英语听力：自然百科 行星旅行指南：火星 Mars—3

 Could life have been forged in the same way on both planets? When we sent the first probe to investigate in the 1960s, almost anything was possible. 

 

“Originally in the popular imagination we thought that Mars might be inhabited by whole civilizations, building canals and so on. And then the Mariner¹ fly-by missions really painted the very grim, black and white view of Mars as being barren.” 

 

The pictures and data recorded by Mariner 4 reveal Mars to be a cold, barren planet.

 

(SCS is close to vertical². )

 

Still NASA was eager to look for signs of life. In 1976, the Viking spacecraft arrives from earth for our first close encounter, and there are still hopes of a welcoming committee. But both Viking spacecrafts send back photos of nothing but rocks and sand. 

 

“We had cameras, so obviously if there was a yacca plant or I was hoping there’ll be a free way in the distance, but what the main thrust of Viking was actually was some chemical laboratories, and they looked for the chemical signs of life.” Even the dirt seems devoid³ of life.

 

“There was always a chance that when we were so busy looking for microbes there could be a large organism looking over their shoulder that they completely missed. But now we have enormous amount of imagery that shows nothing like a large organism. There’re no Catharine around, there’re no bison, there’re no palm trees.”

 

It seems Mars is not the kind of planet that gives up its secret easily. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll soon find that this is a world worthy⁴ of a closer look.

1 mariner   

n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者

参考例句：

• A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.平静的大海决不能造就熟练的水手。
• A mariner must have his eye upon rocks and sands as well as upon the North Star.海员不仅要盯着北极星，还要注意暗礁和险滩。

2 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

3 devoid   

adj.全无的，缺乏的

参考例句：

• He is completely devoid of humour.他十分缺乏幽默。
• The house is totally devoid of furniture.这所房子里什么家具都没有。

4 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。