经济学人精读|未来太空五十年

本文节选自《经济学人》2019.07.20期的一篇文章，讲述了未来50年，太空技术所带来的发展

本文共节选3段，建议大家先自主阅读原文，再学习精读笔记。

文末会总结此次学习写作可以使用的词句，读者也可自己总结。会定期将内容进行总结，做成word分享，希望大家也能坚持学习

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The moment when, 50 years ago, Neil Armstrong planted his foot on the surface of the Mooninspired awe, pride and wonder around the world. This newspaper argued that “man, from this day on, can go wheresoever in the universe his mind wills and his ingenuity contrives…to the planets, sooner rather than later, man is now certain to go.” But no. The Moon landing was anaberration, a goal achieved not as an end in itself but as a means of signalling America’s extraordinary capabilities. That point, once made, required no remaking. Only 571 people have been into orbit; and since 1972 no one has ventured much farther into space than Des Moines is from Chicago.

plant one’s foot on the surface of the moon：登上……的表面。plant表示“安放、放置”，plant one’s foot on意为把某人的脚放在……上，在句中的意思即为“登上……”。The surface of the moon即月球表面【地道表达】

inspire awe, pride and wonder：inspire有“使产生”的意思，to make sb have a particular feeling or emotion. 如inspire awe, pride and wonder.使人产生敬畏、自豪以及好奇之心【熟词僻义】

This newspaper：本报

argue：认为，a newspaper argued，一份报纸曾经认为，即曾报道过

wheresoever：等于wherever

his mind wills and his ingenuity contrives：will作动词，有“想要、喜欢”的意思，to want or like，his mind wills即他心里想的，即等同于he wants。原句为man can go wheresoever in the universe his mind wills = man can go wheresoever in the universe he wants； ingenuity表示聪明才智，contrive意为“促成某事，to succeed in making sth happen despite difficulties”，his ingenuity contrives意为“他的智力所及”【地道表达】

sooner rather than later：越早越好

aberration：偏差，反常

an end in itself：事情本身，something that is worth having or doing although it may not lead to anything【词组积累】

signalling America’s extraordinary capabilities：signal愿意为信号，作动词意为“标志、表明”，signal America’s capabilities. 标志美国的能力【熟词僻义】

be into orbit：进入轨道，这里引申为“进入过太空”

50年前，尼尔·阿姆斯特朗登上月球，这使全世界产生了敬畏、自豪与好奇之心。本报曾报道：“从今天开始，人类可以去宇宙中任何他们想去的，智力所及……的地方，尽早去往那些人们现在肯定要去的星球。”但并不是如此，登月只是误打误撞，其本意是标志美国的能力而不仅仅是其本身。这个曾经提到过的观点，不需要再提一遍。只有571人进入过太过，而且，自从1972年，没有人再冒险进入到比来自芝加哥的Des Moines去到过的太空更深的地方。

The next 50 years will look very different. Falling costs, new technologies, Chinese and Indian ambitions, and a new generation of entrepreneurs promise a bold era of space development. It will almost certainly involve tourism for the rich and better communications networks for all; in the long run it might involve mineral exploitation and even mass transportation. Space will become ever more like an extension of Earth—an arena for firms and private individuals, not just governments. But for this promise to be fulfilled the world needs to create a system of laws to govern the heavens—both in peacetime and, should it come to that, in war.

look：看起来好像；似乎有可能to seem likely，look very different表示看起来会很不一样

promise a bold era of space development：这里的promise不是承诺，是另一个意思，意为使很可能；预示to make sth seem likely to happen; to show signs of sth.而下文for this promise to be fulfilled，这里的promise是其名词的含义，表示吉兆；迹象a sign, or a reason for hope that sth may happen, especially sth good. a bold era意为大胆狂放的新时期【熟词僻义】

the rich：富人

communications networks：通信网络

in the long run：从长远看来

mineral exploitation：矿产开发，exploitation是exploit（开发、开采）的名词形式【词汇积累】

mass transportation：大规模运输

ever more：越来越【词组积累】

an extension of Earth：an extension of sth 某物的延伸，这里指的是人们所居住的地球的延伸，是人类生存环境的外展。【词组积累】

arena：竞技场

should it come to that, in war：should意为如果，come to that表示到了那个地步

下个50年看起来会很不一样。下降的价格、新科技、中印的雄心以及新一代企业家预示着大胆狂放的航天发展新时代。这几乎一定会包含对富人的旅游业发展以及对所有人来说更好的交流网；长远看来，这可能也会涵盖矿产开发，甚至大规模运输。太空会变得越来越像地球的延伸——将成为不仅仅是政府，也是公司和个人的竞技场。但为了实现这令人憧憬的迹象，我们需要制造出一个法律制度来控制这天堂——不仅是和平时期，如果发生的话，也包括是战争。

Two new commercial models exist or are within reach: the big business of launching and maintaining swarms of communications satellites in low orbits and the niche one of tourism for the rich. The coming year will almost certainly see Virgin and Blue Origin flying passengers on sub-orbital excursions that offer the thrill of weightlessness and a view of the curved edge of Earth against the black sky of space. Virgin claims it might carry almost 1,000 wealthy adventurers a year by 2022. SpaceX is developing a reusable “Starship” larger and much more capable than its Falcons. Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese fashion mogul, has made a down-payment for a Starship trip around the Moon; he intends to go with a crew of artists as early as 2023.

within reach：触手可及、可以达成的【词组积累】

swarms of：大批，大群，也可以是a swarm of【词组积累】

the niche one of：niche表示的是商品的商机，这里the niche one of tourism for the rich指的是富人旅游业带来的商机【词汇积累】

The coming year will see：coming意为即将发生的，coming year即未来的一年，see意为见证某事件，文中搭配为see sb/sth doing sth【词汇积累】

fly passengers on sub-orbital excursions：fly表示空运（货物或乘客）to transport goods or passengers in a plane. Fly passengers on sub-orbital excursions意为“把乘客运上亚轨道游览”，excursion指的是短途的旅行，游览，这里加在后面是为了显示未来去往空间亚轨道就和游览一样【地道表达】

offer the thrill of：thrill表示令人兴奋、激动的感觉，offer表示提供机会，故offer the thrill of sth表示使我们有机会体会某事带来的兴奋感，这里指的是weightlessness失重带来的兴奋感。后面的offer a view of也相似，给我们提供了一个……的视角，简单来说就是“使我们看到……”【词组积累】

against：这里against意为以…为背景；衬托，用法为A against B，B为背景，即B衬托下的A。the curved edge of Earth against the black sky of space, 衬托于黑暗宇宙空间下的地球边缘的弯曲弧度【熟词僻义】

Starship：宇宙飞船

fashion mogul：时尚大亨，mogul ['moʊɡ(ə)l]大亨

make a down-payment for sth：为……首付【词组积累】

intend to do：打算、企图做某事

a crew of：一组、一批

两个现存的新型的商业模式：发射和维护大批在低轨道运行的通讯卫星以及富人旅游业带来的商机。未来的一年几乎肯定可以见到Virgin和Blue Origin两家公司把乘客运上亚轨道游览，使我们体验失重带来的兴奋，并使我们看到地球在黑暗的太空中形成的弯曲的弧度。Virgin公司声称到2022年，它每年可以运载几乎2000名富有的探险者。SpaceX公司正在开发可重复利用的“宇宙飞船”，比同属于本公司的Falcons更大，性能也更强。日本的时尚大亨Yusaku Maezawa为环月旅行支付了首付，他打算最早能在2023年与一批艺术家一起进行此次旅行。

总结