VOA慢速英语2014 在登陆月球45年后,太空竞赛已经不复存在

 

AS IT IS 2014-07-19 Space Race is No More, 45 Years after Moon Landing 在登陆月球45年后,太空竞赛已经不复存在

Forty-five years ago, humans visited another world for the first time.  Two American astronauts stepped out of their spacecraft and onto the moon. This happened during a fierce competition in space technology between the U.S. and the former Soviet¹ Union. The time period is known as the Space Race.

The Space Race began in the 1950s during the period of political and military tension called the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.  Alexander Laveykin is the deputy director of the Memorial Museum of Cosmonauts. He is also a former cosmonaut, the Russian term for space explorer. He says the Space Race was as much about politics as it was about science.

“There was a big competition between us and America: who will launch the first space satellite? It turned out, we were the first ones.”

The Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, in 1957. It was a 58 centimeter metal ball with four wire transmitters. The satellite circled the Earth and transmitted a simple signal. The American public did not like hearing about the Russians’ success.

In 1958, the U.S. launched its first satellite called Explorer 1. But the Soviets² again moved ahead in the Space Race. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth.  He returned to the Soviet Union as a hero.

One month after Mr. Gagarin, Alan Shepherd became the first American astronaut in space.

Kathleen Lewis is a museum official at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. She says then-President John Kennedy wanted the U.S. to set higher goals than the Soviets. He wanted the U.S. to land on the moon.

“On the United States side, I think there is a bit of hubris³ that we can do anything better.”

On July 20, 1969, American Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon.

The space race slowed and moved toward cooperation in the 1970s. The United States and the Soviet Union conducted their first joint⁴ space mission in 1975.  Doug Millard works at London’s Science Museum. He says building the International Space Station and the decline of Communism in the Soviet Union helped end the Cold War.

Kathleen Lewis says current tensions between the US and Russia do not seem to affect their cooperation in space.

“You don't want to be arguing politics when you're up in a tin can 200-and-some miles [325 km] above Earth.  You have nowhere to go, so you've got to focus on things that you can agree on and avoid the things that you might have disagreements on.”

Currently, the American and Russian space agencies do not have plans for increased cooperation. But their competitive space race is now a thing of the past.

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

3 hubris   

n.傲慢，骄傲

参考例句：

• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。
• The very hubris of French claims alarmed the other powers.法国贪婪的胃口使其他大国惊恐不安。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。