2. 职称英语
  3. With the unemployment rate topping 8% and the government $ 16 trillion in de

With the unemployment rate topping 8% and the government $ 16 trillion in de

游客2023-07-07  10
问题     With the unemployment rate topping 8% and the government $ 16 trillion in debt, it’s easy to question why taxpayers are spending $2.5 billion on an SUV-sized Mars rover(探测车)named Curiosity, which landed successfully on the red planet in the early hours of Monday. Couldn’t this money go toward something closer to home, such as providing shelter for the homeless or building roads? Yes, it could. But this kind of thinking is shortsighted.
    The Mars project is the latest manifestation of America’s restless desire to answer previously unanswerable questions and take on new challenges. To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, America does things like this not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
    Getting the probe down safely on Mars, after a 350 million mile journey, was certainly no easy feat. Virtually all the technology used in the approach and landing was new, or used in new ways. Once settled in, Curiosity should be a particularly awe-inspiring project. It is designed to shed light on big questions; Could life forms have ever existed on Mars? Might they still exist? And are we alone in the universe?
    When budgets are tight, space projects such as Curiosity come in for particular abuse. They are often portrayed as complicated flights of odd ideas. They are not. They are both inspirational and immensely practical. Technology is, after all, an engine of economic growth. If that is a goal, as well it should be, why not support a program that makes science exciting and showcases some of the most interesting things that technology can do? One of the main benefits of projects like this one is to promote a confident America. Throughout history, nations that explore, and engage in science, lead the world. Beginning in the 15th century, for example, European nations sent sailors around the globe and provided the impetus for thinkers such as Copernicus, Galileo and Newton to invent modern physics and astronomy. Not coincidentally, Europe came to dominate the world until the dawn of the 20th century.
    Those who would slash space program budgets apparently haven’t learned history’s lessons and don’t see the great possibilities that the future presents—possibilities reflected in every image transmitted back from the rover. [br] Why does the author say space projects are practical?
选项 A、Because they make science exciting.
B、Because they promote economic growth.
C、Because they increase America’s national power.
D、Because they show what technology can bring.
答案 B
解析 事实细节题。作者在定位句中首先指出太空计划不仅能鼓舞人心，而且具有巨大的实际效益，紧接着在下一句点明了原因，即科技是经济发展的助推器，因此B)“因为它们能推动经济发展”为本题答案。A)“因为它们使科学振奋人心”是太空计划带来的好处，但不是实际效益，故排除；C)“因为它们增强了美国的国力”在原文中没有提及，故排除；D)“因为它们表明了科技能够带来什么”也没有点明太空计划能够产生的实际效益，故排除。
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