Reading Passage 4
You should spend 20 minutes on questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 4.
People who are alive today will walk on Mars
A
Charles Bolden, NASA's administrator, averred that the robotic vehicle Curiosity will 'blaze a trail for human footprints on Mars'. He could be right. But there is a gulf between what is technically feasible and what is actually achieved.
B
Neil Armstrong made his 'one small step' on the Moon in 1969, only 12 years after Sputnik. Had the pace set by John F. Kennedy's Apollo programme been sustained there would already be footprints on Mars. But that was driven by the urge to beat the Russians; there was no motive to sustain such huge expenditure.
C
Scientific exploration has burgeoned too. In coming decades, the entire solar system will be explored by flotillas of miniaturized unmanned craft. Robots will mine raw materials from asteroids and fabricate large structures. The Hubble Telescope's successors will further expand our cosmic vision of galaxies and nebulae".
D
But what role will humans play? There is no denying that Curiosity may miss startling discoveries no human geologist could overlook. But robotic techniques are advancing fast whereas the cost gap between manned and unmanned missions remains huge.
E
The main impediment to a manned NASA programme has always been that public and political opinion constrains it into being too risk-averse. The space shuttle failed twice in 135 launches. Although astronauts or test pilots would willingly accept this risk level, the shuttle had been promoted as safe for civilians. So each failure caused a national trauma and was followed by a hiatus in the programme while costly efforts were made with very limited effect - to reduce the risk still further.
F
Unless motivated by pure prestige, ambitious manned missions will be viable only if they are cut-price ventures, accepting high risks - perhaps even 'one-way tickets'. These may have to be privately funded; no Western government agency would expose civilians to such hazards.
G
The SpaceX company, led by the entrepreneur Elon Musk, has successfully sent a payload* into orbit and docked with the Space Station. The involvement in space projects of Mr Musk and others in the high-tech community with credibility and resources is surely a positive step.
H
Richard Branson will soon be lobbing people into space to experience a few minutes of weightlessness. Within a few years private companies will offer orbital flights. Maybe after another decade the really wealthy will be able to take a week-long trip around the far side of the Moon - voyaging farther from Earth than anyone has been before but avoiding the greater risks of a Moon landing and blast-off.
I
The phrase 'space tourism' should, however, be avoided. It lulls people into believing that such ventures are routine and low-risk. If that becomes the perception, the inevitable accidents will be as traumatic as those of the space shuttle. Remember that nowhere in our solar system offers an environment as clement even as the Antarctic or the top of Everest. It is foolish to claim, as some do, that mass emigration into space offers escape from Earth's problems.
J
But I believe, and hope, that some people living now will walk on Mars. Moreover, a century or two from now, small groups of intrepid adventurers may be living there or perhaps on asteroids quite independently from Earth. Whatever ethical constraints we impose here on the ground, we should surely wish such pioneers good luck in genetically modifying their progeny to adapt to alien environments.
K
This might be the first step towards divergence into a new species: the beginning of the post-human era. And machines of human intelligence could spread still farther. Whether the long-range future lies with organic post-humans or intelligent machines is a matter for debate. Either way, dramatic cultural and technological evolution will continue not only here on Earth but far beyond.
__________________________________________________________
* asteroids - tiny planets that orbit the Sun
* nebulae - clouds of gas between the stars
* payload - cargo of equipment
Part 1
Questions 1-6
The reading passage has eleven paragraphs (A-K). Choose the correct headings for paragraphs C-H.
| List of headings | |
| i | Space travel for leisure |
| ii | Potential and reality |
| iii | Life after humans |
| iv | Transporting goods into space |
| v | Mechanized investigation |
| vi | Future colonies in outer space |
| vii | Commercial funding for dangerous ventures |
| viii | High-risk travel |
| ix | Avoiding disasters |
| x | Man versus machine |
| xi | The end of the race for space |
Example: Paragraph A ii
1 Paragraph C 1
2 Paragraph D 2
3 Paragraph E 3
4 Paragraph F 4
5 Paragraph G 5
6 Paragraph H 6
Questions 7-10
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the passage?
Write
| YES | if the statement agrees with the writer's claims. |
| NO | if the statement contradicts the writer's claims. |
| NOT GIVEN | if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this. |
7 The Americans had no reason to continue spending large amounts of money on their space programme once they had won the race to the Moon.
7
8 One of the advantages of robots is that they notice unusual objects which human scientists might not see.
8
9 It would be wrong for future space explorers to alter their children's genes to make it possible for them to live on other planets.
9
10 Whatever the evolution of the species in the future, it should remain human.
10
Questions 11-13
Choose the correct letter (A, B, C or D) from the options in the list.