VOA常速英语2018--回顾人类首次近地环月：阿波罗8号（在线收听）

On Christmas Eve of 1968, NASA astronauts Bill Anders Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, boldly went where no one had gone before around the moon. Apollo 8 was originally a mission designed to test the command and lunar modules while orbiting the Earth. But cold war heat launched Lovell and his colleagues further. We had intelligence information that the Russians were going to put a man or two men just circumnavigate the moon and come back. When they took off from Cape Canaveral Florida 50 years ago, the Apollo 8 crew succeeded in beating the Russians to the moon and making history.

1968年的圣诞节前夜，美国宇航局（NASA）的宇航员比尔·安德斯·弗兰克·博尔曼和吉姆·洛维尔大胆地去往了一个地方，这个地方是此前未曾有人踏足的，就在月球附近。阿波罗8号一开始的任务初衷是测试指令与月球模块，同时环绕地球飞行。但由于冷战升温，所以洛弗尔和他的同事们又进一步深入。我们收到情报，称俄罗斯人会派一两个人在月球环航，然后返回。50年前，从佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角起飞时，阿波罗8号的机组人员就成功地在月球环航中击败了俄罗斯人，缔造了历史。

And our job was to look for suitable landing spots. Everybody remembers Apollo 11. It’s the first time people walked on the moon. But Apollo 8 was the first time that humans had actually gotten that close. Andrew Johnston is the vice president of astronomy and collections at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, where Jim Lovells space flown flight suit and flight manual from Apollo 8 are on display. Well, the Apollo 8 mission was a landmark in human exploration. It was the first time humans that had ever left the close vicinity of the earth, and the first time human eyes had ever seen the far side of the Moon.

我们的工作是搜寻合适的着陆点。大家都记得阿波罗11号。这是人类第一次登月。但阿波罗8号是人类首次离月球这样近。安德鲁·约翰斯顿是芝加哥阿德勒天文馆负责天文学和收藏品的副总裁。该天文馆展出着吉姆·洛夫尔斯的太空飞行服和阿波罗8号的飞行手册。阿波罗8号是人类探索的里程碑，是人类第一次离开地球周围，也是人类第一次看到月球的反面。

But Johnston says the most important discovery wasn’t found at Apollo 8 destination. Orbiting the moon, it’s what they left behind. It was the first time that humans had seen the earth as this blue marble floating in space, and really changed how we think about our planet.

但约翰斯顿表示，最重要的发现并非在阿波罗8号的目的地。环月飞行，这是他们留下的最重要的发现。这是人类第一次看到地球像一颗在太空中飘动的蓝宝石，这切实改变了我们对地球的看法。

To be this was a real adventure. It was like a many Lewis and Clark expedition. Jim Lovell says the importance of the Apollo 8 mission came to him seven months later while watching the Apollo 11 crew, those who would ultimately land on the moon take off from Cape Canaveral while standing next to famed aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh. But he says it was Apollo 8 that was the real deal. For the first flight to the moon, to navigate to the moon for the first time, to surf on the moon, this to him was the epitome of the program as he saw. On Apollo 8 wasn’t levels last trip to the moon.

能走到这一步可谓真正的探险，就像一次刘易斯和克拉克的探险。吉姆·洛维尔表示，阿波罗8号任务的重要意义，他是在7个月后突然明白的。当时，他正在观看阿波罗11号机组人员从卡纳维拉尔角起飞后，然后在月球着陆。当时他就站在著名的航空先驱查尔斯林德伯格身边。但他表示，阿波罗8号才是起决定作用的。第一次环月之旅，第一次在月球附近航行并在月球表面观测，这对于他来说，是这个项目的精髓。阿波罗8号不是他的最后一次登月之旅。

April of 1970, he was finally on his way to the lunar surface, but instead of landing, a catastrophic accident forced the crew to slingshot the moon in a desperate attempt to return back to earth and a crippled spacecraft. Today, Apollo 13 is remembered as NASA’s successful failure, and while it would be levels last mission into space. He says he is at peace with his place in history as the first to see the far side of the Moon and Earth rods as a member of the historic Apollo 8 mission

1970年4月，他终于踏上了登陆月球表面的征程。但他们没有成功着陆，因为发生的灾难性事故迫使机组人员离开月球，并驾驶功能不健全的拼命飞回地球。如今，所有人都记得阿波罗13号是美国宇航局一次成功的失败品，尽管它可能是最后一次进入太空的任务。他表示他对自己在历史上位置感到释然——不管怎么说，他是第一批看到月球反面和地球在太空中样子的人之一，是具有历史意义的阿波罗8号的机组人员之一。