美国国家公共电台 NPR--Alt text helps the visually impaired experience the James Webb Telescope images

Alt text helps the visually impaired¹ experience the James Webb Telescope images

Transcript²

"A starfield is speckled across the image. They range from small, faint points of light to larger, closer, brighter and more fully³ resolved stars with eight-point diffraction spikes⁴. The upper-right portion of the image has wispy⁵, translucent⁶, cloud-like streaks⁷ rising from the nebula⁸."

That's how a team of scientists, writers and educators described in vivid detail just one of the breathtaking celestial⁹ images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope so people with visual impairments could appreciate it, too.

"Space is for everyone. It shouldn't matter who you are," said Tim Rhue, an education specialist at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

His team wrote labels for pictures stuffed with distant spinning galaxies¹⁰, glowing clouds of gas and blazing stars using the alt text feature on social media apps, which is designed to make the internet more accessible.

It allows people who use screen readers to hear a description of an image and helps when images on a website won't load.

Here's another example of an alt text description from another Webb image: "A large, translucent, red oval surrounds the central stars. From the red oval, shells extend in a mix of colors. The shells appear to have a filamentous¹¹ pattern similar to the surface of a cut citrus fruit."

Rhue said he was astonished by the images the telescope captured, and he and his team wanted that astonishment¹² to be shared by everyone.

"This is definitely a labor¹³ of love," Rhue said. "There are so many things that make life difficult for people, but this is just pure joy, the universe out there."

The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, under development for decades and launched into space in December, is NASA's newest and most powerful. On July 12, the first color images were released. And scientists have been poring over the data that's come coming from the telescope.

Jennifer Lotz, director of the International Gemini Observatory¹⁴, is part of a team looking at one field of thousands of galaxies.

"We know these galaxies pretty well, but seeing these images with James Webb, it's like putting glasses on," Lotz told NPR. "Like, things we couldn't see before now are just crystal clear. And it's been overwhelming. It's been really overwhelming."

Jacob Bean, an astronomer¹⁵ with the University of Chicago, described what the telescope has brought.

"It's like a birthday and Christmas and an anniversary and a graduation and Thanksgiving and Hanukkah all wrapped into one for us and happening just every day," Bean told NPR.

And Rhue's team is helping¹⁶ to spread that joy even farther.

"We love seeing people's face light up," Rhue said. "We love seeing people really get the big picture and our place in it all."

NPR's Raquel Maria Dillon contributed to this report.

1 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 wispy   

adj.模糊的；纤细的

参考例句：

• Grey wispy hair straggled down to her shoulders.稀疏的灰白头发披散在她肩头。
• The half moon is hidden behind some wispy clouds.半轮月亮躲在淡淡的云彩之后。

6 translucent   

adj.半透明的；透明的

参考例句：

• The building is roofed entirely with translucent corrugated plastic.这座建筑完全用半透明瓦楞塑料封顶。
• A small difference between them will render the composite translucent.微小的差别,也会使复合材料变成半透明。

7 streaks   

n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹

参考例句：

• streaks of grey in her hair 她头上的绺绺白发
• Bacon has streaks of fat and streaks of lean. 咸肉中有几层肥的和几层瘦的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 nebula   

n.星云，喷雾剂

参考例句：

• A powerful telescope can resolve a nebula into stars.一架高性能的望远镜能从星云中分辨出星球来。
• A nebula is really a discrete mass of innumerous stars.一团星云实际上是无数星体不连续的集合体。

9 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

10 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

11 filamentous   

adj. 细丝状的，如丝的，纤维状的

参考例句：

• DNA filamentous fungi could be provided by the modified with benzyl chloride. 本文采用改进的氯化苄法，得到的DNA质量好、产量高，可以直接用于后续的基因操作。
• Cotton candy is filamentous, but it is a granular crystal-sugar produced. 棉花糖虽然是丝状的，但是它是用一种颗粒状的晶体--蔗糖制作而成。

12 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 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。

15 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。