考研英语阅读篇章: 苏格兰或将建造航天飞机基地

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    考研英语阅读篇章:苏格兰或将建造航天飞机基地
    Scotland could host the UK's first dedicated base for spaceplanes,
according to new government plans.
    根据英国政府的新计划，苏格兰可能将建造英国首个航天飞机专用基地。
    Artist's concept: Virgin Galactic plans to launch satellites as well as
people into space
    Ministers want to establish the UK spaceport by 2018 - the first of its
kind outside of the US.
    Eight aerodromes(航空站) have been shortlisted and Scotland has six of the
potential locations.
    The Scottish government said only independence would lead to a greater
development of the country's space industry.
    For ministers and the space industry, the major interest in a UK spaceport
is as a facility to enable satellite launches, but hopefully it would also
become a centre for the new tourism initiatives from specialist operators such
as Virgin Galactic and XCor.
    Ahead of the announcement at this week's Farnborough Airshow, Chief
Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander hinted that Scotland could become a
key player in the UK government's future plans for developing commercial space
travel.
    He said: "I am delighted that the government is pushing forward with its
ambitious plans to open a spaceport in the UK by 2018. Spaceports will be key to
us opening up the final frontier of commercial space travel.
    "Scotland has a proud association with space exploration. We celebrated
Neil Armstrong's Scottish ancestry when he became the first man on the Moon and
only last week an amazing Scottish company was responsible for building the UK
Space Agency's first satellite.
    "The UK space industry is one of our great success stories and I am sure
there will be a role for Scotland to play in the future."