VOA标准英语2010年-Hometown Hero Teaches Students Sky is

Just about everybody in Winter, Wisconsin knows about their local boy who made good.

Col. Jeffrey Williams has logged more days in space than almost any other American. The International Space Station, where the astronaut spent a great deal of time, is a long way from his small, rural hometown.

Population: 344

Even in the middle of the day, Main Street in the small north woods town is pretty quiet. There are no traffic jams, not even any traffic lights. The population of 344 people triples¹ in the summer, when tourists flock² to the area for what's considered some of the best walleye and muskie fishing in the region.

Jeffrey Williams performs a spacewalk outside the station during the STS-101 shuttle mission in May of 2000.

Realtor Bob Biller has lived here his entire 69 years. He says Winter is a special place surrounded by farms, pine trees and lakes. It's got a bank, a post office, and a co-op store.

"We call it Winter's Wal-Mart. They have a variety of just about anything you want there," he says.

Hometown boy

Winter also has one thing most towns, big or small, don't have: its own astronaut.

Williams has logged more days in space than all but three other American astronauts. He just returned from his second stay onboard the International Space Station. He was Expedition 22 commander for half of the six-month-long mission.

Astronaut Jeffrey Williams

Almost everyone at Winter School, from grades 1 through 12, knows him. This is the school Williams graduated from 34 years ago.

Nick Stengel was Williams' technology teacher back then. He tells today's students, who come from Winter and the surrounding communities, that no matter how humble³ their upbringing, their expectations should be limitless.

"When I've got kids who say to me, 'Hey, I come from Winter. I can't do this, I can't do that. We're such a small school.' I say there are people who come out of this school, I give Jeff as an example," says Stengel. "They've been very successful and you can do the same."

Inspiring others

Like the other 336 students at Winter School, 11th grader Keela Strouf is proud that an astronaut attended her school.

"It makes me want to work harder and get something really good out of everything you do because the fact that we had an astronaut come from our little school just makes me want to go harder and reach all my goals."

Students and teachers at Winter School, Williams' alma mater, were able to question the astronaut during a NASA International Space Station downlink in January as he orbited the planet.

The really cool thing, as she puts it, is that she and other students got to ask Williams questions during a NASA International Space Station downlink in January as he orbited the planet.

"It was crazy," says Keela. "I mean like, just the experience of getting to do that is just like beyond anything I'd get to do. You don't expect that. It was really cool though."

Senior Ryan Sajdera also participated in the space chat. He learned that astronauts use springs and pulleys to weigh objects in zero gravity.

"It was kind of neat knowing that they're not even on this Earth and you're talking to them," he says. "I don't know. It's a cool experience."

Sajdera is one of 28 students in Winter School's graduating class. "Everybody says Winter's small, nothing comes out of here but we've got one of the few [astronauts] came out of Winter, so that's something to be proud of," he said.

Reaching for the stars

NASA Administrator⁴ Charles Bolden hopes to get youngsters⁵ from all walks of life interested in space travel.

"That's my challenge. When the President offered me this job, he gave me one instruction and one instruction only. It was to find a way for NASA to inspire young people," says Bolden. "So that's my challenge and we're working hard on it. You know Jeff represents every kid's dream around the world, not just in the U.S. So, it's a special story."

In addition to his talk with Winter School, Williams held several other Q&A's with classrooms during his two International Space Station missions. He says it's his way to share the unique experience.

"Hopefully we do bring inspiration⁶ to people to look past their horizons and be inspired to go beyond where otherwise they would go," says Williams.

So people like Ryan Sajdera might decide that someday, they'd like to be a space scientist and visit the Moon or Mars⁷.

"Exactly," says Ryan. "I mean, coming from a small school, if you want to do something, go for it. That's what Jeff Williams really conveys for our school."

As a reminder⁸ that the sky is not the limit, the Winter Chamber⁹ of Commerce posted a sign on Highway 70, the main road into town.

It reads, "Welcome to Winter, Hometown of Jeffrey Williams, Astronaut."
 

1 triples   

v.（使）增至三倍( triple的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• We shall discuss quadruples, triples, trees, and indirect triples. 我们将讨论四元组，三元组，树和间接三元组。 来自辞典例句
• The method of deducing Pythagorean Triples (irreducible and reducible) is explained. 并说明了互素勾股数组的导出方法。 来自互联网

2 flock   

n.羊群，一群，大量；vi.群集，聚集，成群

参考例句：

• A flock of customers were waiting for the store to open.一群顾客在等候着商店开门。
• A few sheep have been lost from the flock.羊群里少了几只羊。

3 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

4 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

5 youngsters   

n.孩子( youngster的名词复数 )；少年；青年；年轻人

参考例句：

• We followed the youngsters at a more sedate pace. 我们跟在年轻人后面，步子稍慢一点。
• The camp is for youngsters aged 8 to 14. 这次夏令营是为8至14岁的少年儿童安排的。

6 inspiration   

n.灵感，鼓励者，吸气

参考例句：

• These events provided the inspiration for his first novel.这些事件给了他创作第一部小说的灵感。
• What an inspiration she was to all around her!她对于她周围所有的人是一种多么大的鼓舞！

7 Mars   

n.火星，战争

参考例句：

• As of now we don't know much about Mars.目前我们对火星还知之甚少。
• He contended that there must be life on Mars.他坚信火星上面一定有生物。

8 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

9 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。