美国国家公共电台 NPR Young Astronaut Hopeful Gets NASA Tour Of His (Space) Dreams

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Back in January, we introduced you to the Rahimov family. They had immigrated¹ from Uzbekistan, and we met them on the day they became U.S. citizens in Kansas City, Mo. In that story, we heard 16-year-old Murad Rahimov talk about how much he loves astronomy and his dream to work for NASA.

As it happens, a NASA astrophysicist was listening to that story too. And he reached out. Last week, the two met up at the Goddard Space Flight Center outside Washington, D.C. NPR's Melissa Block picks up their story.

MELISSA BLOCK, BYLINE²: The astrophysicist and the young would-be astronaut first connected by email.

MURAD: (Reading) Hello, Dr. Schnittman, how are you? Thanks so much for having the interest in me.

BLOCK: Murad wrote that he's been fascinated by space since he was 3, that his dream is to lead a mission to Mars.

MURAD: (Reading) I find it unusually strange how most people don't have the curiosity and drive to understand things larger than themselves.

BLOCK: The NASA scientist, Dr. Jeremy Schnittman who specializes in black holes, invited Murad to come for a tour of Goddard. And last week...

JEREMY SCHNITTMAN: Hi, welcome.

BLOCK: ...Murad and his mother Limara took him up on the offer.

SCHNITTMAN: You have a good trip?

MURAD: It was great.

BLOCK: Murad is wearing a T-shirt with a picture of the Millennium³ Falcon⁴ spaceship from "Star Wars" and this line from the movie - the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy⁵. And as he tours the Goddard Space Flight Center, you can tell he's in his element.

SCHNITTMAN: Do you know about redshift?

MURAD: Yeah, it's like space is accelerating, yeah.

BLOCK: Dr. Schnittman shows Murad the clean room, where they build giant space telescopes that peer into distant galaxies⁶.

SCHNITTMAN: The big exciting thing is extrasolar planets, planets where...

BLOCK: Murad gets to see a giant cryo-vac chamber⁷ and a new instrument measuring the densest⁸ known objects in the universe.

SCHNITTMAN: ...Catching⁹ X-rays from things like neutron¹⁰ stars and black holes and counting them up.

MURAD: This is really an amazing tour.

SCHNITTMAN: Well, good, I'm glad you were able to do it.

BLOCK: Later, Murad tells me that his dream of becoming an astronaut feels more within reach now that he's a U.S. citizen. He and his brother automatically became citizens when their parents did. Murad was at school the day they took that oath.

MURAD: I came home, and I looked at my parents and felt all this pride. You could sense that something has changed. They were smiling from ear to ears.

BLOCK: Limara works at a school. And every morning, they all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Before, she says, it didn't touch her.

LIMARA RAHIMOVA: But now, yes, and I know what each word in the Pledge of Allegiance means. And it means, for me, a lot.

BLOCK: As for Murad, the rising high school junior has his sights set on going to Caltech and on that Mars mission he wants to lead.

MURAD: Some people, they tell me to try to get, like, a real job - of maybe not shooting so high. But nah (ph), I'm shooting for it. I'm going to chase my dreams.

BLOCK: Meantime, there's a celestial¹¹ show about to happen, one he's been excited about for years - the total solar eclipse. Murad's hometown, Kansas City, is a perfect spot to see it right in the path of totality. Next Monday, he'll be outside watching as the moon slides over the sun - watching in awe¹² and dreaming big dreams of space. Melissa Block, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF KELPE'S "VALERIAN")

1 immigrated   

v.移入( immigrate的过去式和过去分词 )；移民

参考例句：

• He immigrated from Ulster in 1848. 他1848年从阿尔斯特移民到这里。 来自辞典例句
• Many Pakistanis have immigrated to Britain. 许多巴基斯坦人移居到了英国。 来自辞典例句

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

4 falcon   

n.隼，猎鹰

参考例句：

• The falcon was twice his size with pouted feathers.鹰张开羽毛比两只鹰还大。
• The boys went hunting with their falcon.男孩子们带着猎鹰出去打猎了。

5 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

6 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

7 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

8 densest   

密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的

参考例句：

• Past Botoi some of the densest jungle forests on Anopopei grew virtually into the water. 过了坊远湾，岛上的莽莽丛林便几乎直长到水中。
• Earth is the densest of all of these remaining planets. 地球是所剩下行星中最致密的星球。

9 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

10 neutron   

n.中子

参考例句：

• Neutron is neutral and slightly heavier than the proton.中子是中性的，比质子略重。
• Based on the neutron energy,the value of weighting factor was given.根据中子能量给出了相应的辐射权重因子的数值。

11 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

12 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。