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  3. “Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Lois to explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase

“Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Lois to explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase

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问题     “Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Lois to explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase,” George W. Bush said, announcing his desire for a program to send men and women to Mars. “They made that journey in the spirit of discovery... America has ventured forth into space for the same reasons.”
    Yet there are vital differences between Lewis and Clark’s expedition and a Mars mission. First, Lewis and Clark were headed to a place amenable to life; hundreds of thousands of people were already living there. Second, Lewis and Clark were certain to discover places and things of immediate value to the new nation. Third, the Lewis and Clark venture cost next to nothing by today’s standards. In 1989 NASA estimated that a people-to-Mars program would cost $ 400 billion, which inflates to $ 600 billion today. But the fact that a destination is tantalizing does not mean the journey makes sense, even considering the human calling to explore. And Mars as a destination for people makes absolutely no sense with current technology.
    Present systems for getting from Earth’s surface to low-Earth orbit are so fantastically expensive that merely launching the 1,000 tons or so of spacecraft and equipment a Mars mission would require could be accomplished only by cutting health-care benefits, education spending or other important programs or by raising taxes. Absent some remarkable discovery, astronauts, geologists and biologists once on Mars could do little more than analyze rocks and feel awestruck beholding the sky of another world.
    It is interesting to note that when President Bush unveiled his proposal, he listed these recent major achievements of space exploration: pictures of the rings of Saturn and the outer planets, evidence of water on Mars and the moon of Jupiter, discovery of more than 100 planets outside our solar system and study of the soil of Mars. All these accomplishments came from automated probes or automated space telescopes. Bush’s proposal, which calls for “reprogramming” some of NASA’s present budget into the Mars effort, might actually lead to a reduction in such unmanned science, the one aspect of space exploration that’s working really well.
    Rather than spend hundreds of billions of dollars to hurl tons toward Mars using current technology, why not take a decade or two decades, or however much time is required researching new launch systems and advanced propulsion? If new launch systems could put weight into orbit affordably, and if advanced propulsion could speed up that long, slow transit to Mars, then the dreams of stepping onto the Red Planet might become reality. Mars will still be there when the technology is ready.
    The drive to explore is part of what makes us human, and exploration of the past has led to unexpected glories. Dreams must be tempered by realism, however. For the moment, going to Mars is hopelessly unrealistic.
According to the author, human travel to Mars
选项 A、would be probably realized in the near future.
B、should not be treated as the first priority today.
C、will not bring any benefits to human community.
D、is not feasible in light of today’s technology.
答案B
解析 观点态度题。本题考查作者的态度。观察四个选项：[A]“将在不久实现”与文章倒数第二段首句内容不符，作者说“还不如用十年二十年或者更多的时间来研究新的发射系统和更先进的推动器”，看来这并不是能在短期内实现的事情；[C]“不会给人类带来任何好处”，文章在第三段末尾提到，“…除了分析一下岩石成份…，什么也做不了”，可见，至少还是能够给人类带来一些发现的，并非完全无益；[D]“根据目前的科技来说不可行”，文章第二段末谈到“载人火星探险以人类目前的科技水平说，毫无意义”，联系上下文可知，作者的意思不是说目前的技术水平达不到载人火星探险的要求，而只是认为这样做的代价太大；[B]项所述内容正是此意，由于代价太大，火星计划不该被视为优先要做的事。
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