2008-11-08 印度首次探月

“Six, five, four, three, two, one, zero”

India launched its first mission to the moon on Wednesday, rocketing the Chandrayaan-1 into the dawn sky for a 2-year mission to redraw maps of the lunar surface.

“Dear colleagues and friends, it’s a historic moment as far as India is concerned. We have started our journey to the Moon, and the first leg of the journey has gone perfectly¹ well.”

Today, only the US, Russia, European Space Agency, Japan and China have set missions to the moon. The launch will put India in an elite² group of nations with the scientific know-how³ to reach the moon, while heating up a burgeoning⁴ Asian space race.

As India’s economy has boomed in recent years, the government has sought to convert new-found wealth built on its high-tech⁵ sector⁶ into political and military cloud and stake a claim as a world leader.

The Chandrayaan-1 or “Moon Craft” will join Japanese and Chinese crafts in orbit around the moon.  Among the goals of the mission are mapping the moon and scanning for mineral deposits under the surface. Of the 11 research instruments sent up on this Indian mission, NASA has two on board, including a mini synthetic-aperture radar⁷ that can search for ice under the lunar poles, an important resource for any human settlements. India plans to follow up this mission with landing a rover on the moon in 2011, and eventually, a manned space program, though this has not yet been authorized⁸.

1 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

2 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

3 know-how   

n.知识；技术；诀窍

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
• I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。

4 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

5 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

8 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。