六级冲刺练习阅读（25）_大学英语阅读

六级冲刺练习阅读（25）

　　Flights into outer space began when Sputnik I was launched in 1957, and man first went into space in 1961. During the late 1950s and early 1960s many satellites man-made astral bodies orbited the earth and moon. Satellites, which will be controlled by men on earth, may have many beneficial uses. Perhaps scientists will discover a source of energy 100 miles above the earth. This energy could be transmitted to us as a source of power for manufacturing plants or even for our cook stoves. Or one of these missiles might serve as the medium for transmitting communications across the globe. Telephonic communications might be carried on by beaming waves at the missile, which would in turn beam waves at a telephone halfway across the world. The missile might be the telephonic connection, for example, between you in New York, and a friend in Bangkok.

　　Such a satellite might also be used as the transmitting medium for interna tional television broadcasts. Programs being telecast from a Paris studio could then be seen simultaneously in every other country. This immediate international transmission will surely be a development before the turn of a new century.

　　We may expect to order our clothing, groceries,and other household goods by television-phone. We prophesy that within twenty five years, our telephones will be equipped with television screens so that we can see the person at the other end of the line.

　　Other fields of science have also made gigantic strides in progress. Medicine had operated so efficiently in the past half-century that many diseases have been nearly wiped out. And more will join this disappearing group of diseases. Diabetes and polio are under control. We can hope and expect that cancer will be conquered. Certain skin diseases, like psoriasis and eczema, which are exceedingly common though not fatal, will be eradicated. The victims of annoying diseases will lead pleasanter lives.