英语小达人 81 Blast off

 　　Blast off

　　发射

　　Mack Dagger¹ is a millionaire, who, since he was a little boy, has dreamed of flying to space. Now his dream is going to come ture. Mack gave the U.S. NASA Base ten million dollars to escort him on their next trip to space. After several weeks of travelling, Mack and the rest of the crew were ready to take off.

　　麦克·戴格是个百万富翁，他从小就梦想要飞上太空；如今他的梦想即将成真。麦克给美国太空总署总部一千万美元，希望他们下回上太空时可以护送他一起去。经过几周的训练后，麦克和其他船员都已经做好升空的准备。

　　Mack stepped into the spaceship. He was still fascinated with all the buttons and gadgets² inside the aircraft. He knew not to touch anything. He was just along as a passenger.

　　麦克踏进了太空舱，虽然他还是对船上所有的按钮和机件很着迷，但他知道自己只是随行的乘客，什么东西都不可以乱碰。

　　The four other astronauts were there to take care of everything they need on their two-week trip. They were heading out to do a routine check on one of the U.S. satellites that had been launched out into space over four years ago.

　　为期两周的太空之旅，四名太空人会把一切都打点好。此行的目的是要为一颗已经发射到太空四年以上的人造卫星，进行惯常的检查工作。

　　Once everyone was in and strapped³ in, the astronauts began to filp switches, call out orders and check monitors displaying information. Mack's family was at the launch pad. He saw them out the window. They were waving, his youngest daughter was crying. And then the crew leader called out,"Ready team. Four, three, two, one, blast off!"

　　等到大家都坐好且系好安全带后，宇航员便开始快速转动开关、发布指令、并检查监视器的显示资讯。麦克家人都在发射台那边，他从窗户看到他们在挥手，他的小女儿还哭了起来。接着太空船船长一声令下：“全员准备出发。四，三，二，一，发射！”

1 dagger   

n.匕首，短剑，剑号

参考例句：

• The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。
• The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。

2 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

3 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》