神秘的月球 第11期

 　　As the moon pulls away it will put an end

　　随着月球日渐远离

　　to one of nature's most glorious spectacles;

　　自然界中最壮丽的奇景也将画下句点

　　a total solar eclipse.

　　那就是日全食

　　The moon is 400 times smaller than the sun.

　　月球的体积是太阳的四百分之一

　　But at the moment it is also precisely¹ 400 times

　　但目前和地球的距离

　　closer to the earth than the sun is.

　　也是太阳和地球距离的四百分之一

　　This amazing coincidence means that

　　这个惊人的巧合表示

　　when the moon passes directly in front of the sun,

　　月球经过太阳前方时

　　it appears exactly the same size.

　　两者看来体积相当

　　We are living at the only time in the history of the solar system

　　只有我们身处的这个时代

　　when this unique spectacle is possible.

　　才看得到这种奇观

　　As the moon drifts away from us,

　　随着月球日渐远离

　　this awe-inspiring sight will be over forever.

　　这个令人敬畏的异象，将会成为历史

　　So over the years scientists continued to

　　这些年来科学家不断做出

　　make exciting new discoveries about our moon.

　　有关月球的新发现

　　But somehow it was never enough to reignite our passion

　　但似乎永远不足以再度引燃

　　for our closest neighbour.

　　我们对月球的热情

　　And that was partly because our attention had turned elsewhere.

　　有部分原因可归咎于人们的注意力已转向别的地方

　　There are over one hundred

　　太阳系中还有150多颗

　　and fifty other moons in the solar system,

　　其他的卫星

　　and by the late 1970's we were starting to explore them.

　　我们在1970年代末期，开始探索这些卫星

　　The results were spectacular.

　　得到的结果令人啧啧称奇

　　The journey of discovery began with the Voyager probes.

　　航海家探测器为这趟发现之旅揭开了序幕

　　They were sent to explore the outer solar system

　　它们的目的是探索外侧太阳系

　　the gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn².

　　如木星和土星等巨型气体行星

　　Until now these extraordinary worlds

　　在此之前人们只能透过望远镜

　　had been seen only through telescopes.

　　观察这些奇异又美丽的世界

　　It took 2 years for these probes to reach their first port of call

　　这些探测器花了两年才抵达第一个停靠点

　　Jupiter.

　　木星

　　Scientists all over the world were gripped,

　　世界各地的科学家都屏息

　　waiting for the first close up pictures of the great giant.

　　等待木星第一批特写照片回传

　　But when Voyager started transmitting pictures back to earth,

　　但是航海家开始将影像回传地球时

　　they were in for a surprise.

　　科学家有了意想不到的惊喜

　　It seemed it was Jupiter's moons, rather than the planet itself,

　　看来最惊人的秘密，似乎存在于木星的卫星

　　that held the most exciting secrets.

　　而非木星本身

　　We thought the moons of the outer planets

　　我们一直以为外行星的卫星

　　would be lumps of ice covered in craters³.

　　都是布满陨石坑的冰块

　　And that was about it.

　　此外乏善可陈

　　But when Voyager started transmitting

　　但航海家开始回传

　　back pictures of Jupiter's innermost moon,

　　最靠近木星的卫星木卫一的影像时

　　lo, there was a strange anomaly.

　　出现了一个奇怪的异常之处

　　A young NASA scientist spotted⁴

　　航太总署一名年轻科学家发现

　　an odd looking bulge⁵ on the moon's side.

　　卫星的侧面有个奇怪的隆起

　　I came in about 9 o'clock that morning to the navigation area

　　我那天早上九点左右来到导航区

　　and the tape with the pictures the spacecraft

　　探测器前一天拍到的影片

　　had taken the day before was on my desk.

　　就放在我桌上

　　I put them on the computer system

　　于是我就用电脑放出来看

　　and I displayed them and I could see that lo,

　　我看到

　　the moon of lo, was a crescent as very

　　木卫一呈新月形

　　often our own moon is a crescent in the night sky.

　　就如同我们自己的月亮在夜空中往往呈新月形一样

　　And I went and enhanced the brightness

　　我增加了画面的亮度

　　and there appeared beside lo,

　　发现木卫一的一侧

　　an object, a huge object that looked like something

　　出现一个巨大的物体

　　I couldn't recognise and could never have expected

　　我没料到会看到这种情景，也不知道那是什么

　　and it completely captured my attention.

　　所以看得全神贯注

　　I wanted to know so badly what that was.

　　我很想知道那是什么

　　I just had to ask myself 'my goodness what is that? '.

　　忍不住自问 “天啊，那是什么？”

1 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

2 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings.天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

3 craters   

n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等

参考例句：

• Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The battlefield was full of craters made by exploding shells. 战场上布满弹坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

5 bulge   

n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀

参考例句：

• The apple made a bulge in his pocket.苹果把他口袋塞得鼓了起来。
• What's that awkward bulge in your pocket?你口袋里那块鼓鼓囊囊的东西是什么？