VOA标准英语2011--Discovery Preps for Last Space Mission

As Discovery begins its 39th and final mission into Earth's orbit Thursday, America's 30-year space shuttle program comes one step closer to its scheduled end this April.
The aging fleet of reusable spacecraft has become an American technology icon¹, ferrying astronauts and mobile laboratories into space and helping² in the construction and resupply of the International Space Station.
Discovery has been a regular visitor to Earth's orbit since its maiden³ flight in 1984. It is the oldest and longest-serving vehicle in the U.S. space agency's shuttle fleet. Discovery's final flight follows several delays due to technical problems and repairs to its external fuel tank, but NASA's mission launch director Mike Leinbach says the shuttle is still space-ready.
"It's her 39th mission and [there] would have been quite a few left in her had the program been extended, but it wasn't," he says. "It is a kind of bittersweet to get the last flight out of her, but she's going to perform perfectly⁴ fine in orbit and bring the crew home safely."
Discovery's 11-day mission is a supply run to the International Space Station. On board are 3,855 kilograms of cargo⁵ including a large supply closet, a replacement⁶ radiator⁷ and a humanoid robot helper named Robonaut 2.
NASA
Robonaut (R2), the dexterous⁸ humanoid astronaut helper, flexes⁹ its mechanical muscles prior to its transport aboard space shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station.
Over its long career in space, Discovery has been a real work horse says Valerie Neal, shuttle curator at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. "It's delivered satellites. It's picked up and repaired satellites. It's flown scientific laboratories. It delivered the Hubble Space Telescope and then returned twice to service it. It flew twice to the Russian Space Station MIR and then 13 times to the International Space Station."
The Discovery is linked to many historic firsts. It was first to return to space after fatal accidents destroyed its sister ships, Challenger and Columbia. It was the first to have a woman pilot. And Neal says that, despite the inevitable¹⁰ dangers of spaceflight, Discovery has played a major role in making it more routine.
"Certainly since the space shuttle began to fly, we've had people going up five, six, seven eight, nine times a year," she says. "We had no precedent¹¹ for flying into space for 30 years in the same vehicles over and over. That's approaching routine spaceflight."
NASA
At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 crew on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway.
NASA plans two more missions, one each for the remaining two orbiters, Endeavor and Atlantis, before the Shuttle program ends later this year.
NASA will then have to rely on European, Russian and Japanese rocket launches to carry astronauts and supplies into orbit until commercial U.S. space ferries become fully¹² operational, possibly within the next five years. In the meantime, plans are still being worked out for putting Discovery and the other retired¹³ space shuttles on permanent museum display.

1 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

6 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

7 radiator   

n.暖气片，散热器

参考例句：

• The two ends of the pipeline are connected with the radiator.管道的两端与暖气片相连接。
• Top up the radiator before making a long journey.在长途旅行前加满散热器。

8 dexterous   

adj.灵敏的；灵巧的

参考例句：

• As people grow older they generally become less dexterous.随着年龄的增长，人通常会变得不再那么手巧。
• The manager was dexterous in handling his staff.那位经理善于运用他属下的职员。

9 flexes   

v.屈曲( flex的第三人称单数 )；弯曲；（为准备大干而）显示实力；摩拳擦掌

参考例句：

• MCC RE Flexes Its Powerful Muscle Across the Country. 中冶置业：全国彰显雄厚实力。 来自互联网
• Yeah, well, maybe you need to do a few more butt flexes. 是吗？可能你是需要做更多的臀部运动吧。 来自互联网

10 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

11 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。