翻译题
For a few minutes on the afternoon of Friday April 8th millions of eyes were focused on Cape Canaveral in Florida, and shortly afterwards on a remote "drone" barge a couple of hundred miles downrange in a choppy Atlantic Ocean. 【F1】The cause of all this attention was SpaceX's launch of a heavy payload to space, with a later meeting with the International Space Station, and a critical attempt to return the 1st stage booster rocket safely to Earth. As reported by pretty much every media outlet across the planet, the Falcon 9 made a gloriously easy-looking powered return and landing on SpaceX's drone ship. So what's the big deal? 【F2】First getting the biggest and costliest piece of launch hardware back in one piece offers the possibility of reusing it and lowering the expense of reaching space. Back in the last year, SpaceX had already got a Falcon 9 booster to return to within shouting distance of where it had launched from some ten minutes earlier—on a neighboring pad at Cape Canaveral. 【F3】Although it remains to be seen how well these rockets hold up to reconditioning and relaunch, the basic idea is sound Reuse means drastically lower launch costs in the long run. It might cost $60 million to build one of SpaceX's boosters, but on a few hundred thousand dollars to refuel it. Even if making it flight-worthy again costs several million dollars of engineering tinkering and fixing, that's still an enormous saving. 【F4】As Elon Musk and many others have long stated, dropping the cost per-unit-mass of launching to space is critical if our species is going to explore and utilize the solar system. It's also the key to ensuring our long-term survival. Mars has a long lure, and SpaceX is in many ways built from the ground up to create the bridge to our 4th planet. 【F5】But apart from simply getting off the Earth and hauling infrastructure and people to this red world, you also have to deposit all of that safely on the surface. Mars is tricky in this respect It may be a less massive world, with a gentler gravity field, but it also has a pitifully thin atmosphere that makes landing stuff a huge challenge because there's little to "grab onto" as you come rushing down from orbit. Small scientific robots and rovers are already pushing the limits of what we can get to the Martian surface in one piece. What's really needed is the ability to bring a whole launch vehicle down, with tons and tons of payload.
【答案解析】①本句主干为简单的主系表结构，of a heavy payload to space“负载重荷去往太空的”做后置定语修饰主干中的表语launch“发射”，指SpaceX的发射承载重荷。②介词短语with a later meeting with…and a critical attempt to…为本句的主要理解难点，该介词短语在本句中作伴随状语，补充说明引起人们关注的原因(除了SpaceX负载重荷发射到太空，还有其与国际空间站交会及SpaceX所做的一个关键性尝试)；该短语中的meeting“交会”及attempt“尝试”的逻辑主语与主干中的表语launch一样，均为SpaceX。
【答案解析】①本句是语法上的简单句，主语是动名词短语getting the biggest and costliest piece…back，谓语是offer，宾语是the possibility。②in one piece作状语，修饰get…back，说明回收的状态；介宾短语of reusing it and lowering…作后置定语修饰the possibility，说明提供的是怎样一种可能性。
问答题3.【F3】
【正确答案】虽然这些火箭的翻新和重新发射的成效还有待考验，但这个想法是合理的。
【答案解析】①本句是复合句，主句是简单的主系表结构，Although引导让步状语从句，其中it为形式主语，真正的主语是后面的从句how well…，该从句内容与see构成逻辑上的被动关系，放谓语用了被动语态。②hold up to原意是“耽搁，搁置”，此处指reconditioning和relaunch的成效还未知。
【答案解析】①本句是主从复合句。句首的As引导定语从句，修饰逗号后的整个句子，As在其中既是引导词，也充当stated“陈述。说明”的宾语。②主句本身也是一个主从复合句，主句是主系表结构，主语dropping the cost后的per-unit-mass of hunching to space可理解为后置定语，修饰cost；per-unit-mass意为“每单位质量”。③if在此引导条件状语从句。
【答案解析】①本句是语法上的简单句，句子主干是主谓宾结构。句首的But表明本句与上句存在转折关系。②介词短语apart from后接两个并列的动名词短语，分别是getting off the Earth和hauling infrastructure and people to…，后者指运送大批人和基础设施。③this red world根据上下文可知指火星；deposit all of that中的all of that指前句提到的人和基础设施。