VOA慢速英语2016 美国商人宣布火星殖民地的计划（在线收听）

AS IT IS 2016-09-30 American Businessman Announces Plans for Mars Colony 美国商人宣布火星殖民地的计划

Businessman Elon Musk says his company is building a powerful, reusable rocket and a spaceship that may travel to the planet Mars.

商人伊隆·马斯克说，他的公司正在建造一架可以飞到火星的强大且可重复使用的火箭。

The spacecraft would eventually be able to take as many as 100 people and their equipment to the red planet, he said.

飞船能乘载多达100个人和他们的装备，把他们送到红色的星球，他说。

The entrepreneur announced his plan on Tuesday at the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.

企业家于周二墨西哥瓜达拉哈拉的第67届国际宇航大会上宣布了他的计划。

Elon Musk is the founder of the American company SpaceX. It designs, manufacturers and launches rockets and spacecraft.

伊隆·马斯克是美国SpaceX公司的创始人。这件公司设计、制造、发射火箭和航天器。

During his speech in Mexico, Musk did not talk about the September 1 explosion of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and the satellite it was carrying.

在墨西哥的讲话中，马斯克没有谈论SpaceX公司猎鹰9号火箭和它携带的卫星在9月1日爆炸的事情。

But Musk did say he wants to establish a city on Mars. He said the planned city would be able to support itself -- complete with the ability to make iron, as well as pizzas.

但是马斯克强调他希望在火星上建设一个城市。他说，计划中的城市将能够支撑自己的发展，完全有能力制造钢铁，甚至是比萨饼。

Musk wants human beings to be able to live on more than just one planet. And he said the best way to do that is to first colonize Mars. He wants many people to be able to travel to the red planet.

马斯克希望人类不仅仅依靠一颗星球生活。他说这样做最好的方法就是先开发火星。他希望有更多的人能够前往这颗红色行星。

“Really the key is making this affordable to almost anyone who wants to go...”

“关键在于把这个方法变得经济实惠，让任何想要去的人都能够承担......”

Reusing rockets and spaceships will help lower the cost for each person, he explained. The spaceships would also be able to refuel in orbit. He suggested the production of methane and oxygen on Mars would provide fuel for the trip back home.

重新利用火箭和飞船将有助于降低每个人的费用，他解释说。该飞船也能在轨道上加油。他希望在火星上生产的甲烷和氧气能为飞船提供回地球的燃料。

Musk says a self-supporting colony on the planet would require about 1 million people. To get them there and to build the colony, it would take between 40 and 100 years -- or about 10,000 flights with 100 people per flight.

马斯克说，需要约1万人去开发这个星球。把他们送到那里并让他们建立殖民地需要40年到100年的时间，或者说每次航行乘载100人的话，则需要飞行10000次。

Musk said the trip would last between 80 and 150 days. Eventually, the cost would go down.

马斯克说，这次旅行将持续80天至150天。最终成本会下降的。

“The very first flights will be fairly expensive, but the architecture allows for a cost per ticket of less than $200,000.”

“首次飞行会相当昂贵，但使用该架构能使每人的票价少于200,000美元。”

No date has been set for the first flight. But Musk said he wanted to send the first manned mission to Mars by 2024. He added that he plans to start transporting supplies to the planet as soon as 2018.

首飞的日期还没有确定。但马斯克说，他希望在2024年能进行第一次载人到火星的任务。他补充说，他计划最快在2018年开始把用品运送到星球。

Musk invited other companies to join the Mars effort, which reportedly would require about a $10 billion investment.

马斯克邀请其他公司加入这个火星计划，据报道，这个计划需要大约10十亿美元的投资。

The American space agency NASA has its own program for sending astronauts to Mars. NASA will be using its own equipment. Currently, the space agency does use Space X for taking supplies to the International Space Station.

美国国家航空航天局有乘载宇航员上火星的计划。 NASA将使用自己的设备。目前，宇航局的确通过SpaceX把用品运送到国际空间站。

Musk, a wealthy entrepreneur, is also known for his Tesla Motors company, which makes electric cars.

马斯克是一个富裕的企业家，他因为拥有制造电动车的特斯拉汽车公司而出名。

Words in This Story

entrepreneur – n. a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money

affordable – adj. to be able to pay for something

architecture – n. the method or style of building

expensive – adj. costing a lot of money

ticket – n. a piece of paper that allows you to travel on a vehicle

mission – n. a job that someone is given to do