Lesson 61 Trouble with the Hubble 哈勃望远镜的困境

叶凝云

原文

    The Hubble telescope was launched into space by NASA on April 20,1990 at a cost of over a billion dollars. Right from the start there was trouble with the Hubble. The pictures it sent us were very disappointing because its main mirror was faulty! NASA is now going to put the telescope right, so it will soon be sending up four astronauts to repair it. The shuttle Endeavour will be taking the astronauts to the Hubble. A robot-arm from the Endeavour will grab the telescope and hold it while the astronauts make the necessary repairs. Of course, the Hubble is above the earth's atmosphere, so it will soon be sending us the clearest pictures of the stars and distant galaxies that we have ever seen. The Hubble will tell us a great deal about the age and size of the universe. By the time you read this, the Hubble's eagle eye will have sent us thousands and thousands of wonderful pictures.

New words and expressions 生词和短语

Hubble  n. 哈勃
telescope  n. 望远镜
launch  v. 发射
space  n. 空间
NASA  n.(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) 国家航空和航天局

billion  n. 10亿
faulty  adj. 有错误的
astronaut  n. 宇航员
shuttle  n. 航天飞机
Endeavour  n. “奋进”号

robot-arm  n. 机器手
grab  v. 抓
atmosphere  n. 大气层
distant  adj. 遥远的
galaxy  n. 星系

universe  n. 宇宙
eagle eye  鹰眼

参考译文

    哈勃望远镜于1990年4月20日由国家航空航天局发射升空，耗资10多亿美元。从最开始哈勃望远镜就有问题。它传送给我们的图像很令人失望，因为它的主要镜子有误差。国家航天局准备纠正这一错误，为此将把4名宇航员送入太空修复望远镜。“奋进”号航天飞机将把宇航员送上哈勃。当宇航员进行必要的修复工作时，“奋进”号上的一只机器手将抓住望远镜并托住它。当然，哈勃位于地球的大气层之外，因此，它很快就会给我们传送我们所见到过的、有关行星和远距离星系的最清晰的照片。哈勃将告诉我们有关宇宙的年龄和大小的许多事情。等到你读到这篇文章时，敏锐的哈勃望远镜已经为我们送来了成千上万张精彩的照片。