Part I:Writing (30 minutes)
1.阅读经典书籍对人的成长至关重要
2.现在愿意鱼肚经典的人却越来越少,原因是......
3.我们大学生应该怎么做
Part II Reading
Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning ) (15
minutes)
Space
Tourism
Make your reservations
now. The space tourism industry is officially open for business,
and tickets are going for a mere $20 million for a one-week stay in
space. Despite reluctance from National Air and Space
Administration (NASA), Russia made American businessman Dennis Tito
the world's first space tourist. Tito flew into space aboard a
Russian Soyuz rocket that arrived at the International Space
Station (ISS) on April 30,2001. The second space tourist, South
African businessman Mark Shuttle worth, took off aboard the Russian
Soyuz on April 25, 2002, also bound for the
ISS.
Lance Bass of'N Sync was supposed to be the third to make the $20 million trip, but he did not join the three-man crew as they blasted off on October 30,2002, due to lack of payment. Probably the most incredible aspect of this proposed space tour was that NASA approved of it.
These trips are the beginning of what could be a
profitable 21st century industry. There are already several space
tourism companies planning to build suborbital vehicles and orbital
cities within the next two decades. These companies have invested
millions, believing that the space tourism industry is on the verge
of taking off.
In 1997, NASA published a report concluding that selling trips into space to private citizens could be worth billions of dollars. A Japanese report supports these findings, and projects that space tourism could be a $10 billion per year industry within the next two decades. The only obstacles to opening up space to tourists are the space agencies, who are concerned with safety and the development of a reliable, reusable launch vehicle.
Space Accommodations
Russia's Mir space station was supposed to be the
first destination for space tourists. But in March 2001, the
Russian Agency brought Mir down into the Pacific Ocean. As it
turned out, bringing down Mir only temporarily delayed the first
tourist trip into space.
The Mir crash did cancel plans for a new
reality-based game show from NBC, which was going to be called
Destination Mir. The survivor-like TV show was scheduled to air in
fall 2001. Participants on the show were to go through training at
Russia's cosmonaut(宇航员) training center, Star City. Each week,
one of the participants would be eliminated from the show, with the
winner receiving a trip to the Mir space station. The Mir crash has
ruled out NBC's space plants for now. NASA is against beginning
space tourism until the International Space Station is completed in
2006.
Russia in not alone in its interest in space tourism. There are several projects underway to commercialize space travel. Here are a few of the groups that might take tourists to space:
Space Island Group is going to build a ring-shaped,
rotating "commercial space infrastructure(基础结构)."Space Island
says it will build its space city out of of empty NASA
space-shuttle fuel tanks (to start, it should take around 12 or
so), and place it about 400 miles above Earth. The space city will
rotate once per minute to create a gravitational pull one-third as
strong as
Earth's.
According to their vision statement, Space
Adventures plants to "fly tents of thousands of people in space
over the next 10-15 years and beyond, around the moon, and back,
from spaceports both on Earth and in space, to and form private
space stations, and aboard dozens of different
vehicles..."
Even Hilton Hotels has shown interest in the space
tourism industry and the possibility of building or co-funding a
space hotel. However, the company did say that it believes such a
space hotel is 15 to 20 years
away.
Initially, Space tourism will offer simple
accommodations at best. For instance, if the International Space
Station is used as a tourist attraction, guests won't find the
Luxurious surroundings of a hotel room on Earth. It has been
designed for conducting research, not entertainment. However, the
first generation of space hotels should offer tourists a much more
comfortable experience.
In regard to a concept for a space hotel initially
planned by Space Island, such a hotel could offer guests every
convenience they might find at a hotel on Earth, and some they
might not. The small gravitational pull created by the rotating
space city would allow space-tourists and residents to walk around
and function normally within the structure. Everything from running
water to a recycling plant to medical facilities would be possible.
Additionally, space tourists would even be able to take
spacewalks.
Many of these companies believe that they have to offer an extremely enjoyable experience in order for passengers to pay thousands, if not millions, of dollars to ride into space. So will space create another separation between the haves and have-nots?
The Most Expensive
Vacation
Will space be an exotic retreat reserved for only
the wealthy? Or will middle-class folks have a chance to take their
families to space? Make no mistake about it, going to space will be
the most expensive vacation you ever take. Prices right now are in
the tens of millions of dollars. Currently, the only vehicles that
can take you into space are the space shuttle and the Russian
Soyuz, both of which are terribly inefficient. Each spacecraft
requires millions of pounds of fuel to take off into space, which
makes them expensive to launch. One pound of payload (有效栽载重)
costs about $10,000 to put into Earth's
orbit.
NASA and Lockheed Martin are currently developing a single-stage-to-orbit launch space plane, called the Venture Star , that could be launched for about a tenth of what the space shuttle costs to launch. If the Venture Star takes off, the number of people who could afford to take a trip into space would move into the millions.
In 1998, a joint report from NASA and the Space Transportation Association stated that improvements in technology could push fares for space travel as low as $50,000, and possibly down to $20,000 or $10,000 a decade later. The report concluded that at a ticket price of $50,000, there could be 500,000 passengers flying into space each year. While still leaving out many people, these prices would open up space to a tremendous amount of traffic.
Since the beginning of the space race, the general public has said, "Isn't that great-when do I get to go?" Well, our chance might be closer than ever. Within the next 20 Years, space planes could be taking off for the Moon at the same frequency as airplanes flying between New York and Los Angeles.
注意:此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。沪江四六级重新排版
1.Lance Bass wasn't able to go on a tour of space because of health problems
2.Several tourism companies believe space travel is going to be a new profitable industry.
3.The space agencies are reluctant to open up space to tourists.
4.Two Australian billionaires have been placed on the waiting list for entering space as private passengers
5.The prize for the winner in the fall 2001 NBC TV game show would have been ________
6.Hilton Hotels believes it won't be long before it is possible to build a ______________.
7.In order for space tourists to walk around and function normally, it is necessary for the space city to create a ________________.
8.What makes going to space the most expensive vacation is the enormous cost involved in ______.
9.Each year 500,000 space tourists could be flying into space if ticket prices could be lowered to _________.
10. Within the next two decades, __________ could be as common as intercity air travel.