《经济学人》2019年10月05日这一期，Space travel Move fast and build things 这篇文章讲到Elon Musk的太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）制造星际飞船的历程。
在讲飞船的生产过程时，用到了prototype这个单词，今天我们就来深入学习一下。
我们先来听一下原声音频片段（英音），建议大家在听第一遍的时候先别看文本，这样磨耳朵，听力水平才会慢慢提升哦：<mpvoice frameborder="0" src="/cgi-bin/readtemplate?t=tmpl/audio_tmpl&name=SpaceX%27s%20Starship&play_length=00:32" isaac2="1" low_size="60.51" source_size="60.5" high_size="253.51" name="SpaceX" s starship'="" play_length="32000" voice_encode_fileid="MzI2NzIwNjU5NF8yNjUyNTkwMzk3"> SpaceX's Starship 来自我爱背单词 00:00 00:32
The Starship prototype, for instance, was welded together in a matter of months. It was built out in the open, rather than in a carefully controlled factory environment. The firm has two teams competing against each other to produce the best design. Ideas are tested quickly, taken forward if they work, and scrapped if they do not. The Starship was originally to be made of a carbon-fibre composite. But the company soon abandoned that idea, destroying its production tools.例如，星际飞船的原型是在几个月的时间里焊接在一起的，而且是露天建造，并非在一个精心控制的工厂环境中。这家公司有两个团队互相竞争来生产出最好的设计，想法很快就会被测试，如果有效就会被采纳，如果无效就会被废弃。星际飞船最初是由碳纤维复合材料制成的，但是公司很快就放弃了这个想法，毁掉了它的生产工具。
