China Hoping Space Program Will 1)Boost Commerce and Securit

Broadcast: Jan 29, 2003

 

China says it will launch its first astronauts into space later this year. Beijing is hoping the manned space program will boost commerce, science, and security. But, those benefits come at a price.

Late in December, China launched the un-manned Shenzhou Four space capsule, which officials say was a "dress rehearsal¹" for a manned space mission later this year, perhaps as early as October.

China has trained 14 of its top fighter pilots to be astronauts. A successful flight by one of them would make China the third nation in the world to independently send humans into space, after the United States and the former Soviet² Union.

While Beijing started its manned space program long after the Russians and Americans, author and former U.S. space agency engineer Jim Oberg says China will quickly catch up.

"They are very quickly achieving capabilities³ and will be a serious player," he said. "They are only the junior partners for a few more months or a few more years, but they will be partners in space [exploration]."

Changes in political priorities meant China's manned space program grew in fits and starts since its beginnings in the 1970s.

The expensive program ²⁾languished in the 1980s, but China's growing prosperity allowed work to resume in 1992 with the first test of a Shenzhou space capsule in 1999.

China has always said it is interested in peaceful uses of space, but security is also an important consideration. Key Chinese space officials say a vigorous space program keeps China from being bullied⁴ by other advanced space-faring nations.

Federation⁵ of American Scientists researcher Charles Vick says the intense effort needed to put a human in space will help China reap down-to-earth benefits in military, commercial and scientific areas.

"If you don't push the basic sciences to push the basic technologies to drive one's national economy and also provide for the national security of a nation, you are really undermining your national economy [and] in a lot of respects, the very foundation of your nation," he said.

Experts say manned space flight leads to improvements and inventions in many different fields, including better computers, improved light-weight materials, and new kinds of tools.

Beijing's military may get better communications, improved ways to spy on enemies, and more effective methods for commanders to move units around on future high-tech⁶ battlefields.

Chinese authorities believe the ³⁾prestige of successful manned space flight will help it attract more international customers for its satellite launch business and other high-tech industries.

But the author of a major book on China's space program says the most important benefit is the training and experience an entire generation of scientists and engineers will get from tackling the incredibly difficult problems of manned space flight.

According to Professor Joan Johnson-Freese of the U.S. Naval⁷ War College, the excitement of a manned space program helps attract the country's brightest students to demanding technical fields that have the potential to boost the nation's economy.

But these benefits do not cheap.

Foreign space experts say overall Chinese spending for space programs has grown recently and is now probably larger than the Russian effort, but still only a fraction of the U.S. space budget.

The president of the company that builds the Shenzhou capsules, Zhang Qingwei told a Chinese newspaper that Beijing has spent about $2.3 billion on its manned space program in recent years.

Analysts⁸ say its impossible to be sure of details in China's secretive space program, but guess China spends about two billion dollars overall on manned and unmanned programs each year.

Whatever the price, the spending comes at a time when China's government must make some tough financial choices. Experts say between 40 and 100 million people fall below China's poverty line - between four and 10 percent of its population. The nation's banks are groaning⁹ under the weight of bad loans, and many state-owned enterprises are ⁴⁾collapsing, throwing tens of millions of people out of work.

Jim Randle VOA news, Beijing.

1)    boost[bu:st]v.推进，促进

2)    languish[5lAN^wiF]vi. 衰退,被忽略，憔悴,苦思

3)    prestige[pres5ti:V]n. 声望, 威望, 威信

4)    collapse¹⁰ [kE5lAps] vi.倒塌, 崩溃, 瓦解, 失败

1 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

6 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

7 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

8 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

9 groaning   

adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• She's always groaning on about how much she has to do. 她总抱怨自己干很多活儿。
• The wounded man lay there groaning, with no one to help him. 受伤者躺在那里呻吟着，无人救助。

10 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。