2007年VOA标准英语-Space Tourist to Take Books Into Orbit

By Valer Gergely
Moscow
05 April 2007

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The next Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station is scheduled for launch on Saturday, carrying two Russian cosmonauts and a private American citizen. Jim Bertel narrates¹ this report on the flight produced by VOA's Valer Gergely in Moscow 

 
Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin
The Soyuz TMA-10 will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.  The space capsule will take two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. software engineer to the International Space Station (ISS).  Veteran Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin will command Expedition 15 on the ISS, while flight engineer Oleg Kotov will serve as Soyuz commander for the upcoming flight.

Yurchikhin and Kotov will join NASA astronaut Sunita Williams on the ISS, who will continue to work until her return aboard a space shuttle this summer.  The three Soyuz crew members have been training in Star City, Russia, at the Yuri Gagarin Space Training Center, along with Hungarian-born American space tourist Charles Simonyi.

Simonyi plans to conduct scientific experiments in orbit.  For his medical experiments he will carry an instrument developed in Hungary to study the effects of radiation on humans.  The 15th crew to fly to the space station passed the qualifying examination with top marks.  Kotov told journalists that Simonyi is well prepared for the flight.

 
Space tourist Charles Simonyi
During his pre-flight preparations Simonyi made many friends among space scientists and astronauts.  "I invited some of the instructors² from Star City to show me the materials and see what the instructions are like, and it turned out that I enjoyed so much," he says.

Bertalan Farkas, the first Hungarian astronaut, accompanied Simonyi to his training in Russia.  "I have met Mr. Simonyi several times and I felt that he has the very same thoughts we had before our flight – that this is the highlight of his life, something incomprehensible and he would do anything for it," Farkas says.

Simonyi is not only a computer engineer and aviator³, but also an active philanthropist.  His funds support the arts, science and libraries.  He grew up in an academic environment.  His father, a university professor, had an extensive library.

"Not just textbooks but –for example – the Great Soviet⁴ Encyclopedia⁵ in 50 volumes, which is a fantastic work.  We also had the Children's Encyclopedia in 10 volumes, also very interesting," the space tourist says.

 
Charles Simonyi
Because of his attachment⁶ to the arts and literature, Simonyi will carry books to the ISS, saying libraries should be everywhere where humans are.  Besides Goethe's Faust, he plans to take The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein.  The book seems an appropriate choice, since U.S. companies are planning to take private citizens around the moon in this decade.  Simonyi told the media that he would also be taking a 43-year-old computer tape with him to the space station.

"I have a good budget to take things with me, books and other things, in terms of a weight budget,” he says.   “But I just would like to mention, I am taking a computer tape for the Russian computer Ural 2 that I was programming in 1964.  I still keep the paper in my safe and I am taking one of those paper tapes with me to remind me where it all started."

The 58-year-old software engineer, a co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, now heads Intentional⁷ Software Corporation.  His company works on a new encoding software that will operate in the same way that people think, revolutionizing programming.

After eight days on the ISS, the space tourist is scheduled to return to Earth on the Soyuz spaceship on April 19th with Michael Lopez-Alegria, the current U.S. Commander of the ISS, and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin.

1 narrates   

v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• It narrates the unconstitutional acts of James II. 它历数了詹姆斯二世的违法行为。 来自辞典例句
• Chapter three narrates the economy activity which Jew return the Occident. 第三章讲述了犹太人重返西欧后的经济活动。 来自互联网

2 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

3 aviator   

n.飞行家，飞行员

参考例句：

• The young aviator bragged of his exploits in the sky.那名年轻的飞行员吹嘘他在空中飞行的英勇事迹。
• Hundreds of admirers besieged the famous aviator.数百名爱慕者围困那个著名飞行员。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

5 encyclopedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
• Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书，他什么都懂。

6 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

7 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。