Space Exploration

太空探索

What is space exploration

什么是太空探索

Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft. While the observation of objects in space, known as astronomy, predates reliable recorded history, it was the development of large and relatively efficient rockets during the early 20th century that allowed physical space exploration to become a reality. Common rationales for exploring space include advancing scientific research, uniting different nations, ensuring the future survival of humanity and developing military and strategic advantages against other countries. Various criticisms of space exploration are sometimes made.

Space exploration has often been used as a proxy competition for geopolitical rivalries such as the Cold War. The early era of space exploration was driven by a “Space Race” between the Soviet Union and the United States; the launch of the first man-made object to orbit the Earth, the USSR’s Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957, and the first Moon landing by the American Apollo 11 craft on July 20, 1969 are often taken as the boundaries for this initial period. The Soviet space program achieved many of the first milestones, including the first living being in orbit in 1957, the first human spaceflight (Yuri Gagarin aboard Vostok 1) in 1961, the first spacewalk (by Aleksei Leonov) in 1965, the first automatic landing on another celestial body in 1966, and the launch of the first space station (Salyut 1) in 1971.

After the first 20 years of exploration, focus shifted from one-off flights to renewable hardware, such as the Space Shuttle program, and from competition to cooperation as with the International Space Station (ISS).

In the 2000s, the People’s Republic of China initiated a successful manned spaceflight program, while the European Union, Japan, and India have also planned future manned space missions. China, Russia, Japan, and India have advocated manned missions to the Moon during the 21st century, while the European Union has advocated manned missions to both the Moon and Mars during the 21st century. From the 1990s onwards, private interests began promoting space tourism and then private space exploration of the Moon.

In the 2000s, several plans for space exploration were announced; both government entities and the private sector have space exploration objectives. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 provides objectives for American space exploration.

Let’s Talk！

开始交流吧！

Wang Yang: Are you interested in space activities·

汪洋：你对航天这方面很感兴趣吗？

Li Kai: Of course.

李凯：当然了。

Wang Yang: Do have a dream that you can travel in the space·

汪洋：你有去游太空的梦想吗？

Li Kai: Yes, of course, everyone have, but very few people can make it come true. A dream is just a dream.

李凯：当然，每个人都有，但是只有很少的人能实现啊。梦想只是梦想而已。

Wang Yang: Yeah, you are right. But some lucky guys can make it come true.

汪洋：是啊，你是对的，但是一些幸运儿就可以。

Li Kai: Yes, there are. They must be very rich or something.

李凯：是的，有这样的人，他们一定是很富有或者是其他什么的。

Wang Yang: I believe if some is enough lucky and especial, he might have the chance. A clown from Canada who would be the first “universal clown” travelled the universal with the Russian space vehicle at 30th, September.

汪洋：我相信如果有人够幸运和够特别，那么他就有可能有机会。九月三十号一个加拿大的小丑将要和俄罗斯的航天飞船一起游太空，并成为太空的第一个“太空小丑”。

Li Kai: So lucky, I really wish I were him.

李凯：太幸运了，我真希望我是他。

Wang Yang: Me too, and I think many people have the same wish.

汪洋：我也是，我想很多人一定都有这个愿望。

Li Kai: Who is his audience, the sun, the moon, or the earth·

李凯：谁会是他的观众呢？太阳、月亮、还是地球？

Wang Yang: I reckon the people on the earth are all his audience.

汪洋：我想所有在地球上的人都是他的观众。

Li Kai: He must be very happy to have such a trip. That must be the greatest event in his life.

李凯：有这样的旅程他一定很开心，这一定是他一生中最伟大的事情了。

Wang Yang: China is developing its aerospace industry, and do space exploration these years.

汪洋：中国这些年也在不断发展航天事业，不断探索太空。

Li Kai: The television scene of Shenzhou VII spaceship impressed me a lot.

李凯：是啊，去年神七的精彩画面我很难忘。

Li Kai: That was the 1st step of our astronauts.

汪洋：那是中国航天员迈进太空的第一步。

Li Kai: It marks a new beginning of Chinese space activities.

李凯：这标志着中国航天事业又一个全新的开始。

Wang Yang: So proud of our great county!

汪洋：真为伟大的祖国感到自豪！

Li Kai: Let us look forward to witnessing a faster development of Chinese space exploration!

李凯：让我们期待中国航天事业的更快发展吧！

Benefits and the Future

利益与未来

What is benefit society

什么是利益社会

A benefit society or mutual aid society is an organization or voluntary association formed to provide mutual aid, benefit or insurance for relief from sundry difficulties. Such organizations may be formally organized with charters and established customs, or may arise ad-hoc to meet unique needs of a particular time and place.

Benefit societies can be organized around a shared ethnic background, religion, occupation, geographical region or other basis. Benefits may include money or assistance for sickness, retirement, education, birth of a baby, funeral and medical expenses, unemployment. Often benefit societies provide a social or educational framework for members and their families to support each other and contribute to the wider community.

Examples of benefit societies include trade unions, friendly societies, credit unions, self-help groups, landsmanshaftn, immigrant hometown societies, Fraternal organizations such as Freemasons and Oddfellows and many others. Peter Kropotkin posited early in the 20th century that mutual aid affiliations predate human culture and are as much a factor in evolution as is survival of the fittest.

A benefit society can be characterized by

members having equivalent opportunity for a say in the organization

members having potentially equivalent benefits.

aid would go to those in need (strong helping the weak)

collection fund for payment of benefits

educating others about a group’s interest

preserving cultural traditions

mutual defence

Many of the features of benefit organizations today have been assimilated into organizations that rely on the corporate and political structures of our time. Insurance companies, religious charities, credit unions and democratic governments now perform many of the same functions that were once the purview of ethnic or culturally affiliated mutual benefit associations.

But new technologies have provided yet more new opportunities for humanity to support itself through mutual aid. Recent authors have described the networked affiliations that produce collaborative projects such as Wikipedia as mutual aid societies. In modern Asia rotating credit associations organized within communities or workplaces were widespread through the early 20th century and continue in our time. Habitat for Humanity in the United States is a leading example of shared credit and labor pooled to help low-income people afford adequate housing.

In post-disaster reactions, formal benefit societies of our time often lend aid to others outside their immediate membership, while ad-hoc benefit associations form among neighbors or refugees. Ad-hoc mutual aid associations have been seen organized among strangers facing shared challenges at such disparate settings as the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in New York in 1969, during the Beijing of 1989, for neighborhood defense during the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, and work of the organization Common Ground Collective which formed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Rainbow Family organizes gatherings in National Forests of the United States each year around age old models of ad hoc mutual aid.

Let’s Talk！

开始交流吧！

Tomas: The geological hazards frequently happen these years, and there was an earthque in Japan some days ago.

托马斯：近些年各种地质灾害频发，前不久日本又发生了地震。

Brian: Not only the geological hazards that often occur, the climate environment is deterioration.

布莱恩：不仅仅是地质灾害，气候环境也在不断恶化。

Tomas: Could it be true that the doomsday is coming as Maya people predicted·

托马斯：难道真的像玛雅人所说，地球的末日快到了？

Brian: That’s a superstition.

布莱恩：那只是一种迷信。

Tomas: Well, what’s the reason·

托马斯：那么原因是什么呢？

Brian: It’s human behavior that leads to these hazards.

布莱恩：是人类自己的行为导致了现在的灾难。

Tomas: You think it’s due to human factor, don’t you·

托马斯：你认为是人为因素？

Brian: Yes. For the porpuse of development, people use the world resources without restriction in the past century, broke the geological structure, and cause the air and water pollution.

布莱恩：是的。为了发展，在过去的一个世纪中，人们无节制地利用地球资源，破坏地质结构，造成空气和水的污染。

Tomas: Indeed. Many people suffer from rare diseases because of polluted air and water.

托马斯：的确如此。很多人因为空气和水污染而患上罕见的疾病。

Brian: The sky of the city is always covered with fumulus, and the stars cannot be seen.

布莱恩：在城市的上空永远飘浮着一层烟雾，晚上也看不到星星。

Tomas: People just pay attention to their current benefits and ignore the long-term development.

托马斯：人们只关注当前的利益而忽略未来的长期发展。

Brian: Not only the contries that only pay attention to short-term benefit, but many individuals. The farmers plant excessive vegetables and fruits on the limited land in order to gain more profits, which lead to the decrease of land quality and not suit for cultivation any more. People waste plenty of water, which causes severe water shortage in many areas. The drivers use the gases that doesn’t meet the standard, which lead to serious air pollution.

布莱恩：不仅只国家关注短期利益，很多个人也同样如此。农民为了获得更多收益，在有限的土地上种植过量的蔬菜和水果，导致土地质量下降，不再适宜耕种。人们大量浪费水资源，使得很多地方严重缺水。司机使用不符合标准的汽油，导致空气严重污染。

Tomas: These behaviors just satisfy the benefits of contemporary people, but harm to the rights of our offsprings.

托马斯：这些行为仅仅满足了当代人的利益，却损害了未来人们的权利。

Brian: This phenomenon must attract people’s attention.

布莱恩：这种现象必须要引起人们的高度重视。Tomas: Although we cannot manage the country, but we could take account of both benefit and future from trival things.

托马斯：尽管我们不能治理国家，但是可以从一些琐事做起，兼顾利益与未来。

Brian: I can’t agree more with your opinion.

布莱恩：我非常同意你的观点。

English Premier League

超级足球联赛

What is English Premier League

什么是超级足球联赛

The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country’s primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier League is a corporation in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 38 matches each, totaling 380 matches in the season. Most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played during weekday evenings. It was known as the Premiership from 1993 to 2007. It is currently sponsored by Barclays Bank and therefore officially known as the Barclays Premier League.

The competition formed as the FA Premier League on 20 February 1992 following the decision of clubs in the Football League First Division to break away from The Football League, which was originally founded in 1888, and take advantage of a lucrative television rights deal. The Premier League has since become the world’s most watched association football league. It is the world’s most lucrative football league in terms of revenue, with combined club revenues of over ￡2 billion in 2008–2009. It is ranked first in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years, ahead of Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga.

Since 1888, a total of 23 clubs have been crowned champions of the English football system. Of the 44 clubs to have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, four have won the title: Manchester United (12 titles) Arsenal (3), Chelsea (3) and Blackburn Rovers (1). The current champions are Manchester United, who won the title in the 2010–2011 seasons.

The Premier League is operated as a corporation and is owned by the 20 member clubs. Each club is a shareholder, with one vote each on issues such as rule changes and contracts. The clubs elect a chairman, chief executive, and board of directors to oversee the daily operations of the league. The current chairman is Sir Dave Richards, who was appointed in April 1999, and the chief executive is Richard Scudamore, appointed in November 1999. The former chairman and chief executive, John Quinton and Peter Leaver, were forced to resign in March 1999 after awarding consultancy contracts to former Sky executives Sam Chisholm and David Chance. The Football Association is not directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the Premier League, but has veto power as a special shareholder during the election of the chairman and chief executive and when new rules are adopted by the league.

The Premier League sends representatives to UEFA’s European Club Association, the number of clubs and the clubs themselves chosen according to UEFA coefficients. For the 2010–2011 seasons the Premier League had 10 representatives in the Association. The European Club Association is responsible for electing three members to UEFA’s Club Competitions Committee, which is involved in the operations of UEFA competitions such as the Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Let’s Talk！

开始交流吧！

Matt: You face is sweating, did you do sport·

马特：你脸上很多汗水，刚刚运动过吗？

Leon: Yes, I played football with my friends just now.

莱昂：是的，我刚刚和朋友去踢球了。

Matt: Are you a football fan·

马特：你是个球迷？

Leon: Yes.

莱昂：是的。

Matt: You must like watching football game, don’t you·

马特：那么你一定很喜欢看足球比赛喽？

Leon: Of course, I really enjoy watching the Football League on TV.

莱昂：当然，我很喜欢在电视上收看足球联赛。

Matt: Which Football League do you usually watch·

马特：你通常看什么足球联赛呢？

Leon: English Premier League.

莱昂：英格兰超级联赛。

Matt: How many teams are there in English Premier League·

马特：英格兰超级联赛总共有多少支球队参赛？

Leon: There are 20 teams.

莱昂：一共20支。

Matt: Which football team do you support·

马特：你支持哪支球队？

Leon: I support Manchester United Football Club.

莱昂：我支持曼联队。

Matt: Who is your favorite player·

马特：你最喜欢的球员是谁？

Leon: Steven Gerrard, the team leader of England. He is very confident and versatile. How about you·

莱昂：英格兰的队长杰拉德。他是一个非常自信的队员，也是技术非常全面的队员。你呢？

Matt: I prefer basketball. Shaquille O’Neal is my idle.

马特：我更喜欢篮球比赛。奥尼尔是我的偶像。

Leon: I think the field of basket ball is too small with relatively low speed, which is not as exciting as football.

莱昂：我认为篮球场地小，速度慢，不如足球精彩。