美国有线新闻 CNN 印度登月失败 印度总理鼓励科学家

印度登月失败 印度总理鼓励科学家

First, to the moon. Things have not gone as planned in a recent mission by India to make a soft landing on the lunar surface. A soft landing means a spacecraft has a slow, controlled descent¹. And spacecraft from only three countries — the United States, China and the former Soviet² Union — have ever done this. India's attempt to become the fourth country in that club probably ended in failure over the weekend. We say probably because scientists aren't sure yet what happened. There are three components³ to its mission — an orbiter to circle the moon, a lander to touch down on it and a rover attached to the lander.

On Saturday, the lander was descending⁴ towards the moons surface — it was a little more than a mile above it — when contact was lost. Scientists don't know yet how hard it hit the moon, how bad the damage might be or whether the instruments aboard can still get some work done. They have located it but they're still trying to get a signal from it. Even if it's destroyed though, the mission isn't a total loss. The orbiter is still doing its job circling the moon. Its mission is to map the moon's surface and to study its atmosphere. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the mission control room when contact with the lander was lost. He said, in life, there are ups and downs but that India is still proud of its scientists and their hard work.

1 descent   

n.下降，下倾，斜坡，坡道，血统，世系

参考例句：

• We watched anxiously during her descent from the tree.我们焦急地看着她从树上爬下来。
• Many Americans are of English descent.许多美国人的祖籍是英国。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

4 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。