VOA慢速英语2020 宇宙飞船拍下有史以来距离太阳最近的图像

A European and NASA spacecraft has sent back the closest pictures ever taken of the sun's surface. They show the surface has thousands of small solar flares¹, or what scientists are calling "campfires."

欧洲和美国国家航空航天局（简称NASA）合作研制的宇宙飞船传回了有史以来距离太阳表面最近的照片。这些照片显示，太阳表面有数千个小型太阳耀班，或科学家称为的“营火”。

Scientists released the first images taken by Solar Orbiter last week. The spacecraft was launched from Cape² Canaveral, Florida in February.

科学家上周公布了太阳轨道器拍到的首批图像。这艘宇宙飞船于今年2月从佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角发射升空。

The orbiter was around 77 million kilometers away from the sun — about halfway³ between Earth and the sun — when it took the pictures.

拍摄照片时，轨道器距离太阳约7700万公里，这大约是太阳和地球之间距离的一半。

Solar Orbiter's pictures are the first images from so close to the sun's surface. They show colored swirls⁴ — bright yellow and dark gray.

太阳轨道器拍摄的照片是首批如此接近太阳表面的照片。这些照片显示出彩色漩涡——亮黄色和暗灰色。

Daniel Müller is a European Space Agency project scientist. He told The Associated Press (AP) that the research team had to create a new term for the small flares: campfires.

丹尼尔·穆勒是欧洲航天局的项目科学家。他对美联社（简称AP）表示，研究小组必须为这种小型耀斑创造出一个新术语：营火。

Müller described the many "campfires" as quite possibly "the tiny cousins of the solar flares that we already know."

穆勒称许多“营火”很可能是“我们已经知道的太阳耀斑的小表亲”。

These small flares could help explain why the sun's outer covering — the corona⁵ — is 300 times hotter than the star's surface. But scientists are waiting for more information from Solar Orbiter's other instruments to know for sure.

这些小型耀斑有助于解释为何太阳的外层——日冕——比太阳表面的温度高30倍。但科学家正在等待太阳轨道器的其他仪器提供更多信息，帮助他们进行确认。

David Berghmans is with the Royal Observatory⁶ of Belgium. He was the lead scientist who developed the instrument that took the images. Berghmans told the AP that, "When the first images came in, my first thought was, 'This is not possible — it can't be that good.'"

大卫·伯格曼斯来自比利时皇家天文台。他是首席科学家，研制出了拍下这些图像的设备。伯格曼斯对美联社表示，“当首批图像传来时，我的第一个想法是，‘这不可能——不可能那么好’。”

He added, "It was really much better than we expected, but what we dared to hope for."

他补充说，“这确实大大超出我们的预期，但在我们敢于期待的范围内。”

The $1.5 billion spacecraft will move even closer to the sun's surface in the next two years. The spacecraft will change its orbit as the mission goes on. This will make it possible for Solar Orbiter to take the first pictures of the solar poles.

这艘耗资15亿美元的宇宙飞船将在未来两年继续接近太阳表面。该飞船将随着任务的进行而改变其轨道。这将使太阳轨道器有可能拍到太阳两极的首批照片。

Solar Orbiter also carries plasma-sampling instruments to offer researchers additional information about the sun.

太阳轨道器还携带着等离子体取样仪器，可为研究人员提供更多有关太阳的信息。

Project scientist Holly⁷ Gilbert notes, "That combination (of instruments) really allows us to make links and connections to what's happening on the sun and what's happening at the spacecraft."

项目科学家霍利·吉尔伯特指出，“这种仪器组合使人们能将太阳上发生的情况和宇宙飞船上发生的事情联系起来。”

Gilbert is with NASA, the U.S. government's civilian⁸ space program.

吉尔伯特来自美国政府负责民用太空计划的机构——美国国家航空航天局（简称NASA）。

Solar Orbiter's main mission of examining the sun's polar areas will help researchers understand the causes of solar wind — electrically charged particles that go through our solar system. Solar wind can affect satellites and electronics on Earth.

太阳轨道器的主要任务是检查太阳两极区域，这将有助于研究人员理解太阳风的成因，太阳风是穿过太阳系的带电粒子。太阳风可以影响地球上的卫星和电子设备。

"This is just the beginning of the long epic⁹ journey of Solar Orbiter," Müller said.

穆勒表示，“这只是太阳轨道器史诗般漫长旅程的开始。”

I'm John Russell.

约翰·拉塞尔报道。

1 flares   

n.喇叭裤v.（使）闪耀( flare的第三人称单数 )；（使）（船舷）外倾；（使）鼻孔张大；（使）（衣裙、酒杯等）呈喇叭形展开

参考例句：

• The side of a ship flares from the keel to the deck. 船舷从龙骨向甲板外倾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He's got a fiery temper and flares up at the slightest provocation. 他是火爆性子，一点就着。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

3 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

4 swirls   

n.旋转( swirl的名词复数 )；卷状物；漩涡；尘旋v.旋转，打旋( swirl的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Swirls of smoke rose through the trees. 树林中升起盘旋的青烟。 来自辞典例句
• On reaching the southeast corner of Himalaya-Tibet, It'swirls cyclonically across the Yunnan Plateau. 在到达喜马拉雅--西藏高原东南角处，它作气旋性转向越过云南高原。 来自辞典例句

5 corona   

n.日冕

参考例句：

• The corona gains and loses energy continuously.日冕总是不断地获得能量和损失能量。
• The corona is a brilliant,pearly white,filmy light,about as bright as the full moon.光环带是一种灿烂的珠白色朦胧光，几乎像满月一样明亮。

6 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

7 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。