2006年VOA标准英语-Space Shuttle Launch Preparations Proceed Despi

By Stephanie Ho
Washington
03 July 2006

NASA officials have decided¹ to proceed with preparations for the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery, despite discovering a crack in the foam² insulating one of the fuel tanks. The officials say they will continue to load the shuttle for a planned launch Tuesday, while inspection³ crews work to determine the significance of the damage.

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John Shannon looks at model of external fuel tank at Kennedy Space Center, July 3, 2006  
  
NASA's John Shannon says the triangular-shaped piece of foam that cracked off of the bracket of Discovery's fuel tank is only about eight centimeters long.

"And a lot of people that had seen the picture - it looked like a very large piece of foam, and when you got it, it looked like this small piece of bread crust, is what it looked like," he said.

He says the crack was caused by ice and condensation⁴ that built up over the past few days of bad weather, which delayed two earlier scheduled Discovery launches.

Shannon emphasized that the broken foam piece is small, and that officials have not been worried that its loss could negatively affect the flight.

Picture shows area where piece of foam insulation⁵ fell off of Discovery's external fuel tank   
  
"So, the obvious question is, 'gee⁶, if this were to have happened in flight, and this piece of foam were to come off, would that have been an issue?' And, the answer is 'no, absolutely, it would not have been an issue,'" he said. "It is less than half the size that we think can cause damage to the orbiter. So, although it is in an area that we don't like to have foam come off, this was not unexpected, and it would not have caused damage to the orbiter itself."

Discovery's mission is to test shuttle-inspection techniques and drop off German astronaut Thomas Reiter for a six-month stay at the International Space Station.

NASA has been concerned about cracks in the space shuttle fuel tank's foam insulation since Space Shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas on February 1, 2003. A chunk⁷ of flyaway foam had damaged Columbia's wing during liftoff, allowing superheated gas to penetrate⁸ the shuttle when it re-entered the atmosphere.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

3 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

4 condensation   

n.压缩，浓缩；凝结的水珠

参考例句：

• A cloud is a condensation of water vapour in the atmosphere.云是由大气中的水蒸气凝结成的。
• He used his sleeve to wipe the condensation off the glass.他用袖子擦掉玻璃上凝结的水珠。

5 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

6 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

7 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

8 penetrate   

v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解

参考例句：

• Western ideas penetrate slowly through the East.西方观念逐渐传入东方。
• The sunshine could not penetrate where the trees were thickest.阳光不能透入树木最浓密的地方。