NBC晚间新闻 维珍太空船带你去太空旅行

The view from Virgin¹ Galactic spaceship 2, spectacular. December's mission marked the first manned launch from US soil since the space shuttles retired² in 2011, climbing 51.4 miles into the FAA definition of space. Buddy³, we’re going to space. Today pilots Mark Stuckey and CJ Sturckow received their commercial astronaut wings as virgin prepares to be the first to carry paying customers by year's end.

I want to do dozens, you know dozens and dozens of these flights and and with paying customers and and ensure experience with them. 600 people have already signed up, many celebrities⁴ paying $250,000. It feels tantalizingly⁵ close to the culmination⁶ of our dreams. Billionaire founder⁷ Richard Branson plans to fly in July and says the trips will get cheaper the more spacecraft he builds. You know we may be able to get the price right down in 10 years rather than 20. Until then a four-minute quarter-million dollar view.

在维珍银河太空船二号看到的景色太壮观了。自从这个宇宙飞船在2011年退役后，12月这次的任务是首次在美国本土进行载人发射。飞行高度51.4英里，到达了美国联邦航空局定义下的太空。伙计，我们要去太空了。今天，飞行员马克·斯塔基和CJ 斯图克都获得了商业飞行许可，维珍太空船准备在年底前成为第一架搭载付费客户的太空船。你知道，我想做几十次、很多次这样的搭载付费客户的的飞行，并确保他们的体验。现在600人已经签约参加这个飞行，很多名流为此支付了250000美金。那感觉就像是一步一步走向我们最大的梦想。亿万富翁创始人理查德·布兰森计划在7月参加这个飞行。他说，他建造的太空船越多，飞行的费用就会越低。我们或许可以在10年内把飞行费用降下来，而不是20年。直到那之前，这就是一次花费达250000美元的4分钟的飞行。

1 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

2 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

3 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

4 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

5 tantalizingly   

adv.…得令人着急，…到令人着急的程度

参考例句：

• A band of caribou passed by, twenty and odd animals, tantalizingly within rifle range. 一群驯鹿走了过去，大约有二十多头，都呆在可望而不可即的来福枪的射程以内。 来自英汉文学 - 热爱生命
• She smiled at him tantalizingly. 她引诱性地对他笑着。 来自互联网

6 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。