英語口語頻道為大家整理的五一出國旅游英語口語：一起私奔到月球，供大家參考!
Moon tourism 月球旅游業(yè)
Fly me to the moon 好風(fēng)憑借力，送我窺月宮
Two private firms are offering moon jaunts to the rich and dedicated兩家私營公司正向熱忱的富豪提供月球之旅服務(wù)
Are we nearly there yet? 咱快到了吧？
The space race between America and the Soviet Union was as much about ideological one-upmanship as extraterrestrial exploration. A new space race to the moon has an even less lofty goal: sightseeing. Two space-tourism companies are planning rival lunar missions that could see private individuals paying to fly to Earth’s nearest celestial neighbour。
美蘇之間的太空競(jìng)賽不僅有關(guān)外空間探索，同樣也為了在意識(shí)形態(tài)上壓倒對(duì)方。新一輪奔月競(jìng)賽的目標(biāo)更不能算高：只不過是去觀光。兩家太空旅游公司正在計(jì)劃相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的探月項(xiàng)目，這可能會(huì)讓個(gè)人以私人身份買票，飛往地球最近的鄰居。
On June 19th Excalibur Almaz, a space company based on the Isle of Man, a British dependency in the Irish Sea, became the second company—after Space Adventures, an American space-tourism firm—to offer tickets for a commercial moonshot. Both firms are charging $150m a seat, a price that includes months of ground-based training. Neither is offering a descent to the moon’s surface—just a lunar fly-by。
6月19日，繼美國的太空探險(xiǎn)公司(Space Adventures)之后，設(shè)在愛爾蘭海(Irish Sea)中的英國屬地曼恩島(Isle of Man)上的航天公司王劍鉆石(Excalibur Almaz)[注1]成了第二家向公眾出售探月航行飛船票的公司。兩家公司的票價(jià)都是每位1億5千萬美元，其服務(wù)包括升空前的幾個(gè)月地面訓(xùn)練。它們都不提供登月之旅。
Whereas the Americans won the first space race, the Russians are favourites for the rematch. Both Excalibur Almaz and Space Adventures are using Russian-made rockets and spacecraft. Space Adventures plans to re-engineer the veteran Soyuz craft that it has used to shuttle seven space tourists up to the International Space Station (ISS). Excalibur Almaz intends to refit two Almaz space stations that were originally made for the Soviet armed forces。
盡管美國在第一次太空競(jìng)賽中獲勝，但在當(dāng)前的復(fù)賽中俄羅斯卻備受青睞。王劍鉆石和太空探險(xiǎn)都使用俄制火箭和飛船。太空探險(xiǎn)計(jì)劃重建老式的聯(lián)盟號(hào)飛船(Soyuz)，這種飛船完成了7名太空旅行者的國際太空站(International Space Station (ISS))往返航程；而王劍鉆石則想重新裝備原來為蘇軍打造的兩座俄羅斯鉆石空間站(Almaz space station)。
The space-tourism business is famously long on hype but rather short, so far, on results. And both firms face big engineering challenges, to put it mildly. The easier task probably falls to Space Adventures, whose well-tested Soyuz capsules—which have been flying, in one form or another, since the 1960s—require a beefier communications system, larger portholes (everyone wants a window seat, after all) and a better heat shield for re-entry. A separate booster rocket will be necessary to break the craft out of Earth orbit。
空間旅游業(yè)長(zhǎng)期以來鼓噪宣傳，人盡皆知，但至今尚未真正成行。即使輕描淡寫地說，兩家公司也都面臨著巨大的技術(shù)挑戰(zhàn)。這方面太空探險(xiǎn)的工作可能輕松些，因?yàn)樗麄兊穆?lián)盟號(hào)太空艙久經(jīng)考驗(yàn)，從上世紀(jì)60年代起就以不同型號(hào)升空，只不過現(xiàn)在需要更可靠的通訊系統(tǒng)、更大的舷窗(畢竟人人都要靠窗的座位)和為重返大氣層提供更好的耐熱罩，此外還需要一個(gè)助推火箭讓飛船脫離地球軌道。
Excalibur Almaz’s bulky space stations will need a lot more work to convert into lunar spacecraft. The first step will be to attach engines. The company plans to use ion thrusters, a high-tech propulsion system in which propellant is ejected using an electric field. Such motors are extremely efficient, and can be powered from a station’s solar panels. But they generate little thrust, meaning that Excalibur Almaz’s mission will take at least six months, compared with just six days for Space Adventures’ chemical-powered craft. In fact, the low-energy trajectory planned by Excalibur Almaz will take its crew members farther from the than any other humans have been。
把王劍鉆石寬敞的空間站改裝成探月飛船需要做的工作就多得多了。首先是要安裝發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)。該公司計(jì)劃使用離子推進(jìn)器。這是一種高技術(shù)推進(jìn)系統(tǒng)，其中的推進(jìn)劑通過電場(chǎng)噴射。這樣的馬達(dá)效率極高，可以通過系統(tǒng)的太陽能電池提供動(dòng)力。但它們推力不大，這讓王劍鉆石的一次旅行至少費(fèi)時(shí)6個(gè)月；相比之下，太空探險(xiǎn)用化學(xué)燃料為飛船提供動(dòng)力，一次旅行只要6天。實(shí)際上，王劍鉆石計(jì)劃采用的低能軌道將使它的飛船乘員創(chuàng)造人類飛行的最遠(yuǎn)紀(jì)錄。
A journey that long would be risky. One danger is from unpredictable and potentially deadly solar flares, giant releases of stellar energy that would bombard the craft with radiation and fry its occupants. To protect its passengers, the company plans to build an internal “storm shelter” that uses the spacecraft’s water supplies to absorb radiation。
這樣長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)的太空航行會(huì)有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。一種危險(xiǎn)來自無法預(yù)測(cè)而且很可能會(huì)致命的太陽耀斑，這是恒星能量的大規(guī)模爆發(fā)，它會(huì)以強(qiáng)烈的輻射轟擊飛船，煎烤飛船乘員。為保護(hù)乘客，王劍鉆石計(jì)劃在飛船內(nèi)建造 “暴風(fēng)庇護(hù)所”，它可以利用飛船中貯存的水吸收輻射。
Neither firm will start refitting its spacecraft, a process expected to take around three years, until it has sold all the seats on its maiden flights (two for Space Adventures, three for Excalibur Almaz). The companies are marketing their lunar missions to the same high-tech entrepreneurs and ultra-rich thrill-seekers who have snapped up tourist visits to the ISS and suborbital joyrides—long planned, but yet to fly—with firms such as Virgin Galactic。
這兩家公司都沒有開始重建飛船，這一過程會(huì)持續(xù)三年，要在公司售出了處女航的所有船票(太空探險(xiǎn)兩張、王劍鉆石三張)之后才開始。已經(jīng)有一批高科技企業(yè)家和追求刺激的超級(jí)富豪抓緊機(jī)會(huì)買了維珍銀河(Virgin Galactic)等公司的船票，將要進(jìn)行計(jì)劃已久但尚未成行的國際太空站訪問，或在環(huán)地球軌道上作較短的兜風(fēng)航行；上述兩家公司正向同一批人兜售他們的探月之旅。
Space Adventures already claims to have sold one ticket. That has led Excalibur Almaz to sweeten its deal by offering equity in the company to its first paying passengers. But filling seats may prove tricky. Not only is the asking price more than seven times the $20m cost of a jaunt to the ISS, it also requires months of demanding physical and psychological training. And even if the engineering can be perfected, it remains to be seen how many daredevil billionaires will be willing to spend months cooped up in a metal tube eating freeze-dried food。
太空探險(xiǎn)聲稱他們已經(jīng)售出了一張船票。這讓王劍鉆石為自己的服務(wù)增加添頭，例如向第一批付款買票的顧客贈(zèng)送本公司的股票等。但讓人買票可能會(huì)很不容易。這不單因?yàn)樗麄兊钠眱r(jià)是前往國際空間站的短期訪問票價(jià)(2000萬美元)的7倍以上，而且乘客在旅行前還要接受長(zhǎng)達(dá)數(shù)月之久的高強(qiáng)度體力與心理訓(xùn)練。更何況，即使技術(shù)上可以做到毫無問題，去旅游的人依然需要在金屬管子里一呆好幾個(gè)月，只靠啃干凍食品充饑；到底有多少捍不畏死的億萬富翁愿意這樣做？人們只能拭目以待。
[注1] 譯者沒有查到這家公司的中文正式譯名，但excalibur有“亞瑟王之劍”、“王者之劍”的意思，almaz有“鉆石”的意思，故杜撰此公司譯名；請(qǐng)知曉者指點(diǎn)。
Fly me to the moon 好風(fēng)憑借力，送我窺月宮
Two private firms are offering moon jaunts to the rich and dedicated兩家私營公司正向熱忱的富豪提供月球之旅服務(wù)
Are we nearly there yet? 咱快到了吧？
The space race between America and the Soviet Union was as much about ideological one-upmanship as extraterrestrial exploration. A new space race to the moon has an even less lofty goal: sightseeing. Two space-tourism companies are planning rival lunar missions that could see private individuals paying to fly to Earth’s nearest celestial neighbour。
美蘇之間的太空競(jìng)賽不僅有關(guān)外空間探索，同樣也為了在意識(shí)形態(tài)上壓倒對(duì)方。新一輪奔月競(jìng)賽的目標(biāo)更不能算高：只不過是去觀光。兩家太空旅游公司正在計(jì)劃相互競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的探月項(xiàng)目，這可能會(huì)讓個(gè)人以私人身份買票，飛往地球最近的鄰居。
On June 19th Excalibur Almaz, a space company based on the Isle of Man, a British dependency in the Irish Sea, became the second company—after Space Adventures, an American space-tourism firm—to offer tickets for a commercial moonshot. Both firms are charging $150m a seat, a price that includes months of ground-based training. Neither is offering a descent to the moon’s surface—just a lunar fly-by。
6月19日，繼美國的太空探險(xiǎn)公司(Space Adventures)之后，設(shè)在愛爾蘭海(Irish Sea)中的英國屬地曼恩島(Isle of Man)上的航天公司王劍鉆石(Excalibur Almaz)[注1]成了第二家向公眾出售探月航行飛船票的公司。兩家公司的票價(jià)都是每位1億5千萬美元，其服務(wù)包括升空前的幾個(gè)月地面訓(xùn)練。它們都不提供登月之旅。
Whereas the Americans won the first space race, the Russians are favourites for the rematch. Both Excalibur Almaz and Space Adventures are using Russian-made rockets and spacecraft. Space Adventures plans to re-engineer the veteran Soyuz craft that it has used to shuttle seven space tourists up to the International Space Station (ISS). Excalibur Almaz intends to refit two Almaz space stations that were originally made for the Soviet armed forces。
盡管美國在第一次太空競(jìng)賽中獲勝，但在當(dāng)前的復(fù)賽中俄羅斯卻備受青睞。王劍鉆石和太空探險(xiǎn)都使用俄制火箭和飛船。太空探險(xiǎn)計(jì)劃重建老式的聯(lián)盟號(hào)飛船(Soyuz)，這種飛船完成了7名太空旅行者的國際太空站(International Space Station (ISS))往返航程；而王劍鉆石則想重新裝備原來為蘇軍打造的兩座俄羅斯鉆石空間站(Almaz space station)。
The space-tourism business is famously long on hype but rather short, so far, on results. And both firms face big engineering challenges, to put it mildly. The easier task probably falls to Space Adventures, whose well-tested Soyuz capsules—which have been flying, in one form or another, since the 1960s—require a beefier communications system, larger portholes (everyone wants a window seat, after all) and a better heat shield for re-entry. A separate booster rocket will be necessary to break the craft out of Earth orbit。
空間旅游業(yè)長(zhǎng)期以來鼓噪宣傳，人盡皆知，但至今尚未真正成行。即使輕描淡寫地說，兩家公司也都面臨著巨大的技術(shù)挑戰(zhàn)。這方面太空探險(xiǎn)的工作可能輕松些，因?yàn)樗麄兊穆?lián)盟號(hào)太空艙久經(jīng)考驗(yàn)，從上世紀(jì)60年代起就以不同型號(hào)升空，只不過現(xiàn)在需要更可靠的通訊系統(tǒng)、更大的舷窗(畢竟人人都要靠窗的座位)和為重返大氣層提供更好的耐熱罩，此外還需要一個(gè)助推火箭讓飛船脫離地球軌道。
Excalibur Almaz’s bulky space stations will need a lot more work to convert into lunar spacecraft. The first step will be to attach engines. The company plans to use ion thrusters, a high-tech propulsion system in which propellant is ejected using an electric field. Such motors are extremely efficient, and can be powered from a station’s solar panels. But they generate little thrust, meaning that Excalibur Almaz’s mission will take at least six months, compared with just six days for Space Adventures’ chemical-powered craft. In fact, the low-energy trajectory planned by Excalibur Almaz will take its crew members farther from the than any other humans have been。
把王劍鉆石寬敞的空間站改裝成探月飛船需要做的工作就多得多了。首先是要安裝發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)。該公司計(jì)劃使用離子推進(jìn)器。這是一種高技術(shù)推進(jìn)系統(tǒng)，其中的推進(jìn)劑通過電場(chǎng)噴射。這樣的馬達(dá)效率極高，可以通過系統(tǒng)的太陽能電池提供動(dòng)力。但它們推力不大，這讓王劍鉆石的一次旅行至少費(fèi)時(shí)6個(gè)月；相比之下，太空探險(xiǎn)用化學(xué)燃料為飛船提供動(dòng)力，一次旅行只要6天。實(shí)際上，王劍鉆石計(jì)劃采用的低能軌道將使它的飛船乘員創(chuàng)造人類飛行的最遠(yuǎn)紀(jì)錄。
A journey that long would be risky. One danger is from unpredictable and potentially deadly solar flares, giant releases of stellar energy that would bombard the craft with radiation and fry its occupants. To protect its passengers, the company plans to build an internal “storm shelter” that uses the spacecraft’s water supplies to absorb radiation。
這樣長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)的太空航行會(huì)有風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。一種危險(xiǎn)來自無法預(yù)測(cè)而且很可能會(huì)致命的太陽耀斑，這是恒星能量的大規(guī)模爆發(fā)，它會(huì)以強(qiáng)烈的輻射轟擊飛船，煎烤飛船乘員。為保護(hù)乘客，王劍鉆石計(jì)劃在飛船內(nèi)建造 “暴風(fēng)庇護(hù)所”，它可以利用飛船中貯存的水吸收輻射。
Neither firm will start refitting its spacecraft, a process expected to take around three years, until it has sold all the seats on its maiden flights (two for Space Adventures, three for Excalibur Almaz). The companies are marketing their lunar missions to the same high-tech entrepreneurs and ultra-rich thrill-seekers who have snapped up tourist visits to the ISS and suborbital joyrides—long planned, but yet to fly—with firms such as Virgin Galactic。
這兩家公司都沒有開始重建飛船，這一過程會(huì)持續(xù)三年，要在公司售出了處女航的所有船票(太空探險(xiǎn)兩張、王劍鉆石三張)之后才開始。已經(jīng)有一批高科技企業(yè)家和追求刺激的超級(jí)富豪抓緊機(jī)會(huì)買了維珍銀河(Virgin Galactic)等公司的船票，將要進(jìn)行計(jì)劃已久但尚未成行的國際太空站訪問，或在環(huán)地球軌道上作較短的兜風(fēng)航行；上述兩家公司正向同一批人兜售他們的探月之旅。
Space Adventures already claims to have sold one ticket. That has led Excalibur Almaz to sweeten its deal by offering equity in the company to its first paying passengers. But filling seats may prove tricky. Not only is the asking price more than seven times the $20m cost of a jaunt to the ISS, it also requires months of demanding physical and psychological training. And even if the engineering can be perfected, it remains to be seen how many daredevil billionaires will be willing to spend months cooped up in a metal tube eating freeze-dried food。
太空探險(xiǎn)聲稱他們已經(jīng)售出了一張船票。這讓王劍鉆石為自己的服務(wù)增加添頭，例如向第一批付款買票的顧客贈(zèng)送本公司的股票等。但讓人買票可能會(huì)很不容易。這不單因?yàn)樗麄兊钠眱r(jià)是前往國際空間站的短期訪問票價(jià)(2000萬美元)的7倍以上，而且乘客在旅行前還要接受長(zhǎng)達(dá)數(shù)月之久的高強(qiáng)度體力與心理訓(xùn)練。更何況，即使技術(shù)上可以做到毫無問題，去旅游的人依然需要在金屬管子里一呆好幾個(gè)月，只靠啃干凍食品充饑；到底有多少捍不畏死的億萬富翁愿意這樣做？人們只能拭目以待。
[注1] 譯者沒有查到這家公司的中文正式譯名，但excalibur有“亞瑟王之劍”、“王者之劍”的意思，almaz有“鉆石”的意思，故杜撰此公司譯名；請(qǐng)知曉者指點(diǎn)。