Richard Branson flies to edge of space in Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane
里查德·布兰森搭乘维珍银河商用太空船飞抵太空边缘
The British entrepreneur Richard Branson has successfully flown to the edge of space and back in his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane, days ahead of a rival launch by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, as the billionaires compete to kick off a new era of space tourism.
如今，亿万富翁们都抢着开启太空旅行的新时代：英国企业家里查德·布兰森已经搭乘自家公司——维珍银河公司研发的商用太空船，成功飞抵太空边缘并返回地球；这比他的“竞争对手”——亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝索斯（公司）的飞船发射时间早了几天。
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Seventeen years after Branson founded Virgin Galactic to develop commercial spacecraft, the spaceplane went into sub-orbital flight on Sunday morning, reaching 88km above the Earth's surface.
17 年前，布兰森创立了维珍银河公司，用于研发商用航天器。周日上午，该公司研发的航天器进入亚轨道飞行，抵达距地球表面 88 公里的位置。
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"Welcome to the dawn of a new space age," Branson tweeted shortly after the flight. Branson is the first of the competing "billionaire space barons", and the flight partly served as a huge publicity stunt for Virgin Galactic.
“欢迎来到太空新时代的黎明。”飞行结束后不久，布兰森发布了这样一则推特。在那些竞争成为“太空大亨的亿万富翁”中，布兰森是第一个进入太空的；并且，这次飞行也在某种程度上成为了维珍银河公司巨大的宣传噱头。
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In nine days' time, Bezos will launch his own rocket, New Shepard — named for Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space, which was manufactured by Bezos's company Blue Origin.
9 天后，贝索斯也即将发射自己的“新谢泼德”号火箭，它是以第一位进入太空的美国宇航员阿伦·谢泼德的名字命名的，并由贝索斯的蓝色起源公司制造。
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On Saturday, Blue Origin tweeted a message of good luck to Virgin Galactic, after mocking the company on Friday, when it alluded to whether Unity 22 was really going into space, instead of just to the edge of space.***
周六，蓝色起源发推特祝维珍银河好运；可就在周五，它还嘲讽了一番维珍银河，暗示“团结”号太空船不算真的进入太空，而只是抵达了太空边缘。
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The boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space, known as the Kármán line, has been a source of controversy for years. Aeronatics standard setter Fédération Aéronautique Internationale defines the Kármán line as the altitude of 100km above Earth's mean sea level. However, US space agency NASA says the boundary is 80km, above sea level.
地球大气层和外太空之间的边界（即卡门线），多年来一直存在争议。航空领域的标准制定者——国际航空联合会，认为卡门线处在地球平均海平面以上 100 公里的位置。然而，美国航天部门——美国国家航空航天局，认为这条边界在海平面以上 80 公里的位置。
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Interest in space tourism is rapidly catching on. Virgin Galactic says it has more than 600 reserved seats at $250,000 each for people who will fly in the future. The company plans to launch two additional flights before commercial service begins in 2022.
人们对太空游的兴趣正在迅速升温。维珍银河表示，目前已经有超过 600 个座位被预定，每个座位售价 25 万美元，预定者将在未来飞往太空。该公司计划在 2022 年开启商业太空游服务；在此之前，它还将进行两次试飞。
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主编：Felicity、Jenny
品控：Felicity
审核：桃子
重点词汇
edge
/edʒ/
n. 边缘，边沿；刀刃，刀口；优势，优点
搭配短语：the edge of the cliff（边缘）
搭配短语：the edge of the knife（刀口）
近义词：advantage（n. 优势）
搭配短语：to have the edge over sb.
例句：In terms of experience, she had the edge over the others that we interviewed.
rival
/ˈraɪ.vəl/
n. 竞争对手，敌手
近义词：competitor（n. 竞争对手，竞争者）
词性拓展：rival（v. 比得上……）
例句：No computer can rival a human brain.
搭配短语：a rival team / bid
launch
/lɑːntʃ/
n.（火箭、卫星、航天器等的）发射
词性拓展：launch（v. 开始从事、发起……；上市，发行；发射（卫星、火箭等））
搭配短语：to launch an investigation
例句：New products will be launched at the exhibition.
搭配短语：to launch a satellite
kick off
开始，开启；（足球比赛）中线开球
相关词汇：kick（v. 踢）
例句：The Strawberry Music Festival kicked off on Sunday.
相关词汇：kickoff（n.（活动的）开始）
搭配短语：the kickoff dance（开场舞）
spacecraft
/ˈspeɪs.kræft/
n. 航天器
相关词汇：craft（n. 船）
搭配短语：the Crew Dragon spacecraft（“载人龙”飞船）
baron
/ˈber.ən/
n.（行业）大亨，巨头；男爵
英文释义：a powerful person in a specified industry
搭配短语：a media baron
搭配短语：an oil baron
serve as…
可用作……
近义词组：act as…
例句：The sofa can serve as a bed for a night or two.
例句：China's strategies to deal with malaria served as a model for the rest of the world.
stunt
/stʌnt/
n. 花招，噱头；（电影里的）特技表演
搭配短语：a publicity stunt
mock
/mɑːk/
v. 嘲笑，嘲讽
英文释义：to laugh at somebody or something in an unkind way
近义词组：to make fun of sb. / sth.
allude to
暗指，影射
英文释义：to mention something in an indirect way
例句：When we asked why she wasn't at work, she alluded to some health issues.
outer space
/ˌaʊ.t̬ɚ ˈspeɪs/
n. 外太空，宇宙空间
文化补充：外太空指地球大气层之外的空间区域。
aeronatics
/ˌer.əˈnɑː.t̬ɪks/
n. 航空学
常见拼写：aeronautics
setter
/ˈset̬.ɚ/
n. 规定者，决定人
英文释义：a person who sets something
搭配短语：an exam-setter
搭配短语：a trendsetter
altitude
/ˈæl.tə.tuːd/
n. 海拔，海拔高度
英文释义：the height above sea level
例句：The air is often rare at high altitudes.
mean
/miːn/
adj. 平均的
近义词：average（adj. 平均的）
搭配短语：the mean temperature
catch on
开始受欢迎，开始流行起来
英文释义：to become popular
例句：Vlog is catching on among young people.
例句：Vlog is gaining popularity among young people.
reserve
/rɪˈzɝːv/
v. 预约，预定
例句：I'd like to reserve a table for 7pm.
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