英语听力：自然百科 行星旅行指南：火星 Mars—6

 Steve Squyres’ Martian odyssey¹ has taken him from pole to pole, visiting those places on earth that share at least some of the same characteristics. They are extremely dry, extremely cold or extremely dead. Death Valley is one of his favorites. 

 

“This is actually a really important place. It’s a place we call Mars Hill. We first found this place about 20 years ago. In those days the only successful landing that had taken place on Mars was the two Viking Landers, and they landed in places that looked very much like this.”

 

In order to plan for the current Mars mission and to test the camera and other equipment, NASA needed a good Mars look alike. They founded at Mars Hill. 

 

“To your eyes, the main way in which Mars would look different from the scene will be the color: the color of the sky, and the color of the rocks, and the color of the soil. The colors on Mars are painted from a very narrow palette.”

 

The color palette here is based on rust², rich in iron oxides. The rocks and soil and the rusty³ dust are always blowing around in the freeze dried atmosphere. You won’t see any blue skies in the tour brochures for Mars. Instead, they are amber⁴. Not only do the dust particles add a rosy⁵ blush to the sky, they also scatter⁶ sunlight in a way that turns the color of the Martian sky upside down to human eyes, red by day and blue at dawn and dusk.

 

This is a sunset as seen by Spirit, a cold blue sun dropping over a distant alien horizon. Looking up into the clear starry⁷ sky from the surface, you would see Mars’ two tiny moons, Phobos and the smaller Deimos. With all the grace of a space potato, and barely 17 miles long, Phobos has been targeted as a potential stepping stone for the first human mission to Mars.

1 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

2 rust   

n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退

参考例句：

• She scraped the rust off the kitchen knife.她擦掉了菜刀上的锈。
• The rain will rust the iron roof.雨水会使铁皮屋顶生锈。

3 rusty   

adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的

参考例句：

• The lock on the door is rusty and won't open.门上的锁锈住了。
• I haven't practiced my French for months and it's getting rusty.几个月不用，我的法语又荒疏了。

4 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

5 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

6 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

7 starry   

adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的

参考例句：

• He looked at the starry heavens.他瞧着布满星星的天空。
• I like the starry winter sky.我喜欢这满天星斗的冬夜。