Living in Space

主  持  人：谢建民（正高级教师，江苏省特级教师）

本期撰稿：江苏省无锡市谢建民名师工作室成员杜晓莺（无锡市塔影中学）

Today， the United States， Russia， China and Japan are all planning to send astronauts back to Earth’s closest neighbor， the moon. Some of these countries want to create space stations there within the next 10 years. These stations will prepare humans to visit and later live on Mars or other earthlike planets.

Robert Zubrin， a rocket scientist， thinks humans should colonize space. He wants to start with Mars. Why？ He thinks sending people to Mars will allow us to learn a lot of things， for example， the ability of humans to live in a very different environment. Finally， we could create new human societies on other planets.

SpaceX is a company that builds rockets. Its CEO， Elon Musk， also believes we should colonize Mars. However， he doesn’t want to send just one little mission. His long-term goal is to put one million people on the planet in case something bad happens to us here on Earth.

Not everyone thinks sending humans into space is a smart idea. Many say it’s too expensive. Also， most space trips are not short. A one-way trip to Mars， for example， would take at least six months. People traveling this kind of distance could face many health problems. In addition， these first people would find life extremely difficult in space. On the moon’s surface， for example， the sun’s rays are very dangerous. People would have to stay indoors most of the time.

Despite these worries， sending people into space seems certain. In the future， we might see lunar cities or even new human cultures on other planets. First stop： the moon.

1. What’s the main purpose of this passage？

2. What does “First stop： the moon” mean in the last sentence？

假如你是李华，班里正在开展关于探月追星的讨论，主题是“假如有机会去火星人类基地生活，你会选择去吗？”，请你写一篇英语发言稿，陈述自己的选择和理由。（剩余2739字）