TED演讲:探索世界最深洞穴(7)

 What then of manned space exploration?  那载人的空间探索呢？

The government recently announced plans to return to the moon by 2024.  美国政府最近宣布了2024重返月球的计划。

The successful conclusion of that mission will result in infrequent visitation of the moon by a small number of government scientists and pilots.  这项任务的成功将使少数的政府雇佣的科学家和飞行员的探访月球活动。

It will leave us no further along in the general expansion of humanity into space than we were 50 years ago.  和五十年前相比，从人类探索宇宙的整体来看，并没有什么起步。

Something fundamental has to change if we are to see common access to space in our lifetime.  如果我们想要在有生之年让太空飞行变得习以为然必须有根本的改变，

What I'm going to show you next are a couple of controversial ideas.  我下面要展示的是一些有争论的观点。

And I hope you'll bear with me and have some faith that there's credibility behind what we're going to say here.  我希望大家耐心听我讲并且相信我们这里所说的是确实可信的。

There are three underpinnings of working in space privately¹.  私人探索太空工作有三大支柱。

One of them is the requirement for economical earth-to-space transport. 其一是经济的地球到太空的交通运输。

The Bert Rutans and Richard Bransons of this world have got this in their sights and I salute² them.  创业家们象伯特鲁坦斯和理查德布兰特（维珍航空公司的创始人)已经开始在这方面努力,我向他们致敬。

Go, go, go.  加油，加油，加油。

The next thing we need are places to stay on orbit.  我们需要的另一件事是轨道上的停留处。

Orbital hotels to start with, but workshops for the rest of us later on.  先以做太空酒店（旅游业）开始，之后可以我们的工作站。

The final missing piece, the real paradigm-buster, is this:  最后一点，真正能扭转乾坤的是：

a gas station on orbit.  太空轨道加油站。

It's not going to look like that.  它不会是图上这样的。

If it existed, it would change all future spacecraft design and space mission planning.  如果它存在，它会改变所有未来宇宙飞船和宇宙空间探索计划的设计。

Now, to give you a chance to understand why there is power in that statement,I've got to give you the basics of Space 101.  现在，为了让大家明白此断言的分量，我要教大家一点儿太空基础知识。

And the first thing is everything you do in space you pay by the kilogram.  首先，你要为在太空里所做的每一件事情按千克付费。

1 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

2 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。