VOA常速英语2015--汤博家乡庆祝冥王星探索（在线收听）

汤博家乡庆祝冥王星探索

STREATOR, ILLINOIS— Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, born in rural Illinois in 1906, discovered what became the ninth planet in our solar system – Pluto. Today, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is providing the clearest images of this distant body. The probe's encounter with the dwarf planet is an historic moment for the astronomer's hometown.

Streator, Illinois, is about as far away from Pluto as you can get on planet Earth.

伊利诺斯州的斯特里特，在地球上离冥王星十分遥远。

But Pluto is at the center of Streator’s universe.

但冥王星却是斯特里特世界的中心。

“We are pro-Pluto in Streator,” said Streator City Councilman Ed Brozak.

斯特里特市议会议员艾德·布罗扎克说“在斯特里特市我们是冥王星粉”。

The reason why began in the backyard of a rural Streator farmhouse almost a century ago, when 12-year-old Clyde Tombaugh looked to the heavens through this telescope made by his uncle, who was Judith Bliss’s grandfather. What he saw through it, says Bliss, changed Tombaugh's life.

这是因为一个世纪前，在斯特里特一个农舍的后院里，12岁的男孩克莱德·汤博用叔叔制作的望远镜看天空，他的叔叔是朱迪斯·布利斯的祖父，布里斯说汤博所看到的一切改变了他的一生。

“They looked at the moon that night. And that was the first time Clyde had seen anything through a telescope. And he was very impressed,” Bliss said.

“他们那天晚上看着月球，这是克莱德·汤博第一次使用望远镜看东西，他非常震惊。”

Tombaugh went on to build his own telescopes that took the human eye further into the cosmos.

汤博开始制作自己的望远镜，进一步观察宇宙。

In 1930, from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona, Tombaugh spotted the celestial body we know as Pluto. The discovery made headlines in Streator.

1930年，汤博使用亚利桑那州弗拉格斯塔夫的洛厄尔天文台发现了冥王星，这一发现成了斯特里特的头条新闻。

What also made headlines 76 years later was the International Astronomical Union’s reclassification of Pluto as a “dwarf” planet.

76年后，国际天文联合会将冥王星重新分类为“矮”行星，这一消息再次成了头条。

“I think we all feel, it was a planet, we knew it as a planet, so why is not it a planet?” asked Streator Mayor Jimmie Lansford.

“我认为我们都觉得这是一颗行星，我们知道它是一颗行星，为什么不能是行星呢？”

But what the International Astronomical Union took away from Pluto, it has in a way, given back to Streator.

但国际天文联合会从冥王星那里拿走的，在某种程度上又还给斯特里特了。

“With all the controversy over the last several years, it has really brought attention to the city of Streator,” Councilman Brozak said.

“过去几年存在着争议，确实也让斯特里特得到关注。”

So planet or not, Streator used Pluto’s spotlight to honor its famous son.

所以无论是否是行星，斯特里特利用冥王星这一聚光灯给了它著名的儿子以荣耀。

“There are new road signs going up on Main Street and will be dedicated very soon, 'Pluto Pathway,” Brozak said.

“主干道上很快就有新路标‘冥王星路径’。”

There is also a mural of Tombaugh in Streator’s downtown, and a plaque honoring his discovery that stands outside city hall. And there are T-shirts as well.

斯特里特市中心还有一个有关汤博的壁画，市政厅外还有一幅纪念汤博发现的牌匾，还有各种T恤。

But, Bliss says the greatest honor to Tombaugh is not bound to these earthly confines. It is on the New Horizons spacecraft - her cousin’s cremated remains.

但是，布里斯说，对汤博最大的纪念并不限于这些世俗的褒奖，“新视野号”飞船上带有她表哥的骨灰。

“It is kind of neat that someone from Streator has ashes that are almost to Pluto, or going by Pluto,” Judith Bliss said.

“这是一种荣耀，将斯特里特人的骨灰送到冥王星，或是经过冥王星。”

In mapping out the far reaches of our solar system, Tombaugh put Streator on the map of history. Now, a little part of Streator, and a part of Bliss -- the DNA she shared with her cousin -- hurtles on through space, continuing the journey on New Horizons as it maps out unchartered depths of our solar system.

在探索遥远的太阳系时，汤博将斯特里特放在历史的图册中。现在，斯特里特的一部分，布里斯的一部分——她和表哥共同的DNA，正向太空飞去，在“新视野号”探索太阳系的新深度时继续这一旅程。