题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
浙江省七彩阳光联盟2020届高三上学期英语期初联考试卷(含小段音频)
NASA's (美国宇航局的) newly announced space tourism program is possibly the biggest mistake in the agency's history.
Beginning as early as 2020, NASA will offer visits to the International Space Station for $35,000 per night, not including transportation, to pretty much anyone who can pass a physical.
The reason this is a mistake, and a big one, is that NASA has worked for generations to create an image of astronauts as extraordinarily skilled, highly trained, courageous heroes. For example, NASA invites grade schools to participate in creating experiments that are carried on the space station. The astronauts talk to kids from space, sending a message that if you study, work hard and learn math and science, you may reach these heights, too.
According to one report, Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace is making plans to haul four tourists at a time to the space station on SpaceX rockets. U.S. taxpayers forked over a hundred billion dollars to build the International Space Station. It would be nice to try to preserve the image of it as an inspirational achievement, instead of turning it into a flying Howard Johnson's.
NASA's press release about the space tourism program tries to cast it as a partnership with the private sector to "provide expanded opportunities" at the space station to "manufacture, market and promote commercial products and services." But it also states that one goal is "quantifying NASA's long-term demand for activities in low-Earth orbit."
The space station has been costing U.S. taxpayers between $1.5 billion and $3 billion each year. If it's perceived as a private Disneyland for the top tax bracket, public support for the entire space program could be at risk.
But worse, we will have degraded what once inspired us. Sometimes a nation needs stars in its eyes.
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