美国国家公共电台 NPR--China launches a new 3-person crew for its orbiting space station

China launches a new 3-person crew for its orbiting space station

Transcript¹

The crew, including China's first civilian² astronaut, will overlap³ briefly⁴ with three now aboard the Tiangong station, who will then return to Earth after completing their six-month mission.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

This happened in China today.

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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

A rocket blasted into orbit with three astronauts on board. They're headed to China's new space station to relieve a crew that's been there for six months. Among the three is the first civilian to be sent into orbit by China. The country's space program is run by the military, so, for them, this is another milestone⁵.

FADEL: To discuss more, we have NPR's John Ruwitch with us from Shanghai. Hi there, John.

JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE⁶: Good morning.

FADEL: Good morning. So this civilian - who is he, and why is it so important that he's going up to space?

RUWITCH: Yeah. It's a bespectacled professor named Gui Haichao, who's 36 years old. He teaches at Beihang University in Beijing, which is China's premier⁷ aeronautics⁸ and astronautics university. He actually got his bachelor's degree and Ph.D. there as well in aerospace⁹ engineering. And then he went on to do postdoc work in Canada. He's on this mission as a payload specialist, so he's not navigating¹⁰ or flying, but he's basically going to be conducting science experiments. I called Quentin Parker, who's a space scientist at the University of Hong Kong, to ask how significant this is. He says it's important because it sort of opens a new chapter for China's ambitious space program.

QUENTIN PARKER: If you got, you know, an orbital space station like the Chinese now have, which is basically a very large science laboratory, then the kind of equipment and payloads they have up there are very sophisticated technological¹¹ and scientific equipment, sometimes quite delicate. It needs to be operated and understood and managed by people who know what they're doing. And these are the - you know, these are the scientists.

RUWITCH: These are the scientists. You got to remember, up until today, all of China's astronauts came from the military.

FADEL: Now, you mentioned this program is ambitious. What exactly is China planning?

RUWITCH: Well, look, I mean, their first manned space mission was in 2003, right? Twenty years later, they now have an operational space station. They've gone from, basically, one crewed mission every two or three years to now they're doing one every six months to change crew at the space station. They've picked up the pace. They've sent a rover to Mars. They've sent various crafts to the moon, brought back moon rocks. And they just announced plans to put a Chinese person onto the surface of the moon by 2030. By the way, the U.S. is also trying to do some of this same stuff, including getting Americans back to the moon.

FADEL: OK. So how does all this fit in with the tension and competition between the U.S. and China? Is this a new space race?

RUWITCH: Right. It's a little more complicated. I asked Dean Cheng about this. He's a senior adviser¹² with the U.S. Institute of Peace.

DEAN CHENG: The original space race was, at the end of the day, only a little bit about a science and a whole lot about whose system was better, ours or the Soviets¹³'. Fast forward to today - we are seeing aspects of that coming back. It's not quite space race 2.0, but, yes, in the background is a political competition.

RUWITCH: Yeah. So there's a political competition. You know, one thing that does make people nervous - not only is China's space program developing quickly, but it's very opaque¹⁴. China issues white papers on space every few years. The last one was last January. It didn't say anything about the military side of the program. The white paper also did not mention putting people on the moon. And just this week they said they're going to do that within seven years. You know, another example - this guy, Gui Haichao, the first civilian to go into space with China's space program - they didn't announce that that was happening or that it was going to be him until yesterday.

FADEL: NPR's John Ruwitch in Shanghai on the not-quite space race 2.0. Thank you, John.

RUWITCH: You bet.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

3 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

4 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

5 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

8 aeronautics   

n.航空术，航空学

参考例句：

• National Aeronautics and Space undertakings have made great progress.国家的航空航天事业有了很大的发展。
• He devoted every spare moment to aeronautics.他把他所有多余的时间用在航空学上。

9 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

10 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

11 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

12 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

13 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

14 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。