PBS高端访谈:女性的首次太空漫步

JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight: a milestone¹ moment. Two American astronauts, both women, stepped out of the International Space Station for the first all-female space walk. William Brangham has more on this landmark² day.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The moment Christina Koch and Jessica Meir began to exit the International Space Station, floating out into space 250 miles from planet Earth, history or herstory was made.

WOMAN: Right beneath your feet, so don't move down.

WOMAN: Copy.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Men have been on every single space walk, all 420 of them, until today. Koch and Meir's mission was installing lithium ion batteries to replace the station's battery charger.

Today, President Trump³ called the two astronauts from the White House.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: What would you like to tell everyone listening and watching today, especially young women?

JESSICA MEIR, NASA Astronaut: We recognize that it is a historic achievement. And we do, of course, want to give credit to all those that came before us. There's been a long line of female scientists, explorers, engineers and astronauts. And we have followed in their footsteps to get us where we are today.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Today's milestone comes months after the first all-female space walk had originally been planned, but that was scrapped⁴ when NASA revealed that it didn't have a second spacesuit that would fit a woman. Saturday Night Live had some fun with that one:

ACTRESS: I'm not mad. You know, they can make a special spacesuit for a dog...

ACTRESS: ... or a special spacesuit for a monkey. But a human girl? Only one gets to be moon queen.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The first woman to walk outside a spacecraft in orbit was Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya. That was back in 1984. This was Meir's first space walk. She's now the 15th woman to do so. She spoke⁵ ahead of today's historic mission.

JESSICA MEIR: What we're doing now shows all the work that went in for the decades prior, all the women that worked to get us where we are today. And I think the nice thing is, for us, we don't even really think about it on a daily basis. It's just normal. We're part of the team.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For Koch, this was her fourth space walk. She's now scheduled to spend 328 days aboard the space station, the longest ever by a woman.

CHRISTINA KOCH, NASA Astronaut: That, in the past, women haven't always been at the table. And it's wonderful to be contributing to the human spaceflight program at a time when all contributions are being accepted, when everyone has a role.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Both Meir and Koch were selected as part of NASA's 2013 class. That was NASA's first class to have an equal number of male and female astronauts. NASA says it hopes to put the first woman on the moon by 2024. And, this week, they very publicly unveiled that mission's female-friendly spacesuit. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm William Brangham.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You got to love it. We're celebrating.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：今晚的节目将介绍一个具有里程碑意义的时刻。两名美国女宇航员踏出了国际空间站，进行了女性首次的太空漫步。下面请听威廉·布朗汉姆发回的关于这一里程碑的详细报道。

威廉·布朗汉姆：克里斯蒂娜·科赫和杰西卡·梅尔开始离开国际空间站并准备飘向距离地球250英里的空间的时候，就缔造了女性宇航员的历史。

女：就在你脚下，所以不要向下移动。

女：收到。

威廉·布朗汉姆：至今已有420次太空漫步，每次太空漫步都有男性的身影。克里斯蒂娜·科赫和杰西卡·梅尔的任务是安装锂离子电池，以替代国际空间站的充电器。今天，特朗普总统在白宫给这两位宇航员打了电话。

唐纳德·特朗普，美国总统：你们想对今天看着并听着你们说话的人说些什么呢？尤其是对年轻女性。

杰西卡·梅尔，美国宇航局（NASA）宇航员：我们意识到这是历史性的成就。当然，我们真地很想感谢先辈们。有很多女性科学家、探索家、工程师、宇航员。我们追随他们的足迹走到了今天。

威廉·布朗汉姆：今天里程碑出现的数月之前，NASA就已经在计划第一次女性的太空漫步了，但计划破灭了，因为NASA宣布说自己没有第二套女性太空服了。《周六夜现场》也就这件事开了玩笑：

女演员：我真的不生气。但你知道吗？他们都能为一只狗做一套特殊的太空服……（笑声）

女演员：……或者为猴子做特殊的太空服。但人类女性呢？只有一个人能成为月之女神吗？（笑声）

威廉·布朗汉姆：第一位在轨道上航天器外漫步的女性是俄罗斯宇航员斯维特兰娜·萨维茨卡娅。那是1984年的时候，梅尔第一次做了太空漫步。梅尔是第15位太空漫步的女性。梅尔在今天历史性的任务之前就发表过看法。

杰西卡·梅尔：我们现在所做的一切也表明了数十年前先辈所做的事情，女性先辈们的努力成就了今天的我们。我觉得好消息是：对我们来说，我们其实都不会每天去想。因为我们是团队的一员，是很自然的感觉。

威廉·布朗汉姆：这是科赫的第4次太空漫步。现在已经做好排期，科赫要在空间站上度过328天，这是女性在空间站所待时长的纪录。

克里斯蒂娜·科赫，NASA宇航员：以前，太空方面的工作几乎没有女性什么事儿。能为人类太空事业做贡献，这感觉真的很棒。这也要感谢当今的时代能认可所有人的贡献，每个人都有自己的作用可以发挥。

威廉·布朗汉姆：梅尔和科赫当选为NASA 2013级的宇航员。这是NASA男女性数量相当的第一届。NASA说它希望能在2024年之前送第一位女性登月。本周，NASA公开了这次任务中适合女性的太空服。感谢收听威廉·布朗汉姆发挥的《新闻一小时》。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：这期节目真是惹人喜爱。我们也为女性在太空领域的成就感到高兴。

1 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

2 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 scrapped   

废弃(scrap的过去式与过去分词)； 打架

参考例句：

• This machine is so old that it will soon have to be scrapped. 这架机器太旧，快报废了。
• It had been thought that passport controls would be scrapped. 人们曾认为会放开护照管制。

5 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。