經過考察和論證，造福子孫後代的南水北調工程於近日開工。我國北方一些地區用水困難的局面，將在不久的將來得以有效改善。
Themassivewaterdiversion（調撥）projectplannedfordecadesstartedonDecember27th2002．Theconstruction，whichwilllast50years，aimsatdivertingwaterfromthewater-richsouthtothearid（乾旱的'）northofChinatoensureawatersupplyforagriculturalandindustrialproductionandpeople’sdailyuse．
Withanestimatedinvestmentofabout500billionyuan（about60billionUSdollars），theprojectwillchannelwaterfromthreeplacesrespectively（分別）ontheupper，middleandlowerreachesoftheYangtze，China’slongestriver，todestinations（目的地）inthenorth．Expertssaywaterdiversionfromsouthtonorthisnowbothnecessaryandfeasible（可行的），asproblemscannowbeproperlyhandled．
China’swaterresourcesareimbalancedindifferentregions．Inthesouthernpart，waterresourcesarerich，whileinthenorthit’sscarce．WatershortagesinnorthernChinahasbeenhindering（阻礙）economicdevelopment，andaffectingdailylife．“Withoutwater，”accordingtoGuZhaoqi，anexpertonwaterresourcesfromTsinghuaUniversity，“manyplaceshaveturnedintodeserts，withlocaleco-systems（生態）destroyed．”ThisyeartheseveredroughtinShandongProvincealonehascausedover26billionyuanloss．
Oncetheprojectiscompleted，atotalof44．8billioncubicmeters（立方米）ofwaterwillbeannually（每年一度地）channeledfromtheYangtzetothenorthofChinaanditisexpectedtofundamentally（基本上）solvethewaterscarcity（缺乏）innorthernChina．
我國國力的增強也給科技插上了翅膀。中國的無人駕駛宇宙飛船“神舟”四號順利升空，它標誌我國航空業又朝載人技術邁進了一大步。
Chinahassuccessfullylaunched（發射）itsfourthunmannedtestspacecraftintoorbit．ThesuccessfullaunchdemonstratedthatChina’smannedspacescienceandtechnologyprogramisgettingincreasinglymature（成熟）．ThelaunchwasChina’sfourthsuccessfulspacecraftlaunchinthreeyears．Previous（以前的）testswereconductedin1999，2001andearlierthisyear．LikeitsShenzhouIIIpredecessor（前者），ShenzhouIVhasallthefunctionsofamannedspacecraft．
ShenzhouIVisjustonestepawayfromamannedflight．Infact，beforethelaunch，Chineseastronautsenteredthecrafttogetafeelofit．Landandsearescuemissionswerealsorehearsed（演習）．
Thespacecraftwillstayinorbitforaweek．Itsdescentmodule（降落艙）willtouchdowninChina’sInnerMongoliaAutonomousRegion．
Ifallgoeswell，ShenzhouIVshouldbethelastunmannedtestflightoftheShenzhouSeriesspacecraft．ShenzhouVmaybecomethenation’sfirstmannedspacecraft，makingChinathethirdcountryintheworldtosendmanintoouterspace，afterRussiaandtheUS．
