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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
VOICE ONE:
This is Phil Murray.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Rich Kleinfeldt with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.
(MUSIC)
Today, we tell about the race to explore outer space.
VOICE ONE:
On a cold October day in nineteen fifty-seven, the Soviet1 Union launched3 a small satellite into orbit4 around the Earth. Radio Moscow made the announcement.
RUSSIAN: The first artificial5 Earth satellite in the world has now been created. This first satellite was today successfully launched in the USSR.
Sputnik One
The world's first satellite was called Sputnik One. Sputnik was an important propaganda6 victory for the Soviets7 in its Cold War with the United States.
Many people believed the nation that controlled the skies could win any war. And the Soviet Union had reached outer space first.
VOICE TWO:
The technology that launched Sputnik probably began in the late nineteenth century. A Russian teacher of that time, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, decided8 that a rocket engine could provide power for a space vehicle.
In the early nineteen hundreds, another teacher -- American Robert Goddard -- tested the idea. He experimented with small rockets to see how high and how far they could travel. In nineteen twenty-three, a Romanian student in Germany, Hermann Oberth, showed how a spaceship might be built and launched to other planets9.
VOICE ONE:
Rocket technology improved during World War Two. It was used to produce bombs. Thousands of people in Britain and Belgium died as a result of V-two rocket attacks. The V-two rockets were launched from Germany.
After the war, it became clear that the United States and the Soviet Union -- allies10 in wartime -- would become enemies in peacetime. So, both countries employed German scientists to help them win the race to space.
VOICE TWO:
Laika in Sputnik Two
The Soviets took the first step by creating Sputnik. This satellite was about the size of a basketball. It got its power from a rocket. It orbited11 Earth for three months. Within weeks, the Soviets launched another satellite into Earth orbit, Sputnik Two. It was much bigger and heavier than Sputnik one. It also carried a passenger: a dog named Laika. Laika orbited Earth for seven days.
VOICE ONE:
The United States joined the space race about three months later. It launched a satellite from Cape12 Canaveral, in the southeastern state of Florida. This satellite was called Explorer One. It weighed about fourteen kilograms. Explorer One went into a higher orbit than either Sputnik. And its instruments made an important discovery. They found an area of radiation about nine hundred-sixty kilometers above Earth.
VOICE TWO:
The next major space victory belonged to the Soviets. They sent the first man into space. In April, nineteen sixty-one, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched in the vehicle known as Vostok. He remained in space for less than two hours. He landed safely by parachute near a village in Russia. Less than a month later, the United States sent its first astronaut into space. He was Alan Shepard. Shepard remained in space only about fifteen minutes. He did not go into Earth orbit. That flight came in February, nineteen sixty-two, with John Glenn.
VOICE ONE:
By nineteen sixty-five, the United States and the Soviet Union were experimenting to see if humans could survive outside a spacecraft. In March, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to do so. A special rope connected him to the spacecraft. It provided13 him with oxygen to breathe. And it permitted him to float freely14 at the other end.
After about ten minutes, Leonov had to return to the spacecraft. He said he regretted the decision. He was having such a good time!
A little more than two months later, an American would walk outside his spacecraft. Astronaut Edward White had a kind of rocket gun. This gave him some control of his movements in space. Like Leonov, White was sorry when he had to return to his spacecraft.
VOICE TWO:
Later that year, nineteen sixty-five, the United States tried to have one spacecraft get very close to another spacecraft while in orbit. This was the first step in getting spacecraft to link, or dock15, together. Docking16 would be necessary to land men on the moon. The plan called for a Gemini spacecraft carrying two astronauts to get close to an unmanned satellite.
The attempt failed. The target satellite exploded as it separated from its main rocket. America's space agency17 decided to move forward. It would launch2 the next in its Gemini series. Then someone had an idea: why not launch both Geminis. The second one could chase18 the first one, instead of a satellite. Again, things did not go as planned.
VOICE ONE:
It took two tries to launch the second Gemini. By that time, the first one had been in orbit about eleven days. Time was running out. The astronauts on the second Gemini moved their spacecraft into higher orbits19. They got closer and closer to the Gemini ahead of them. They needed to get within six hundred meters to be considered successful.
After all the problems on the ground, the events in space went smoothly20. The two spacecraft got within one-third of a meter of each other. The astronauts had made the operation seem easy.
VOICE TWO:
In January, nineteen fifty-nine, the Soviets launched a series of unmanned Luna rockets. The third of these flights took pictures of the far side of the moon. This was the side no one on Earth had ever seen. The United States planned to explore the moon with its unmanned Ranger21 spacecraft.
There were a number of failures before Ranger Seven took pictures of the moon. These pictures were made from a distance. The world did not get pictures from the surface of the moon until the Soviet Luna nine landed there in February, nineteen sixty-six.
VOICE ONE:
For the next few years, both the United States and Soviet Union continued their exploration of the moon. Yet the question remained: which one would be the first to put a man there. In December, nineteen sixty-eight, the United States launched Apollo eight with three astronauts. The flight proved that a spacecraft could orbit the moon and return to Earth safely.
VOICE TWO:
The Apollo nine spacecraft had two vehicles. One was the command module22. It could orbit the moon, but could not land on it. The other was the lunar module. On a flight to the moon, it would separate from the command module and land on the moon's surface. Apollo ten astronauts unlinked the lunar module and flew it close to the moon's surface.
VOICE ONE:
Buzz23 Aldrin
After those flights, everything was ready. On July sixteenth, nineteen sixty-nine, three American astronauts lifted off in Apollo eleven. On the twentieth, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin entered the lunar module, called the Eagle. Michael Collins remained in the command module, the Columbia.
The two vehicles separated. It was a dangerous time. The Eagle could crash. Or it could fall over after it landed. That meant the astronauts would die on the moon.
VOICE TWO:
Millions of people watched on television or listened on the radio. They waited for Armstrong's message: The Eagle has landed. Then they waited again. It took the astronauts more than three hours to complete the preparations needed to leave the lunar module.
First step on the moon
Finally, the door opened. Neil Armstrong climbed down first. He put one foot on the moon. Then, the other foot. And then came his words, from so far away:
NEIL ARMSTRONG: That's one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind.
VOICE ONE:
Armstrong walked around. Soon, Aldrin joined him. The two men placed an American flag on the surface of the moon. They also collected moon rocks and soil.
When it was time to leave, they returned to the Eagle and guided it safely away. They reunited with the Columbia and headed for home. The United States had won the race to the moon.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Rich Kleinfeldt.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Phil Murray. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.
This is Phil Murray.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Rich Kleinfeldt with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.
(MUSIC)
Today, we tell about the race to explore outer space.
VOICE ONE:
On a cold October day in nineteen fifty-seven, the Soviet1 Union launched3 a small satellite into orbit4 around the Earth. Radio Moscow made the announcement.
RUSSIAN: The first artificial5 Earth satellite in the world has now been created. This first satellite was today successfully launched in the USSR.
Sputnik One
The world's first satellite was called Sputnik One. Sputnik was an important propaganda6 victory for the Soviets7 in its Cold War with the United States.
Many people believed the nation that controlled the skies could win any war. And the Soviet Union had reached outer space first.
VOICE TWO:
The technology that launched Sputnik probably began in the late nineteenth century. A Russian teacher of that time, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, decided8 that a rocket engine could provide power for a space vehicle.
In the early nineteen hundreds, another teacher -- American Robert Goddard -- tested the idea. He experimented with small rockets to see how high and how far they could travel. In nineteen twenty-three, a Romanian student in Germany, Hermann Oberth, showed how a spaceship might be built and launched to other planets9.
VOICE ONE:
Rocket technology improved during World War Two. It was used to produce bombs. Thousands of people in Britain and Belgium died as a result of V-two rocket attacks. The V-two rockets were launched from Germany.
After the war, it became clear that the United States and the Soviet Union -- allies10 in wartime -- would become enemies in peacetime. So, both countries employed German scientists to help them win the race to space.
VOICE TWO:
Laika in Sputnik Two
The Soviets took the first step by creating Sputnik. This satellite was about the size of a basketball. It got its power from a rocket. It orbited11 Earth for three months. Within weeks, the Soviets launched another satellite into Earth orbit, Sputnik Two. It was much bigger and heavier than Sputnik one. It also carried a passenger: a dog named Laika. Laika orbited Earth for seven days.
VOICE ONE:
The United States joined the space race about three months later. It launched a satellite from Cape12 Canaveral, in the southeastern state of Florida. This satellite was called Explorer One. It weighed about fourteen kilograms. Explorer One went into a higher orbit than either Sputnik. And its instruments made an important discovery. They found an area of radiation about nine hundred-sixty kilometers above Earth.
VOICE TWO:
The next major space victory belonged to the Soviets. They sent the first man into space. In April, nineteen sixty-one, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched in the vehicle known as Vostok. He remained in space for less than two hours. He landed safely by parachute near a village in Russia. Less than a month later, the United States sent its first astronaut into space. He was Alan Shepard. Shepard remained in space only about fifteen minutes. He did not go into Earth orbit. That flight came in February, nineteen sixty-two, with John Glenn.
VOICE ONE:
By nineteen sixty-five, the United States and the Soviet Union were experimenting to see if humans could survive outside a spacecraft. In March, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to do so. A special rope connected him to the spacecraft. It provided13 him with oxygen to breathe. And it permitted him to float freely14 at the other end.
After about ten minutes, Leonov had to return to the spacecraft. He said he regretted the decision. He was having such a good time!
A little more than two months later, an American would walk outside his spacecraft. Astronaut Edward White had a kind of rocket gun. This gave him some control of his movements in space. Like Leonov, White was sorry when he had to return to his spacecraft.
VOICE TWO:
Later that year, nineteen sixty-five, the United States tried to have one spacecraft get very close to another spacecraft while in orbit. This was the first step in getting spacecraft to link, or dock15, together. Docking16 would be necessary to land men on the moon. The plan called for a Gemini spacecraft carrying two astronauts to get close to an unmanned satellite.
The attempt failed. The target satellite exploded as it separated from its main rocket. America's space agency17 decided to move forward. It would launch2 the next in its Gemini series. Then someone had an idea: why not launch both Geminis. The second one could chase18 the first one, instead of a satellite. Again, things did not go as planned.
VOICE ONE:
It took two tries to launch the second Gemini. By that time, the first one had been in orbit about eleven days. Time was running out. The astronauts on the second Gemini moved their spacecraft into higher orbits19. They got closer and closer to the Gemini ahead of them. They needed to get within six hundred meters to be considered successful.
After all the problems on the ground, the events in space went smoothly20. The two spacecraft got within one-third of a meter of each other. The astronauts had made the operation seem easy.
VOICE TWO:
In January, nineteen fifty-nine, the Soviets launched a series of unmanned Luna rockets. The third of these flights took pictures of the far side of the moon. This was the side no one on Earth had ever seen. The United States planned to explore the moon with its unmanned Ranger21 spacecraft.
There were a number of failures before Ranger Seven took pictures of the moon. These pictures were made from a distance. The world did not get pictures from the surface of the moon until the Soviet Luna nine landed there in February, nineteen sixty-six.
VOICE ONE:
For the next few years, both the United States and Soviet Union continued their exploration of the moon. Yet the question remained: which one would be the first to put a man there. In December, nineteen sixty-eight, the United States launched Apollo eight with three astronauts. The flight proved that a spacecraft could orbit the moon and return to Earth safely.
VOICE TWO:
The Apollo nine spacecraft had two vehicles. One was the command module22. It could orbit the moon, but could not land on it. The other was the lunar module. On a flight to the moon, it would separate from the command module and land on the moon's surface. Apollo ten astronauts unlinked the lunar module and flew it close to the moon's surface.
VOICE ONE:
Buzz23 Aldrin
After those flights, everything was ready. On July sixteenth, nineteen sixty-nine, three American astronauts lifted off in Apollo eleven. On the twentieth, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin entered the lunar module, called the Eagle. Michael Collins remained in the command module, the Columbia.
The two vehicles separated. It was a dangerous time. The Eagle could crash. Or it could fall over after it landed. That meant the astronauts would die on the moon.
VOICE TWO:
Millions of people watched on television or listened on the radio. They waited for Armstrong's message: The Eagle has landed. Then they waited again. It took the astronauts more than three hours to complete the preparations needed to leave the lunar module.
First step on the moon
Finally, the door opened. Neil Armstrong climbed down first. He put one foot on the moon. Then, the other foot. And then came his words, from so far away:
NEIL ARMSTRONG: That's one small step for (a) man; one giant leap for mankind.
VOICE ONE:
Armstrong walked around. Soon, Aldrin joined him. The two men placed an American flag on the surface of the moon. They also collected moon rocks and soil.
When it was time to leave, they returned to the Eagle and guided it safely away. They reunited with the Columbia and headed for home. The United States had won the race to the moon.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Rich Kleinfeldt.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Phil Murray. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.
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收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
Soviet
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| adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃 | |
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2
launch
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| vt.发动，推出；发射；n.发射，下水，投产 | |
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3
launched
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| v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 )；[计算机]开始（应用程序）；发动；开展（活动、计划等） | |
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4
orbit
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| n.轨道；vt.使沿轨道运行；使进入轨道运行；vi.沿轨道运行，环行 | |
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5
artificial
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| adj.人工的，人造的，人为的；做作的，假装的 | |
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6
propaganda
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| n.宣传，宣传机构 | |
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7
soviets
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| 苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式） | |
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8
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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9
planets
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| 行星( planet的名词复数 )； 地球（尤指环境） | |
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10
allies
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| 联盟国，同盟者； 同盟国，同盟者( ally的名词复数 )； 支持者； 盟军 | |
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11
orbited
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| 在…轨道上运行，环绕轨道运行( orbit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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13
provided
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| conj.假如，若是；adj.预备好的，由...供给的 | |
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14
freely
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| adv.自由地，随便地，无拘无束地 | |
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15
dock
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| n.码头；被告席；vt.使(船)进港；扣；vi.进港 | |
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16
docking
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| n.扣工资 | |
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17
agency
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| n.经办；代理；代理处 | |
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18
chase
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| vt.追逐，追赶，追求；n.追赶 | |
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19
orbits
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| 轨道( orbit的名词复数 )； 势力范围 | |
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20
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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21
ranger
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| n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员 | |
参考例句： |
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22
module
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| n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱 | |
参考例句： |
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23
buzz
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| v.充满了激动或活动的声音，发出低沉的声音 | |
参考例句： |
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