2017考研英语拓展阅读：中国计划2036年登月

 　　2017考研英语拓展阅读：中国计划2036年登月

　　A senior Chinese official announced yet another ambitious plan for the space-faring nation at a press conference on Saturday. PLA Lt. Gen. Zhang Yulin -- who is also deputy commander of the China Manned Space Program -- told reporters that China plans to land an astronaut on the Moon by 2036. This announcement eclipses China’s earlier claims that it will explore the dark side of the moon in 2018 and launch two new space stations (one this year, another in 2022). It already sent a rover to the moon in 2013. The country will reportedly use the next "15 to 20 years", according to Reuters, to build out the necessary infrastructure.

　　周六，中国载人航天工程副总指挥、中央军委装备发展部副部长张育林中将在座谈会上宣布了另一个航天项目计划。他告诉记者，中国计划在2036年将一位宇航员送上月球。这个计划比中国早前宣布的2018年探索月球计划以及发射两座新空间站(分别于今年和2022年发射)的计划更为宏大。在2013年，中国已经发射了一台月球探测车。据报道，中国使用了“下一个15年到20年”来建设必须的基建设施。

　　Specifically, China currently lacks a carrier rocket powerful enough to get a crew to the moon. If they don’t build their own, they’d have to do what the US did after retiring the shuttle program -- that is, ask the Russians for a lift -- or at least get America to spot them a go-round on the SLS. Of course, they’ll also need to invent a lunar module as well as functional spacesuits for the time they’re there.

　　目前中国还缺少登月必需的运载火箭。如果中国无法制造出自己的运载火箭，那么他们只能和美国一样，在太空飞船项目搁浅后向俄罗斯寻求技术支持，或者是让美国参与进他们的太空发射系统项目。当然，他们也需要制造登月舱和特定航天服，为登月做准备。

　　That may sound like a good deal of work but if America could put a man on the moon back in the ’60s in less than a decade -- which might as well have been the stone age by today’s standards -- China, the economic and intellectual powerhouse that it is, shouldn’t have much issue getting their program together in the modern era. That said, unlike NASA and the ESA, China’s space program is notoriously secretive, which means we may not know if they’re even capable of doing it until they actually do it.

　　这听上去也许是个巨大的工程。但如果美国当年在如今看来是石器时代的六十年代都能够让宇航员成功登月，那么作为同时拥有强大经济和人才的现代中国应该能够解决这些麻烦。和美国国家航空和宇宙航行局和欧洲航天局不同的是，中国的航天项目严格保密。这意味着我们在其完成项目之前并不清楚其是否有这种实力。