时间:2019-01-23 作者:英语课 分类:一起听英语


英语课

假设人类可以去火星,送你一张单程票,你是否愿意去呢?这会是一场什么样的旅行?


Callum: Hello I’m Callum and this is 6 Minute English. With me today is Jennifer, hello


Jennifer.


Jennifer: Hello Callum.


Callum: Do you like to travel?


Jennifer: Oh yes, I love going to new and interesting places.


Callum: What do you think of the idea of travelling to another planet?


Jennifer: Erm, not quite so keen on the idea of going to another planet.


Callum: What about a one-way trip to Mars?


Jennifer: You do mean the planet Mars? Go to Mars and never come back?


Callum: Yes.


Jennifer: What are you saying? Are you trying to get rid of me?


Callum: No, no, not at all. But this is what is being planned at the moment by a company


in the Netherlands. They are planning to send people to Mars and the people


who go would never be able to come back to Earth.


Jennifer: Sounds like quite a trip!


Callum: Well before we learn more about it, here’s a question for you, about the planet


Mars. How big is Mars compared to Earth? Is it bigger, about the same size or


smaller than Earth?


Jennifer: I think I can remember this from school. I’m going to say it’s smaller than the


Earth.


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2013


Page 2 of 5


Callum: OK. We’ll find out if you’re right at the end of the programme. But now, let’s


hear about this scheme. What is interesting about it is the idea that this would


be a one-way trip. Bas Lansdorp is head of the Mars-One project and he explains


why this will be a one-way trip. What reason does he give?


Bas Lansdorp, head of the Mars-One project:


On this world we have all the technology we need to get humans to Mars and keep them alive


there. What we don’t have is the technology to get people from Mars back to Earth. The people


who will be going to Mars in our missions will be settling on Mars permanently 1. They’ll be doing


it for the rest of their lives.


Callum: Jennifer, why is this a one-way trip?


Jennifer: He says it’s about technology. Although we do have the knowledge and


technology to get people to Mars, we can’t get them back – so any trip would be


permanent, would be forever.


Callum: That’s a big commitment, isn’t it? But I imagine there will be people who will


jump at the opportunity.


Jennifer: I’m sure there will be, but what kind of person are they going to recruit for this


‘trip of a lifetime’?


Callum: Well here’s Bas again, talking about just that. What three qualities does he


mention?


Bas Lansdorp, head of the Mars-One project:


We need the best of the best. We need first of all, of course, smart people, healthy people.


They need to be mentally very stable.


Callum: So he needs the best of the best, but what are the three particular qualities he


mentions the best of the best need to have?


Jennifer: He wants smart people, which means clever, intelligent people. As well as that,


they need to be healthy both physically 2 and mentally. As well as that, I guess


he’s going to need people with very specific skills.


Callum: You would think so, but Bas thinks there is something more important. What’s


that? 


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2013


Page 3 of 5


Bas Lansdorp, head of the Mars-One project:


What I initially 3 thought is that they would be doctors, pilots, engineers. But this is actually not


the case. The thing that's important, the most important quality for our candidates is


character. You need to be the kind of person who other people want to be stranded 4 with on an


uninhabited island.


Callum: What does he think is more important than having appropriate technical skills?


Jennifer: Character. You need to have the right personality. He compares it to being


stranded on an uninhabited island. You have to be someone that other people


would want to be stranded with.


Callum: I think that has to be very important. Can you imagine being stuck on another


planet for your whole life with someone you couldn’t stand?


Jennifer: That would be terrible.


Callum: As well as having a good character there are some other important qualities they


are looking for. Here’s Bas again:


Bas Lansdorp, head of the Mars-One project:


You need to be calm and inventive. You need to be someone who is at their best when the


situation is at its worst.


Callum: Jennifer, what other characteristics is he looking for?


Jennifer: He needs people who can still work well when things are bad. People who are


calm in a crisis. As he says, people who are best when the situation is worst.


Callum: So from what you’ve heard, does it sound like the job for you?


Jennifer: Absolutely not. I don’t mind travelling but I think it’s a bit far for me. And what


about you?


Callum: No, no it’s not for me, I have to say. I’m not made of the right stuff. I don’t


think I’m the kind of person anyone would want to be stuck with!


Jennifer: I was wondering how they were going to pay for all of this, after all, it’s not a


government programme is it?


6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2013


Page 4 of 5


Callum: A very good question. Here’s Bas:


Bas Lansdorp, head of the Mars-One project:


We plan to finance this by involving the whole world as an audience. You just had the London


Olympics right there in Britain. And the Olympics had a revenue of more than three billion US


dollars in the three weeks that it lasts. When people land on Mars we expect that even more


people will watch this than the London Olympics. And also in the years after that they will


watch as the base grows, as people start relations, end relations. Maybe at some point there


will be the first Mars baby, this will be a, really the next giant leap of mankind.


Callum: So where is the money coming from?


Jennifer: Television. It sounds like a big reality TV show to me. He mentions that the


Olympics raised a lot of money from people watching on television and this will


be the same. He thinks there will be a big audience to tune 5 in and watch the


mission but also the relationships between the people on the mission and


perhaps even the birth of the first Mars baby.


Callum: Would you watch it?


Jennifer: Definitely, yeah, it would be fascinating viewing. How about you?


Callum: You know what, I probably would. I’m not usually a fan of reality TV but this is


something different. I would probably get bored very easily though.


Well, that’s all we have time for today. But before we go though, the answer to


this week’s question. How big is Mars compared to Earth, Jennifer, you said?


Jennifer: I said it was smaller.


Callum: Well done that is the right answer. Mars is, has about half the diameter of the


Earth. Well that’s all from us for this week. Thanks very much Jennifer, goodbye.


Jennifer: Goodbye.



adv.永恒地,永久地,固定不变地
  • The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
  • The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。
adj.物质上,体格上,身体上,按自然规律
  • He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服,心绪也很乱。
  • Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。
adv.最初,开始
  • The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
  • Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。
a.搁浅的,进退两难的
  • He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里, 身无分文,一筹莫展。
  • I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市,既没有钱,又没有朋友。
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整
  • He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子,并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
  • The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
学英语单词
accuracy limit
adenomatous polyposis coli
automatic egg breaking and separating machine
autorefractive
Bacillus diphtheriae columbarum
ball-and-socket hinge
barsimmon
berkshiress
bird-leg
boom towns
broadside on berthing
bucket arm pivot
child-sex-tourism
chlroacetophenone
cisacting element
clinical neurophysiology
coal-mining machinery
compound compression
Daussois
detection of neutrons
di(p-chlorophenyl)-methylcarbinol
dipleura
diploid heterozygote
disk golf
dispersed-powder magnetic tape
Dyscural
edge feature
electrokinetic ultrafiltration analysis
enimicitious
enridged
erythruloses
Ex-drinker
face reinforcement
financial category
flow cooler
foredoing
forhows
fuel low heating value
full-wave bridges
glycine methyl ester
grandmother-in-law
gullified
Guthriesville
Hippophae rhamnoides
house-breakers
i-conned
integrated network architecture
isoeugenol acetate
it's all relative
Jatiluhur, Waduk
L. O. A.
lower atmosphere layer
machining robot
maximum machined hole diameter
membrane cisterna
naked-handed
needle point spark gap
Niflheim
nostalgy
over-greed
parapales sturmioides
performance variable
portable foam applicator
power spectrum
power supply module
pre-recessions
preisser
program reader
quasi associated signaling
radiusing
relubrication
robot application
scaringly
semi-transparent cover
Shawell
shearing rupture
Simili
single-crank press
space division multiplexing (sdm)
speed/attitude control system
spring return button
squareflipper
steel puller
sumi-gaeshi
super-ascoloy
Theropogon pallidus
tnk-bp
unattempting
unipolar depressions
usage time
Velyka Bahachka
Vevey
vibration ability
wedge spring
witbank
word-forms
working ocular
yellow stunt of rice
yester-day
Zambales Mountains