Once we have all the structural materials that the Moon will supply, we can build large space stations in which people can live. We can build doughnuts (環狀物)of steel and glass and aluminum or spheres, or cylinders (圓柱狀物).We can coat them with soil on the inside and set them turning. This will produce a centrifugal force (離心力)which will act like an imitation (仿制的)gravity. The inside will be lit by sunlight and powered by solar energy. Shuttles can produce day and night and the soil can be made into an earth home. Thousands of people can live in these space settlements.
月球一旦能向我們提供所需要的這些建筑材料,我們就可以建造供人居住的大型太空站。我們能夠制造鋼質的、玻璃的、鋁質的圓圈形建筑,或者是圓球形或圓筒形建筑物。我們可以在其內壁上蓋一層泥土,并使之轉動。這就產生了一股離心力,其作用就是模擬地球引力。太空站內有陽光照明,由太陽能提供動力。航天飛機能產生白晝與黑夜的效果,用泥土可以蓋建地球上的房屋。成千上萬的人都可以在這些太空居民點內生活。
If human beings wish to invest the time, money, and effort, all of this can be done in about fifty years, and many people your age will be part of it. Yours will be the first generation of space. People your age now will grow up to be engineers and construction workers in space. They will work in the observatories and laboratories. They will be part of the lunar (月球的)mining stations, and they will smelt (熔煉)minerals in space. They will maintain the power stations and factories, and they will live in the space settlements for months at a time — maybe all their lives.
假如人類愿意投入時間、錢財與精力,所有這一切大約能在50年內予以實現,你們這樣年紀的人,很多會直接參與其事。你們這一代將是第一代太空人。你們的同齡人長大后,會成為太空工程師和太空建筑工人,在觀察站和實驗室工作。他們會是月球采礦站的一個部分,在太空熔煉礦石。他們將維持發電站和工廠的生產,每次在太空居民點待上幾個月——也許待上一輩子。
You may be on the first team to mine the moon, and your son or daughter may be on the first crew to land on an asteroid (小行星)or on one of the outer moons of Jupiter.
你也許是第一支月球采礦隊的成員,而你的兒女可能是率先登上某個小行星的,或是率先登上木星外圍某個月球的第一批工作隊員。
What an exciting future is ahead, if we have the courage to pass through the doorway into space that the Shuttle has opened for us.
如果我們有勇氣闖過航天飛機為我們敞開的太空之門,進入太空,那么出現在我們面前的,是一幅多么激動人心的情景!