·加加林成为世界上第一个进入太空的人。八年后的

1969年7月20日，美国宇航员尼尔·阿姆斯特朗登上月球，他说过一句名言：

“对一个人来说，这是一小步；对于人类来说，这是一次巨大飞跃。”在此之

后，又实现了更多的目标。例如，国家航空与航天局于1977年9月5日发射了

“旅行者一号”，用于研究外太空，如今它仍在传输数据。

Although scientists try to make sure nothing goes wrong, accidents can still

happen. All the astronauts on the USSR’s Soyuz 11 and America’s Challenger died

during their missions. These disasters made everyone sad and disappointed , but the

desire to explore the universe never died. This is because people believe in the

importance of carrying on space exploration despite the huge risks. An example of this

ongoing work is the International Space Station. It orbits Earth and has astronauts from

different countries on board, providing a continuous human presence in space.

尽管科学家努力确保万无一失，但是意外还是可能发生。苏联“联盟11号”

和美国“挑战者”号航天飞机上的所有宇航员都在执行任务时死亡。这些灾难让

每个人都感到悲伤和失望，但是探索宇宙的渴望却从未停止过。是因为人们坚

信太空探索的重要性，哪怕面临巨大的风险。仍在工作的一个例子是国际空间

站。它绕地球运转，并有来自不同国家的宇航员在宇宙飞船上，为太空提供了

持续的人类存在。

China’s space programme started later than those of Russia and the US, but it has

made great progress in a short time. China became the third country in the world to