中国推进探月工程锐意夺取太空霸权（双语）

　　China is poised to realize an ambitious mission to the far side of the moon, the most immediate of many planned milestones in its effort to challenge America’s half-century-long supremacy in space.

　　中国即将完成一项雄心勃勃的月球背面探访任务，在挑战美国长达半世纪的太空霸主地位的征途中再次立下一座里程碑。

　　In a first for any country, the Chang’e-4 probe is set to touch down on the “dark side” of the moon on or around Jan. 3, according to state media, and dispatch a rover in a vast crater to explore the moon’s interior. While impressive in itself, the mission is a step toward bolder objectives: China plans to operate a manned lunar base by 2030 and lead the world into a new age of space exploration.

　　据官方媒体报道，中国将开启人类首次月球背面探索之旅，“嫦娥四号”(Chang’e-4)探测器将于1月3日或前后抵达月球背面，并派出漫游车勘察月球内部。这一壮举同时也意味着中国朝着更大胆的目标又迈进了一步：中国计划在2030年前运营一个有人值守的月球基地，带领世界进入太空探索的新时代。

　　For its part, the U.S. is reviving its manned space program after letting it languish in favor of unmanned exploration. A space-policy directive signed in December 2017 by President Trump outlined plans for manned missions to the moon and Mars and started preparations for a new space force to counter the Chinese military’s development of space weapons. These moves came after experts testified at a House Subcommittee on Space hearing in 2016 entitled “Are we losing the space race to China?” that the U.S. risked being eclipsed in the field. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s budget, set at $21.5 billion in 2019, is still nearly double that of its Chinese counterpart.

　　美国也在努力重振其载人航天探索计划，之前由于转向了无人探测，这方面的工作日渐衰微。美国总统特朗普(Trump)在2017年12月签署的一份空间政策指令中阐述了载人登月和火星登陆计划，并着手筹建太空部队，以对抗中国军方开发的太空武器。在出台这些举措之前，专家们出席了2016年众议院负责太空事务的委员会作证，在这场名为“我们是否会在太空竞赛中输给中国?”的听证会中，专家们指出美国有可能输掉这场竞赛。美国国家航空航天局(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)2019年的预算定为215亿美元，仍然是中国的近两倍。

　　Already rivals on Earth, the U.S. and China are now the main contenders in a race to determine “who will be in a position to obtain the vast resources in space, secure the routes of trade and write the rules of space commerce,” said Namrata Goswami, an expert on China’s space program at Auburn University Futures Lab in Alabama.

　　亚拉巴马州奥本大学(Auburn University)未来实验室(Futures Lab)的中国太空项目专家Namrata Goswami称，在这场决定“谁将有能力获得太空中的巨量资源、确保贸易路线的安全并制定太空商业规则”的竞赛中，美国和中国目前是最主要的竞争者，而在地球上，这两个国家也是竞争对手。

　　China, she added, “is best placed to win,” thanks to a methodical program that has mapped out clearly defined objectives decades into the future.

　　她还说，中国“最有可能获胜”，这要归功于一项为未来几十年制定了明确目标的按部就班的计划。