夏说英语新闻晨读 第496期:NASA的火星任务竟然被前宇航员喷?

 本期内容：

Bill Anders, lunar module¹ pilot of Apollo 8, the first human spaceflight to leave Earth's orbit, said sending crews to Mars was "almost ridiculous". Nasa is currently planning new human missions to the Moon, because it wants to learn the skills and develop the technology to enable a future human landing on Mars. But the former astronaut is scathing² about how Nasa has evolved since the heady days. "Nasa couldn't get to the Moon today. They're so ossified³... Nasa has turned into a jobs programme... many of the centres are mainly interested in keeping busy and you don't see the public support other than they get the workers their pay and their congressmen get re-elected." Said Bill.

lunar: adj. 月亮的
lunar module: 登月舱
orbit: n. 轨道；v. 绕……轨道而行
The earth orbits the sun. 地球围绕着太阳转。
crew: n. 全体船员；全体机务人员
ridiculous: adj. 荒唐的；荒诞的
scathing: adj. 严厉的；损伤的
scathe⁴: v. 伤害，损害
heady: adj. 兴奋的；令人陶醉的
These good old days are really my heady days. 那些过往的日子真的是令我留恋。
ossified: adj. 僵化的
ossify⁵: v. 固化；僵化
congressman⁶: n. 众议员

1 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

2 scathing   

adj.（言词、文章）严厉的，尖刻的；不留情的adv.严厉地，尖刻地v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的现在分词)

参考例句：

• a scathing attack on the new management 针对新的管理层的猛烈抨击
• Her speech was a scathing indictment of the government's record on crime. 她的演讲强烈指责了政府在犯罪问题上的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 ossified   

adj.已骨化[硬化]的v.骨化，硬化，使僵化( ossify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• an ossified political system 僵化的政治制度
• His thinking has ossified as he's grown older;he won't accept new ideas. 随着年岁的增长，他的思想僵化了，他不接受新观点。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 scathe   

v.损伤；n.伤害

参考例句：

• The child scathe its fingers while playing with a match.那孩子玩火柴时把手指烧伤了。
• He scathe his opponent's honor with rumor.他用谣言破坏对手的名誉。

5 ossify   

v.硬化，骨化

参考例句：

• It is easy for the mind to ossify.脑筋是易于僵化的。
• It reckons that rationing would ossify the farm industry.人们认为实行配给制会使农业失去活力。

6 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。