英语听力：自然百科 行星旅行指南：火星 Mars—4

 There’re some basic things you should know about Mars before leaving home. Most days will be clear, and sunny and cold. The average temperature on Mars is as bitter as midwinter in Antarctica. And about half the diameter of the earth, Mars is a handy size. But it’s much less dense¹ than earth with about a third of the gravity. Surprisingly, the actual surface area is almost exactly the same as all the dry land on earth, shrunk together without the oceans. Build a few freeways and you could drive around Mars in a couple of weeks. 

 

And driving around Mars is exactly what planetary scientist Steve Squyres has been doing since 2004, not in person, but via NASA’s two off-road robot rovers – Spirit and Opportunity. 

 

“That’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before in my life.”

 

For all of us here on earth, the snapshots sent back by these forward scouts² are the next best thing to standing³ on Mars in a spacesuit. 

 

“We very consciously give these robots some human like qualities. All the cameras are about, / this high off the ground, as same height as human eyes. It’s…the visual experience that you get from looking at the rovers’ pictures are, is intentionally⁴ like what you would get if you were /looking at the visor of your helmet  in a spacesuit on Mars.”

1 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

2 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。