神秘的月球 第7期

 　　But on that night,

　　但那天晚上

　　people all over the earth looked up at the night sky

　　世界各地的人仰望夜空时

　　and knew that there were two men up there,

　　都知道月亮上正有两个人

　　looking back at them.

　　回望着他们

　　I remember the night of the landing and I looked up from the parking lot

　　我还记得登陆月球的那个晚上，我在停车场抬头仰望

　　and there was the moon and you could see the little dark

　　看到天上的月亮

　　smudge over on the right side of the moon,

　　和月球右侧的一抹黑影

　　which is the Sea of Tranquillity¹.

　　那就是宁静海

　　And you know that there were two men,

　　而我们知道两位登月者

　　Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin at that time,

　　阿姆斯壮和艾德林

　　by that time, trying to sleep in their lunar module²

　　当时正试着在登月小艇中睡觉

　　on the surface of that smudge that you can see from Houston.

　　登月小艇就停在远从休士顿就能看到的那抹黑影上

　　Over the next 3 years, 5 more missions landed on the moon.

　　在其后的三年间，陆续完成了五次登月任务

　　Each one was more ambitious than the last.

　　每一次都比上一次更有野心

　　Whereas Armstrong and Aldrin had only taken a few tentative steps

　　阿姆斯壮和艾德林小心翼翼地

　　from the lunar module,

　　在登月小艇附近走了几步

　　the astronauts on later missions travelled miles across the surface.

　　其后任务的太空人在月球表面上长途跋涉好几里

　　They spent days at a time on the moon,

　　他们一口气在月球上停留好几天

　　visiting different locations,

　　探访不同区域

　　collecting samples of rock and soil

　　收集岩石和土壤样本

　　and setting up scientific experiments.

　　并进行科学实验

　　Guess what we just found, I think we found what we came for.

　　你猜我找到什么？我找到了我们此行的目的--

　　Rock eh?

　　结晶岩

　　Yes sir.

　　没错

　　But down on earth, with each mission,

　　但是人们对登月任务的兴趣

　　the public interest was starting to wane³.

　　却大不如前

　　By the time it came to Apollo 17 NASA even had to

　　阿波罗17号升空时

　　pay the American TV networks to cover the mission.

　　航太总署还得花钱请美国电视台报导

　　By the fourth or fifth time that we had gone to the moon

　　到了第四、五次时

　　it was probably was page 2 or 3 news.

　　登陆月球大概成为第二版或第三版的新闻

　　You know, it wasn't, it certainly wasn't headline.

　　不再是头条

　　There is...

　　找到了，你们看…

　　People were getting bored with going to the moon.

　　人们开始觉得去月球很无聊

　　Once you've seen astronauts collect rocks for a few times,

　　看太空人收集岩石

　　it ceases to fascinate.

　　看了几次之后就没什么意思了

　　Going to the moon had been done and there was a feeling

　　登月任务圆满成功

　　that it was now time to do other things.

　　人们觉得现在该做些别的事情了

　　There's a state of apathy⁴ in the United States now I guess,

　　美国人越来越冷淡

　　people just don't care one way or another.

　　我觉得他们已经不关心了

　　I'm saying that it's,

　　我觉得

　　we are spending too much money on the moon.

　　我们为登陆月球花了太多钱

　　I think they could use the time,

　　他们可以把这些时间

　　the energy and the money to better advantage here

　　精力和金钱

　　in the United States.

　　用在改善美国国内情况上

　　There's lots of room for improvement here.

　　国内进步的空间还很大

　　Rather than spend all that money exploring space

　　国内有这么多人在挨饿

　　when people are starving here,

　　他们还大手笔地展开太空任务

　　and that money could be put to very good

　　不如把钱拿来

　　use in improving life here.

　　改善人民的生活

　　When we finally got there,

　　我们终于抵达月球后

　　it turned out our moon didn't harbour life or even water.

　　发现月球上没有生物，连水也没有

　　It was not the home of the Gods or rampaging herds⁵ of bison.

　　那里不是诸神的宫殿，也没有横冲直撞的野牛

1 tranquillity   

n. 平静, 安静

参考例句：

• The phenomenon was so striking and disturbing that his philosophical tranquillity vanished. 这个令人惶惑不安的现象，扰乱了他的旷达宁静的心境。
• My value for domestic tranquillity should much exceed theirs. 我应该远比他们重视家庭的平静生活。

2 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

3 wane   

n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦

参考例句：

• The moon is on the wane.月亮渐亏。
• Her enthusiasm for him was beginning to wane.她对他的热情在开始减退。

4 apathy   

n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡

参考例句：

• He was sunk in apathy after his failure.他失败后心恢意冷。
• She heard the story with apathy.她听了这个故事无动于衷。

5 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。