关注社会:"火星一号"到中国招募移民

The statistics are staggering: 60 per cent of Chinese worth more than Rmb10m are either planning to move to another country, or have already done so.

统计数据相当惊人：个人财富超过1000万元人民币的中国人中，60%已经或正在计划移民去别的国家。

Maybe that’s why the people from Mars One came to China on Friday to recruit settlers for the red planet.

也许这是为何“火星一号”(Mars One)的人周五来中国招募移民去红色星球。

Mars One is a non-profit organisation that promises to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2023. “Mars One will fund this decade-long endeavor by involving the whole world as the audience of an interactive, televised broadcast of every aspect of this mission – from launch to landing to living on Mars, ” the group said in a press release.

“火星一号”是一个非盈利组织，承诺2023年在火星上建立永久的人类定居点。“火星一号将资助这一长达10年的努力，邀请全世界参与，通过互动的电视广播，全方位转播这一开拓之旅——从发射、着陆，到在火星上生活。”该组织在新闻发布稿中声称。

So it seems man’s first cultural export to Mars will be reality TV.

所以，人类对火星的首次文化输出看来将会是电视真人秀节目。

Mars One is expecting as many as half a million applicants to be Mars Pioneers, and has already started working on their life support system and spacesuits. On the project’s homepage are self-portraits of some of those from around the world who have already applied.

“火星一号”组织预计将有多达50万人申请成为火星先驱，并已开始致力于为他们提供生命支持系统和宇航服。该项目主页上公布了世界各地一些已提交申请者的自我介绍。

Meet Melissa, 52, complete with bottle-blond hair, strapless top and smeary mascara: she recites a bit of dirty doggerel for the camera about her qualifications for the mission, and concludes that she should be chosen because “you ain’t gonna have that many candidates”.

来见见梅丽莎(Melissa)，52岁，染一头金发，穿露肩抹胸和涂着晕开的睫毛膏：她对着摄像头背诵了一段关于她为何能胜任这一使命的、有点儿下流的段子，并总结说自己应该被选上，因为“你们不会有那么多申请者”。

But Mars One says it already has more than 600 applicants from China, which last year sent its first woman into space. The website already showcases three applicants from China, all in their 20s.

但“火星一号”声称已收到600多份来自中国的申请，该国去年把第一位女性宇航员送上了太空。其网站上已发表了三个来自中国的申请者资料，年龄都在20多岁。

And exactly how will Mars One beam Melissa or her Chinese couterpart up there in the first place? “Through the integration of existing, readily available technology that can be purchased from the global private space industry”, the group says, adding that they are”in talks with various other aerospace companies for different components of the mission”.

而首要问题是“火星一号”究竟要怎样把梅丽莎和她的中国同僚们送上去呢？“通过整合现有的、现成的、可向全球私营太空行业购买的技术，”该组织表示，并补充说他们“正就完成这一使命的不同环节，与多家宇航公司进行谈判。”

Are they just crazy? David Sable, chief executive of Young and Rubicam, the advertising agency, thinks not: their “$6bn budget to make this happen is not too far off from the $5bn revenue made by the Olympics through advertising over a relatively short period of time, ” he says in a blog posted on the Mars One site.

他们疯了吗？其广告代理扬罗必凯公司(Young and Rubicam)首席执行官戴维·塞伯(David Sable)不这么认为：他们“有60亿美元的预算来令其成为现实，这跟奥运期间相对较短的时间里通过广告实现50亿美元营收，差距并不太大”，他在“火星一号”网站发布的一条博客中说。

Xi Jinping is promising to make China’s dreams come true right here on earth – but if he cannot? Try Mars on for size: at this rate, it may be easier to breathe there than in Beijing.

习近平承诺要在地球上实现“中国梦”——但若不能呢？就试试火星的大小是否合适吧：按现在的速度发展下去，也许在火星上能够呼吸比北京更好的空气。