单选题
Rich Americans are willing to take conspicuous
consumption to new heights by spending big bucks to fly into space, including
paying 100,000 for a 15-minute trip into the heavens, according to a poll
released on Monday. Possibly bored by the banal baubles of
mundane Mother Earth or inspired by the dashing derring-do of such pioneers as
first American in space Alan Shepard and first millionaire in space Dennis Tito,
the poll says 7 percent of rich Americans would pay 20 million for a two-week
orbital-flight and 19 percent would pay 100,000 for 15-minute sub-orbital
flight. The poll by Zogby International was commissioned by
Futron Corp., a Maryland aerospace consulting group which has a 1.8 million
contract with NASA to explore the commercial applications of space travel,
including what space tourism could look like in the next 20 years.
Zogby International conducted telephone interviews with 450 Americans
whose yearly incomes exceed 250,000 or whose net worth exceeds 1 million. The
polls, conducted in January but only released Monday, has a margin of error of
plus or minus 4.7 percent. Futron's NASA project program
manager Derek Webber said, "We commissioned this survey in order to get an idea
of what rich people think and not the man in the street who loves the idea of
going into space but can't afford it." He added, "We are saying
these trips will cost a minimum of 100,000 for a 15-minute trip, which was the
amount of time the first American in space, Alan Shepard, had and for that you
get to feel space weightlessness and see the world from up there." That trip
would take a tourist 50 miles (80 km) into space. Webber said a
surprising 7 percent of the wealthy polled said they would be willing to take a
two-week flight to an orbiting space station, paying the 20 million that the
Russians charged the two pioneering space tourists who have already made the
trip, South African Mark Shuttleworth and American Dennis Tito.
If the price dropped to $50,000, 16 percent of those surveyed would be
interested. Space tourists would have to meet medical standards
and only be able to go to the International Space Station.
N'Sync singer Lance Bass is currently undergoing tests to see if he could become
the third space tourist. He wants to become the first entertainer in
space.
单选题
Which of the following is a motive for the rich people to have space
travel?
A. Such travel gives them a chance to show off their wealth.
B. Such travel is more exciting than any games they ever had.
C. They want to have a more relaxing holiday by such travel.
D. They want to prove they are as brave as any other people.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。第2段提到了富人们进行太空旅行的两个原因，B项与该段开头提到的第一个原因内容相同，为本题答案。A项内容原文并未提及；C项中的relaxing holiday没有原文依据；原文只提及他们想像太空先驱那么英勇，因此D项中的any other people的范围过宽了。
单选题
What does the Futron Corp want to find out by the poll?
A. Whether space travel will be profitable.
B. Whether space travel is technically practicable.