VOA慢速英语2014 印度赢得亚洲火星竞赛

 

AS IT IS 2014-09-25 India Wins the Asian Space Race to Mars 印度赢得亚洲火星竞赛

India has won the Asian race to Mars. India successfully placed a spacecraft into orbit of the “Red Planet” early Wednesday. The spaceship traveled hundreds of millions of kilometers from Earth over a 10-month period.           

The Mars Orbiter spacecraft will take pictures of the Martian surface. It will also attempt to identify the amount of methane¹ in the planet’s atmosphere.     

Scientists have been following the flight from the command center of the Indian Space Research Organization in Bangalore. Officials have named the spaceship “Mangalyaan,” which means Mars craft in the Hindi language.        

The scientists cheered and shook hands as the spacecraft entered into the orbit of Mars. Before that, they watched for a tense hour as Mangalyaan changed direction and fired its engines for about 24 minutes. The action helped the spacecraft slow down to enter into orbit.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his country on the successful flight.

“History has been created today. We have dared to reach out into the unknown and have achieved the near impossible.”                     

Pavalla Bagla spoke² with VOA’s Victor Beattie from the command center in Bangalore. Mr. Bagla wrote the book Reaching for the Stars: India’s Journey to Mars and Beyond. He noted³ India’s success in placing a spacecraft into the orbit of Mars on its first attempt.

“Russia and America both failed in their maiden⁴ attempts. So this a glorious moment for India, and India has done it in the very first attempt. It really shows India’s great technological⁵ progress.”

“Could you tell me what you thought the chances were of a successful orbiting of Mars?”

“If you look at the success rate of missions to Mars, there have been, 51 missions to Mars, and more than half of failed. So the possibility of India’s Mars orbiter mission, or Mangalyaan, succeeding was less than the flip⁶ of a coin, and that India managed to do it in its first attempt really shows the hard work and confidence which the Indian space agency had in its own program.”

Mr. Bagla says the main geopolitical goal of this mission was to be the first in India’s Asian space race with China. He adds that the Indian space program has yet to set a date for sending men into space.                     

Mr. Bagla noted that the success comes just days before Prime Minister Modi’s first state visit to Washington, DC. He said Mr. Modi can bring with him a message that India is a nation that now possesses high technology.      

1 methane   

n.甲烷，沼气

参考例句：

• The blast was caused by pockets of methane gas that ignited.爆炸是由数袋甲烷气体着火引起的。
• Methane may have extraterrestrial significance.甲烷具有星际意义。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

5 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

6 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。