宇宙空间文摘

36 宇宙空间文摘

DATE=6-13-01
TITLE=EXPLORATIONS #1956 - Space Digest
BYLINE=Paul Thompson

VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Sarah Long with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS.  Today we tell about experiments to grow special plants on Mars¹.  We describe a new book to help blind people touch the far places of the universe.  We tell about the planned (1)launch of the (2)Genesis (3)spacecraft to (4)capture part of the Sun.  And we tell about the long silent Pioneer Ten spacecraft.
((THEME))
VOICE ONE:
(5) NASA scientists say they have sent and received radio messages from the Pioneer Ten Spacecraft.  Pioneer Ten was launched twenty-nine years ago on March Second, Nineteen-Seventy-Two.  It is now more than eleven-thousand-million kilometers from Earth.  
Pioneer Ten was the first spacecraft to pass through a huge area of space rocks called the (6) asteroid⁴ (7)belt.  It was also the first to take close pictures of the planet (8)Jupiter⁵.  In Nineteen-Eighty-Three, Pioneer Ten became the first human made object to leave our (9)solar system.  It did this when it passed beyond the (10) orbit of the planet (11) Pluto⁶.  
VOICE TWO:
Larry Lasher⁷ is the Pioneer Ten Project Manager for NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, (12)California.  Mister Lasher said NASA scientists had been listening without success for a radio signal from Pioneer Ten for eight months.  He said they are very excited to know that Pioneer Ten still can (13)communicate with Earth.  
Mister Lasher said NASA engineers decided⁸ the only way to get a signal from the spacecraft was to send a message and wait for an answer.  He said Pioneer received the message and answered with a very weak signal.
Radio messages to the spacecraft were sent from a special radio telescope in (14)Madrid, Spain.  Pioneer Ten is so far away that radio signals traveling at the speed of light still took almost twenty-four hours to reach the spacecraft and return.
VOICE ONE:
NASA scientists who built Pioneer Ten knew it would pass out of our solar system and into the far reaches of space.  They placed pictures of a man and a woman on the spacecraft.  They also placed (15)information about Earth and recordings⁹ of human voices and the sounds of animals. 
Pioneer Ten is traveling toward the (16) constellation¹⁰ (17) Taurus at almost forty-five thousand kilometers an hour.  It will pass the nearest star in about two-million years. 
 (((MUSIC BRIDGE)))
VOICE TWO:
NASA expects to launch a new spacecraft called Genesis on July Thirtieth.  The spacecraft recently arrived at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.  The Lockheed Martin (18)Astronautics Company built it in the western city of (19)Denver, (20)Colorado. 
Genesis is designed to travel into space and capture small pieces of the Sun.  It will do this by (21)seizing small pieces of matter called (22)ions and elements it finds in the (23)solar wind.  Solar wind flows into space in all directions from the sun.  
The solar wind carries matter released from the sun's surface and pushes it far into space.  Scientists hope to study the matter after Genesis returns to Earth.  They hope to learn more about the sun and the materials in it. 
Scientists say that will give them a better idea of how our solar system was formed. 
VOICE ONE:
Genesis will be launched from a Boeing Delta¹¹ Two (24)rocket from Cape¹² Canaveral.  It will be aimed at a place in the solar system called "L- One." This is a special place or path that will (25)permit the spacecraft to use less than normal (26)amounts of fuel.  It will also be beyond Earth's (27) magnetic influence.  
The Genesis spacecraft will remain at "L- One"for two years.  After arriving, it will open up and spread out a special collection device.  The device will permit it to collect material from the sun that is carried by the solar wind.  
Genesis will return to Earth with its captured material in Two-Thousand-Four.  The space matter will return to Earth in a small (28)container called a (29) capsule.  Scientists do not want the capsule to touch anything on Earth.  They want the space matter in it to (30) remain (31)pure and not mix with matter on Earth.  
To prevent this, the capsule will come down through the atmosphere by (32) parachute.  As it nears Earth, specially¹³ trained (33)pilots will fly in (34) helicopters to catch the parachute in the air.  This will take place several thousand meters above the western state of (35)Utah.
VOICE TWO:
Scientists will open the capsule in a box that is (36)extremely clean.  Then special tools will help the scientists (37)identify the chemicals found in the sun.  
The space material will be kept at the Johnson Space Flight Center near Houston, (38)Texas.  Scientists will be able to study it in a special clean room.
 (((MUSIC BRIDGE)))
VOICE ONE:
For the past ten years, the (39) Hubble Space Telescope has provided beautiful and exciting pictures of objects in deep space.  It will continue to do so in the future. 
NASA has provided a place on the World Wide Web part of the Internet computer system so everyone can enjoy these unusual pictures. 
Now, NASA has helped develop a book with many of these same pictures for people who are blind or have extremely poor eyesight.  The new publication is called "Touch the Universe: A NASA (40) Braille Book of (41)Astronomy¹⁴."
The book's pictures are made so they can be touched and felt.  This method is called Braille.  Braille is a way blind people are able to read and write.
VOICE TWO:
The book was the idea of Bernhard Beck-Winchatz.  He is a scientist and teacher at DePaul University in the Middle Western City of (42)Chicago, (43)Illinois.
Scientist and writer Noreen Grice of Boston also helped produce the book.  Mizz Grice developed a way to add a raised surface to each picture to permit a blind person to feel what the (44)Hubble picture looks like. 
Each of the Braille pictures was sent to the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind.  Students there felt each picture and provided important suggestions for changes.
VOICE ONE:
The book is designed for students from age ten years and older and (45)adults.  Four hundred copies will be published at first.  The book will sell for just a little more than the cost of publishing it.  Money earned from the sale of "Touch the Universe"will be used to publish more copies of the book.  The book was developed as part of an education program that is linked to the Hubble Space Telescope project.
 (((MUSIC BRIDGE)))
VOICE TWO:
A very unusual plant may be the first living thing from Earth to settle on the planet (46)Mars.  Rob Ferl developed this new kind of plant.  He is a scientist at the University of Florida.  His plant will be able to communicate problems to scientists here on Earth.  Mister Ferl calls his creation¹⁵ "a reporter (47)gene² plant."  NASA says Mister Ferl's plant could fly on a spacecraft to Mars in Two-Thousand-Seven.  More than forty of his plants have already flown successfully on a space shuttle flight.
VOICE ONE:
NASA plans to send several different kinds of plants to Mars.  It hopes one of these plants will be the kind created by Mister Ferl.  
Mister Ferl's reporter gene plants communicate by becoming a different color of green.  They shine with a soft green light.  The plant can do this because Mister Ferl has linked the genes³ of an ocean (48) jellyfish with the genes of a (49) mustard¹⁶ plant.  In the ocean, this jellyfish responds to problems by turning green.  Mister Ferl says the jellyfish genes in the plant will mean the plant shines with a green light to communicate a problem.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Ferl hopes the plant will be able to report different conditions on Mars.  For example a lack of (50)oxygen will cause one kind of these plants to shine green.  Another plant will show its green light when there is lack of water.  Special cameras will record the plants that shine and send that information back to Earth.
Mister Ferl says plants are really very much like humans.  Plants can learn to live in many different (51)environments.  On Mars, the plants may find extreme temperatures and low air pressure.  Mister Ferl says creating plants that can communicate these kinds of problems will help future explorers plan for and (52)survive their experience on Mars.
VOICE ONE:
Future explorers on Mars will need oxygen, food and pure water.  Learning to grow plants on the distant planet will be an important first step before humans can live there
NASA says plants grown on Mars will become part of a (53)process called a "Bioregenerative"life support system.  This means a system in which humans, plants, and extremely small organisms called (54)microbes work together in a system that renews itself.  
VOICE TWO:
This is how a "Bioregenerative"life support system might work.  Plants take in the (55)carbon dioxide that people breathe out and release it as air that people can breathe in.  People also use the plants for food.  Human waste is treated by the microbes and then used to help new plants grow. 
Any life support system the planet will probably involve growing crop plants in (56)Martian soil.  Scientists say the special plants being tested now may help humans survive on Mars. 
 (((THEME)))
VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written Paul Thompson.  It was directed by Cynthia Kirk.   Our studio engineer was Keith Holmes.  This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is  Sarah Long.  Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.

(1) launch [ lC:ntF, lB:ntF ]n.发射
(2) genesis [ 5dVenisis ]n.起源
(3) spacecraft [ 5speiskrB:ft ]n.太空船
(4) capture [ 5kAptFE ]vt.俘获, 捕获, 夺取
(5) NASA [5nAsE]abbr.National Aeronautics¹⁷ and Space Administration
(美国)国家航空和宇宙航行局
(6) asteroid [ 5AstErCid ]n.[天文]小游星, 小行星, 海盘车
(7) belt [ belt ]n. 地带
(8) Jupiter [ 5dVu:pitE ]n.木星
(9) solar system n.[天] 太阳系
(10) orbit [ 5C:bit ]n.轨道
(11) Pluto [ 5plu:tEu ]n.冥王星, 阴间之神
(12) California [ kAli5fC:njE ]n.加利福尼亚, 加州
(13) communicate [ kE5mju:nikeit ]v.通信
(14) Madrid [ mE5drid ]n.马德里(西班牙首都)
(15) information [ 7infE5meiFEn ]n.消息,信息
(16) constellation [ kCnstE5leiFEn ]n.[天]星群, 星座, 灿烂的一群
(17) Taurus [ 5tC:rEs ]n.金牛座, (占星术中)金牛宫
(18) astronautics [AstrE5nC:tIks]n.太空航空学
(19) Denver [ 5denvE ]n.丹佛(美国科罗拉多州首府)
(20) Colorado [ 7kClE5rB:dEu ]美国科罗拉多州(位于美国西部)
(21) seizing [ 5si:ziN ]n.抓, 夺
(22) ion [ 5aiEn ]n.离子
(23) solar wind n.太阳风
(24) rocket [ 5rCkit ]n.火箭
(25) permit [ pE(:)5mit ]v.允许, 准许
(26) amount [ E5maunt ]n.数量
(27) magnetic influence n. 磁影响
(28) container [ kEn5teinE ]n.容器
(29) capsule [ 5kApsju:l ]n.太空舱
(30) remain [ ri5mein ]vi.保持
(31) pure [ pjuE ]adj.纯净的
(32) parachute [ 5pArEFu:t ]n.降落伞
(33) pilot [ 5pailEt ]n.飞行员
(34) helicopter [ 5helikCptE ]n.直升(飞)机, 直升机
(35) Utah [ 5ju:tB:]n.犹他州(略作Ut.,UT)
(36) extremely [ iks5tri:mli ]adv.极端地, 非常地
(37) identify [ ai5dentifai ]vt.识别, 鉴别
(38) Texas [ 5teksEs ]n.德克萨斯州(美国州名)
(39) Hubble Space Telescope n.哈勃空间望远镜
(40) Braille [ breil ]n.盲人用点字法
(41) astronomy [E5strRnEmI]n.天文学
(42) Chicago [ Fi5kB:^Eu ]n.芝加哥（美国中西部一大城市）
(43) Illinois [ 7ili5nCi(z) ]n.伊利诺斯州(美国州名)
(44) Hubble [ 5hQbl ]哈勃(姓氏)
(45) adult [ E5dQlt, 5AdQlt ]n.成人, 成年人
(46) Mars [ mB:z ]n.火星
(47) gene [ dVi:n ] n.[遗传]因子, [遗传]基因
(48) jellyfish [5dVelIfIF]n.水母
(49) mustard [ 5mQstEd ]n.芥菜
(50) oxygen [ 5CksidVEn ]n.[化]氧
(51) environment [ in5vaiErEnmEnt ]n.环境, 外界
(52) survive [ sE5vaiv ]v.幸免于, 幸存
(53) process [ prE5ses ]n.步骤
(54) microbe [5maIkrEJb]n.微生物, 细菌
(55) carbon dioxide n.[化]二氧化碳
(56) Martian [ 5mB:FiEn ]adj.火星的

 

1 Mars   

n.火星，战争

参考例句：

• As of now we don't know much about Mars.目前我们对火星还知之甚少。
• He contended that there must be life on Mars.他坚信火星上面一定有生物。

2 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

3 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

4 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。

5 Jupiter   

n.木星

参考例句：

• Jupiter is unlike the Earth in almost every way.木星与地球几乎完全不同。
• The astronomers were taking an observation of Jupiter.天文学家们正在观测木星。

6 Pluto   

n.冥王星

参考例句：

• Pluto is the furthest planet from the sun.冥王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Pluto has an elliptic orbit.冥王星的轨道是椭圆形的。

7 lasher   

n.堰，堰下的水溏，鞭打者；装石工

参考例句：

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

10 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

11 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

12 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。

13 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

14 astronomy   

n.天文学

参考例句：

• Mathematics is connected with astronomy.数学与天文学有联系。
• Astronomy is an abstract subject.天文学是一门深奥的学科。

15 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

16 mustard   

n.芥子，芥末，深黄色，强烈的兴趣，热情的人

参考例句：

• This meat should be seasoned with salt and mustard.这肉里应该加点盐和芥末调味。
• This mustard is hot enough to bite your tongue.这种芥末很辣，你的舌头会吃不消的。

17 aeronautics   

n.航空术，航空学

参考例句：

• National Aeronautics and Space undertakings have made great progress.国家的航空航天事业有了很大的发展。
• He devoted every spare moment to aeronautics.他把他所有多余的时间用在航空学上。