2007年VOA标准英语-Space Probes Head Beyond Solar System

By Paul Sisco
Washington
14 September 2007
 

They are the space probes that will not quit. Many of us are looking to retire after more than 30 years of work.  Not NASA's two Voyager spacecraft, racing¹ through interstellar space.   VOA's Paul Sisco has more.

An artist's conception of one of the Voyager probes traveling through our solar system

Late summer 1977:  Voyagers 1 and 2 rocketed into space within weeks of each other from their Florida launch pad.

They were built to last five years and make close-up observations of the planets Jupiter and Saturn² and their larger moons.  With "mission accomplished³" and energy to spare, in 1982 they flew to Uranus⁴ and Neptune⁵, the two outermost⁶ giants in the solar System.

Project scientist Ed Stone remembers. "As a scientist it was just an incredible period of discovery, and even today, as we head to interstellar space, we're still discovering things we had not thought about before.  But as we flew by Jupiter and then Saturn and then Uranus and Neptune we discovered world after world which had just been points of light and each was distinct and different."

Ed Stone

On Jupiter's moon, Io, the Voyager mission discovered the first active volcanoes ever seen beyond Earth. Next, they gave us fascinating detail of Saturn's rotating rings and unexpected dark areas.

As the probes passed each body, they were flung deeper into space.

With images and data of Uranus's moon, Miranda, NASA scientists created a three dimensional animation⁷ of its rugged⁸ surface and bizarre canyons⁹ more that 25 kilometers deep.

Voyagers taught us that Neptune has the fastest winds of any planet, up to 2,000 kilometers per hour.

Roger Launius

"Voyager is the little space craft that could," says Roger Launius, who is a space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. "And Voyager is out there.  It is beyond the point where the solar system has any real hold on it any longer from a gravitational perspective."

The crafts are running out of power quickly, but will still send bits of information back to Earth for at least a few more years.  The Voyagers also carry two gold-plated discs [phonograph records, the audio technology of the time], should there ever be a chance encounter from a distant world. The greeting says, "Hello from the children of planet Earth ..."

A Voyager model on display at the Air and Space Museum

Launius explains, "These gold records have greetings in 76 languages.  They have snippets of music and poetry and photographs and things of that nature to talk about what life on Earth is like.

The messages are intended to let those who find them know that we exist.

1 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

2 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings.天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

3 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

4 Uranus   

n.天王星

参考例句：

• Uranus is unusual because it is tilted.天王星非常特殊，因为它是倾斜的。
• Uranus represents sudden change and rebellion.天王星代表突然性的改变和反叛。

5 Neptune   

n.海王星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun.海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Neptune turned out to be a dynamic,stormy world.海王星原来是个有生气、多风暴的世界。

6 outermost   

adj.最外面的，远离中心的

参考例句：

• He fired and hit the outermost ring of the target.他开枪射中了靶子的最外一环。
• The outermost electron is shielded from the nucleus.原子核对最外层电子的作用受到屏蔽。

7 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

8 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

9 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网