题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
福建省三明市第一中学2018-2019学年高一下学期英语期中考试试卷
My name is Kobus Vermeulen. On February 16, 2015, I was one of five South Africans among the 100 people selected by Mars One to begin training to live on the Red Planet. The Dutch not-for-profit's aim is simple: build a human colony (殖民地) on Mars. Since I have begun this journey, the one question that people ask me most is why I want to leave a good planet for wasteland. Here is why.
I have been interested in Mars since I was a child, and I always thought that if I had the opportunity to leave the planet, I would take it. So the why begins with a child's dream.
However, as I grew, so did the why. In my eyes, since the 1970s the public has stopped trying to learn more about space. We've put our dream aside. We're satisfied with getting our dose (一份) of the future from sci-fi movies and comic books. And so the first part of my motivation (动机) is to get people thinking about space travel and the colonization (殖民化) of other planets in real terms again instead of just as sci-fi visions of the future.
If we want that future, the truth is that we have to build it, and anything worth doing comes with risks. Somebody has to take the risks, and I, along with thousands of other people, am willing to take them.
But it goes deeper than that. If the task of Mars One is even partially (部分地) successful, it will encourage a new generation of scientists and engineers that will build us an even better future.
Without a dream, there is no reason to build those things. The public that does not try to understand science and technology does not choose good leaders. Leaders who don't care for science and technology do not make budgets (预算) for it. Besides, without the money, the dream dies. Projects like Mars One are like a focusing lens (聚焦透镜) for dreams. It is an opportunity to change hearts and minds at the grassroots level.
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