VOA慢速英语2014 罗塞塔航天器捕捉到一颗彗星

 

AS IT IS 2014-08-07 Rosetta Spacecraft Catches a Comet 罗塞塔航天器捕捉到一颗彗星

After a 10-year trip, a European spacecraft has, for the first time, entered an orbit around a comet.  The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft began an orbit 100 kilometers above the surface of the comet early Wednesday. 

Comets are made of ice and rock.  They are periodic visitors to the area immediately around the sun.  The Rosetta spacecraft is circling the Comet 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko. 

Currently, Comet 67P is more than 400 million kilometers from Earth.  But it is racing¹ closer to the sun.  Rosetta will be the first spacecraft to travel with a comet as it moves through the inner solar system.

The European Space Agency has spent $1.7 billion on the project.  The American space agency, NASA, provided important support -- three instruments and electronics for the orbiter.  NASA also is helping² with communications and guidance for the spacecraft.

The goal is for Rosetta to orbit the comet for the next year and observe it as it heads towards the sun.  The most important part of the mission is expected to come in November when the spacecraft will send a mechanical probe to land on the surface of Comet 67P.  It will be the first soft landing on the surface of a comet.

Scientists hope Rosetta will provide more information about comets.  Many scientists believe these objects hold icy remains³ from the creation of the solar system.

Scientists Hope to Unlock the Secrets of the Young Solar System

The spacecraft is named for a stone that helped investigators⁴ understand the meaning of the hieroglyphic⁵ language of the ancient Egyptians.  Rosetta scientists hope that the spacecraft will unlock the secrets of the beginning of the solar system or even the beginnings of life itself.

Some scientists believe comets contain the materials that helped life start on Earth.  The icy bodies are believed to have brought water and other substances to the planet as they struck earth’s surface.

Rosetta has traveled over 6 billion kilometers since its launch from earth in March 2004.  It made a series of flybys of Mars and Earth to gain speed and position itself into the same orbital path as Comet 67P. 

Rosetta’s systems were partly shut off for two years to save power.  Engineers fully⁶ restarted the spacecraft in January as it moved closer to the comet.

1 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

2 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。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 hieroglyphic   

n.象形文字

参考例句：

• For centuries hieroglyphic word pictures painted on Egyptian ruins were a mystery.几世纪以来，刻划在埃及废墟中的象形文字一直是个谜。
• Dongba is an ancient hieroglyphic language.东巴文是中国一种古老的象形文字。

6 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。