英语听力：自然百科 Rosetta航天探测器

 The European Space Agency’s deep space probe Rosetta transmitted high-resolution images of an asteroid¹ millions of miles from Earth. Rosetta caught up with the Steins Asteroid Friday night in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Unfortunately, shortly before its closest flyby at five hundred miles, Rosetta’s narrow angle camera stopped working.

 

Officials at the ESA were not sure exactly what caused the camera to fail. According to the mission manager, a wide-angle camera was able to take pictures and send them to the space center, adding that the overall outlook for the data was good.

 

The Rosetta craft, launched in March, 2004, is now reportedly about 250 million miles from Earth. A roughly three-mile-diameter Steins Asteroid is being studied for keys that could help unlock some of the mysteries about the creation of the Solar System.

 

( “ I think it's a typical asteroid and asteroids² are very irregular bodies, and particularly the smaller ones, they are extremely irregular, and the amazing thing seems to be that there is still one body more or less, and because the craters³ are very defined, some of them are very ,very defined, but maybe it's crushed, and I want to say, and there is ,  if you look at the sizes of the craters, then most of the interior of the asteroid may be crushed, we have to investigate this”)

 

 According to the Associated Press, data from Rosetta’s working camera was being processed in Southern Germany, while further infrared⁴ data collected by the probe was being analyzed⁵ in Rome.

 

“I think it whets⁶ our appetite for the next things to come. It looks like we get really something out of that mission. It is a… I ‘m very pleased that it works so well.”

1 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

2 asteroids   

n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 )；海盘车，海星

参考例句：

• Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星，亦称为“小型行星”，在外太空中不计其数。
• Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。

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 infrared   

adj./n.红外线(的)

参考例句：

• Infrared is widely used in industry and medical science.红外线广泛应用于工业和医学科学。
• Infrared radiation has wavelengths longer than those of visible light.红外辐射的波长比可见光的波长长。

5 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 whets   

v.（在石头上）磨（刀、斧等）( whet的第三人称单数 )；引起，刺激（食欲、欲望、兴趣等）

参考例句：

• Reading travel brochures whets one's appetite for a holiday. 看了旅游手册就巴不得去度假。 来自互联网
• The decade whets sword, frost blade has never tried. 十年磨一剑，霜刃未曾试。 来自互联网