Ariane 5 launch aborted due to technical hitch

     BEIJING, Apirl 1 (Xinhuanet) -- An Ariane rocket launch of two communications satellites was aborted¹ Wednesday after a technical hitch² at the scheduled moment of liftoff in French Guiana on Wednesday.

    According to Arianespace, the Ariane 5 rocket's Vulcain main engine ignited as scheduled（安排） at 5:45 pm EDT (21:45 GMT), but the checkout³ process during ignition detected an unspecified anomaly, shutting down the engine before the two solid-rocket boosters ignited.

    The 165-foot (50-meter) tall Ariane 5 rocket's main engine's checkout process "was not completed successfully, preventing the boosters' ignition and thereby⁴ aborting⁵ the mission," Arianespace officials said. "The Ariane 5 and its two payloads remain in a safe mode on the launch pad."The Ariane 5 rocket uses a Vulcain 2 first stage engine assisted by two solid rocket boosters to launch satellite payloads into orbit. The Vulcain 2 engine is fueled by cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and is designed to burn for about 600 seconds to boost payloads into space.

    Jean-Yves Le Gall⁶, Arianespace president, said it would return the rocket to the final assembly building to prepare it for another launch attempt while investigating the cause of the problem. No new launch date was immediately announced.

    The Ariane 5 was to launch the Yahsat Y1A and Intelsat New Dawn communications satellites.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

3 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

4 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

5 aborting   

v.（使）流产( abort的现在分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• Target machine is rebooting due to a different deployment task. Aborting deployment. 由于有另一个部署任务，目标计算机正在重新启动。正在中止部署。 来自互联网
• The number of seconds elapsed before aborting a connection attempt. 在中止连接尝试之前经过的秒数。 来自互联网

6 gall   

v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难

参考例句：

• It galled him to have to ask for a loan.必须向人借钱使他感到难堪。
• No gall,no glory.没有磨难，何来荣耀。