2023考研英語(yǔ)閱讀小行星探測(cè)
Investigating the asteroids
小行星探測(cè)
Dawn s early light
黎明 號(hào)初試鋒芒
A mission to the asteroid belt will visit leftoversfrom the solar system s formation
小行星帶探測(cè)任務(wù)將造訪太陽(yáng)系形成時(shí)期的衍生物
Dimly seen through the mists of the deep
透過深層迷霧隱約可見
LAST week all eyes were on the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, as NASA s space shuttleblasted off on its final mission.
上周，佛羅里達(dá)州肯尼迪航天中心成為全球目光的焦點(diǎn)，美國(guó)宇航局航天飛機(jī)呼嘯升空，展開航天任務(wù)的收官之旅。
Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of kilometres away, another NASA spacecraft wasapproaching its destination.
與此同時(shí)，在數(shù)百萬(wàn)公里以外，另一艘美國(guó)宇航局的航天器正向目標(biāo)進(jìn)發(fā)。
If all goes to plan, then on July 16th Dawn,the largest robotic probe ever launched by America s space agency,
如果一切按計(jì)劃進(jìn)行，美國(guó)宇航局有史以來發(fā)射的最大的機(jī)器人探測(cè)器將與7月16日進(jìn)入灶神星軌道飛行。
will drop into orbit around Vesta, the second-largest member of the asteroid belt.
灶神星是小行星帶中體積居第二位的成員。
Though a mission to the asteroids may lack the glamour of sending probes to Mars and themoons of Saturn,
盡管小行星探測(cè)任務(wù)不如將探測(cè)器送入火星和土星那樣令人矚目，
these tiny planetlets have long fascinated astronomers, for they offer a window on theearliest years of the solar system.
但這些微小星體一直令天文學(xué)家們著迷，因?yàn)樗鼈兡転槲覀兘议_太陽(yáng)系形成初期之謎。
When the sun formed, some 4.5 billion years ago, it was surrounded by a disk of gas anddust.
約45億年前，太陽(yáng)形成之時(shí)曾被大量的氣體和塵埃盤包圍。
During the next few million years, lumps of that disk stuck together to form the familiar eightplanets of the modern solar system.
在后續(xù)的幾百萬(wàn)年間，這些盤狀物質(zhì)塊相互結(jié)合形成了現(xiàn)代為人熟知的太陽(yáng)系八大行星。
Some lumps, however, were left over. And a lot of them are concentrated in the asteroidbelt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter,
但還是有些物質(zhì)塊被遺留下來。它們大部分集中于火星和木星軌道之間的小行星帶內(nèi)，
where the combined gravities of Jupiter and Saturn seem to have gathered them from otherparts of the solar system.
木星和土星的組合引力似乎將它們集聚起來并與太陽(yáng)系的其它部分分離。
There, they have crashed repeatedly into one another to form fragments of various sizes.
在那里，它們之間的反復(fù)碰撞形成了各種尺寸的碎片。
Small asteroids are often little more than piles of dust and chondrules, the spherical pebblesof rock that formed from dust which melted in the heat of the young sun.
體積較小的小行星只不過是一些塵埃和隕石球粒的堆積物，其中這些圓狀巖石形成于太陽(yáng)早期高熱量下融熔的塵埃。
Larger bodies such as Vesta, though, are more interesting.
但是象灶神星這樣的較大天體更能引起人們的興趣。
Vesta s size and density make it massive enough for its gravity to keep it roughlyspherical, like a proper planet.
與真正行星相仿，灶神星的尺寸和密度使其具備足夠的引力保持基本的球體形狀。
Another thing that makes Vesta planetlike is that it is split into distinct layers.
灶神星與行星的另一個(gè)相似點(diǎn)是它也分裂成不同的層。
The evidence suggests it has a nickel-iron core like the Earth s, overlain by a rocky mantle.
有證據(jù)表明它的地核也象地球一樣由鎳、鐵元素組成，表面由巖石地幔覆蓋。
Part of that evidence comes from its density and part from hundreds of chunks of rock, inthe form of meteorites,
該證據(jù)的一部分來源于灶神星的密度，另一部分來源于數(shù)以百計(jì)以隕石形狀存在的大塊巖石，
that have been examined by Earth-bound scientists.
地球科學(xué)家們已對(duì)這些巖石進(jìn)行過研究。
These rocks are believed to be the result of an asteroidal prang that happened many millionsof years ago and left a crater 460km across, which dominates Vesta s southern hemisphere.
這些巖石據(jù)說是幾百萬(wàn)年前的小行星碰撞的結(jié)果，并在灶神星的南半球形成了一個(gè)跨度為460公里的隕石坑。
The reason they are thought to come from Vesta is that the asteroid has an unusual andcharacteristic spectrum.
它們被認(rèn)為來自灶神星是因?yàn)檫@顆小行星有著不同尋常的特征光譜。
It shares this with a number of smaller asteroids whose orbits suggest they were spalled off inthe collision, and with about 5% of the meteorites which fall to Earth.
一些更小的行星也具有這樣的光譜，從它們運(yùn)行的軌道來看，它們是灶神星在碰撞中的脫落物，擁有的隕石數(shù)量約是落到地球表面隕石數(shù)量的5%。
Such meteorites look like igneous rocks from Earthhence the belief that Vesta has amantle.
這種隕石與地球上的火成巖相似因此可以相信灶神星上有地幔存在。
The rocket s blue glare
火箭的藍(lán)色眩光
After spending a year in orbit around Vesta, Dawn will perform a trick rare in spacetravelit will reignite its engines and head off to orbit another body.
在繞行灶神星軌道一年后，黎明號(hào)將施展航天探索中少有的絕技它將重新點(diǎn)燃發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)向另一個(gè)天體的軌道進(jìn)發(fā)。
Ceres, at about 960km in diameter, is the largest asteroid. Dawn is due to arrive there in2023.
谷神星直徑大約為960公里，是小行星帶里體積最大的成員。黎明號(hào)將于2023年到達(dá)谷神星。
Ceres, too, is spherical and probably divided into core and mantle, though the mantle seemsto be wetter than that of Vesta.
谷神星也是球狀天體，它可能也被劃分成地核和地幔，但它的地幔似乎比灶神星的地幔更富含水質(zhì)。
Indeed, Ceres may have ice caps and a thin atmosphere.
實(shí)際上，谷神星可能有冰層覆蓋而且大氣稀薄。
But it has been luckier than Vestaand almost every other asteroidin avoiding collisions,and has thus not yielded a huge crop of meteorites for Earth-bound scientists to examine.
但在避免碰撞方面，它比灶神星要幸運(yùn)得多幾乎比其它任何小行星也都幸運(yùn)，因此它沒有產(chǎn)生可供地球科學(xué)家研究的大量隕石。
Dawn is able to perform the trick of moving from one asteroid to another thanks to itsion-rocket engines, pioneered on an earlier NASA mission called Deep Space One.
由于有了離子火箭發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)，黎明號(hào)能夠施展自己的絕技從一個(gè)小行星飛行到另一個(gè)小行星。
Unlike conventional rockets, which use high-energy chemical reactions to force a stream ofhot gas out of the engine,
這種發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)始創(chuàng)于美國(guó)宇航局早期的太空一號(hào)任務(wù)。與傳統(tǒng)火箭不同，離子火箭發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)利用電場(chǎng)對(duì)飛船底部燃料中的帶電粒子進(jìn)行加速，
ion rockets employ electric fields to accelerate charged particles of fuel out of the back ofthe spacecraft.
而傳統(tǒng)火箭是采用高能量化學(xué)反應(yīng)將熱氣流排出發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)。
Ion engines give a pretty feeble kick.
離子發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)產(chǎn)生的振動(dòng)極其微弱。
Dawn s produce 92 millinewtons of thrust, something like a fiftieth of the amount in asmallish firework rocket.
黎明號(hào)產(chǎn)生的推進(jìn)力僅為0.092牛頓，是小型煙花火箭推進(jìn)力的五十分之一。
The exhaust velocity, though, is enormousmore than ten times that of a chemicalrocketand this makes ion propulsion extremely efficient.
但其排氣速度卻異常驚人，大約為化學(xué)燃料火箭的十倍這使得離子推進(jìn)器的效率非常高。
Though an ion engine could never lift a spacecraft out of Earth s gravity well,
盡管離子發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)不能使航天飛機(jī)很好地?cái)[脫地球引力，
once that craft is in deep space the futuristic-looking blue glow of its exhaust can take it toparts that chemical engines find much harder to reach.
但航天器一旦進(jìn)入太空深處，尾部噴射出的極具超現(xiàn)實(shí)光彩的藍(lán)色輝光可以將它帶到化學(xué)燃料發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)難以到達(dá)的地方。
Dawn started off with 450kg of propellant, and even at maximum throttle its engines use onlya quarter of a kilo a day.
黎明號(hào)初始裝載了450公斤推進(jìn)劑，即使在全速行進(jìn)的情況下，其發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)每天消耗的燃料也僅為0.25公斤。
The arrival of Dawn at Vesta also marks another significant achievement.
黎明號(hào)到達(dá)灶神星也將標(biāo)志著太空探索取得了另一項(xiàng)重大成就。
If the craft does manage to go into orbit it will mean that working man-made satellites arecircling and scrutinising eight bodies in the solar system:
如果它能夠成功進(jìn)入軌道，那將意味著在軌人造衛(wèi)星已經(jīng)能夠?qū)μ?yáng)系的八個(gè)天體:
the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, the moon, Mars and Saturn, as well as Vesta.
太陽(yáng)、水星、金星、地球、月球、火星、土星和灶神星進(jìn)行繞行和探查。
That gives comfort to those who fear that the end of the shuttle programme might mean awider loss of interest in the exploration of space.
對(duì)于那些擔(dān)憂航天計(jì)劃終結(jié)意味著對(duì)太空探索興趣漸失的人們來說，這將會(huì)帶來一些安慰。
Whether it doesand the new record proves to be the high-water mark of unmanned spaceexploration.
是否黎明號(hào)能夠完成任務(wù)若完成將表明無人飛船創(chuàng)造了太空探索的最高記錄,
or whether Dawn s arrival proves merely a staging post on the road to greater things,remains to be seen.
或者是否黎明號(hào)的到達(dá)僅是完成了宏偉目標(biāo)中的一項(xiàng)階段任務(wù)，對(duì)此我們都將拭目以待。
詞語(yǔ)解釋
1.asteroid n.小行星;海盤車
This asteroid takes 238 years to orbit the sun.
這顆小行星需要花238年繞太陽(yáng)運(yùn)行一周。
2.blast v.爆破;摧毀;發(fā)出巨響
27 school children were injured in the blast.
27名學(xué)齡兒童在爆炸中受了傷。
3.probe n.調(diào)查;查究;探針
Pressure on the industry was building even before the latest probe.
事實(shí)上,在最近的調(diào)查之前,壓力就已經(jīng)在這個(gè)行業(yè)聚集。
4.glamour n.魔力;魅力
The glamour of inexperience is over your eyes.
無經(jīng)驗(yàn)的魔力蒙住了你的眼睛。
5.surround v.包圍;環(huán)繞
The house was surrounded by high walls.
房子的四周有高墻。
Investigating the asteroids
小行星探測(cè)
Dawn s early light
黎明 號(hào)初試鋒芒
A mission to the asteroid belt will visit leftoversfrom the solar system s formation
小行星帶探測(cè)任務(wù)將造訪太陽(yáng)系形成時(shí)期的衍生物
Dimly seen through the mists of the deep
透過深層迷霧隱約可見
LAST week all eyes were on the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, as NASA s space shuttleblasted off on its final mission.
上周，佛羅里達(dá)州肯尼迪航天中心成為全球目光的焦點(diǎn)，美國(guó)宇航局航天飛機(jī)呼嘯升空，展開航天任務(wù)的收官之旅。
Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of kilometres away, another NASA spacecraft wasapproaching its destination.
與此同時(shí)，在數(shù)百萬(wàn)公里以外，另一艘美國(guó)宇航局的航天器正向目標(biāo)進(jìn)發(fā)。
If all goes to plan, then on July 16th Dawn,the largest robotic probe ever launched by America s space agency,
如果一切按計(jì)劃進(jìn)行，美國(guó)宇航局有史以來發(fā)射的最大的機(jī)器人探測(cè)器將與7月16日進(jìn)入灶神星軌道飛行。
will drop into orbit around Vesta, the second-largest member of the asteroid belt.
灶神星是小行星帶中體積居第二位的成員。
Though a mission to the asteroids may lack the glamour of sending probes to Mars and themoons of Saturn,
盡管小行星探測(cè)任務(wù)不如將探測(cè)器送入火星和土星那樣令人矚目，
these tiny planetlets have long fascinated astronomers, for they offer a window on theearliest years of the solar system.
但這些微小星體一直令天文學(xué)家們著迷，因?yàn)樗鼈兡転槲覀兘议_太陽(yáng)系形成初期之謎。
When the sun formed, some 4.5 billion years ago, it was surrounded by a disk of gas anddust.
約45億年前，太陽(yáng)形成之時(shí)曾被大量的氣體和塵埃盤包圍。
During the next few million years, lumps of that disk stuck together to form the familiar eightplanets of the modern solar system.
在后續(xù)的幾百萬(wàn)年間，這些盤狀物質(zhì)塊相互結(jié)合形成了現(xiàn)代為人熟知的太陽(yáng)系八大行星。
Some lumps, however, were left over. And a lot of them are concentrated in the asteroidbelt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter,
但還是有些物質(zhì)塊被遺留下來。它們大部分集中于火星和木星軌道之間的小行星帶內(nèi)，
where the combined gravities of Jupiter and Saturn seem to have gathered them from otherparts of the solar system.
木星和土星的組合引力似乎將它們集聚起來并與太陽(yáng)系的其它部分分離。
There, they have crashed repeatedly into one another to form fragments of various sizes.
在那里，它們之間的反復(fù)碰撞形成了各種尺寸的碎片。
Small asteroids are often little more than piles of dust and chondrules, the spherical pebblesof rock that formed from dust which melted in the heat of the young sun.
體積較小的小行星只不過是一些塵埃和隕石球粒的堆積物，其中這些圓狀巖石形成于太陽(yáng)早期高熱量下融熔的塵埃。
Larger bodies such as Vesta, though, are more interesting.
但是象灶神星這樣的較大天體更能引起人們的興趣。
Vesta s size and density make it massive enough for its gravity to keep it roughlyspherical, like a proper planet.
與真正行星相仿，灶神星的尺寸和密度使其具備足夠的引力保持基本的球體形狀。
Another thing that makes Vesta planetlike is that it is split into distinct layers.
灶神星與行星的另一個(gè)相似點(diǎn)是它也分裂成不同的層。
The evidence suggests it has a nickel-iron core like the Earth s, overlain by a rocky mantle.
有證據(jù)表明它的地核也象地球一樣由鎳、鐵元素組成，表面由巖石地幔覆蓋。
Part of that evidence comes from its density and part from hundreds of chunks of rock, inthe form of meteorites,
該證據(jù)的一部分來源于灶神星的密度，另一部分來源于數(shù)以百計(jì)以隕石形狀存在的大塊巖石，
that have been examined by Earth-bound scientists.
地球科學(xué)家們已對(duì)這些巖石進(jìn)行過研究。
These rocks are believed to be the result of an asteroidal prang that happened many millionsof years ago and left a crater 460km across, which dominates Vesta s southern hemisphere.
這些巖石據(jù)說是幾百萬(wàn)年前的小行星碰撞的結(jié)果，并在灶神星的南半球形成了一個(gè)跨度為460公里的隕石坑。
The reason they are thought to come from Vesta is that the asteroid has an unusual andcharacteristic spectrum.
它們被認(rèn)為來自灶神星是因?yàn)檫@顆小行星有著不同尋常的特征光譜。
It shares this with a number of smaller asteroids whose orbits suggest they were spalled off inthe collision, and with about 5% of the meteorites which fall to Earth.
一些更小的行星也具有這樣的光譜，從它們運(yùn)行的軌道來看，它們是灶神星在碰撞中的脫落物，擁有的隕石數(shù)量約是落到地球表面隕石數(shù)量的5%。
Such meteorites look like igneous rocks from Earthhence the belief that Vesta has amantle.
這種隕石與地球上的火成巖相似因此可以相信灶神星上有地幔存在。
The rocket s blue glare
火箭的藍(lán)色眩光
After spending a year in orbit around Vesta, Dawn will perform a trick rare in spacetravelit will reignite its engines and head off to orbit another body.
在繞行灶神星軌道一年后，黎明號(hào)將施展航天探索中少有的絕技它將重新點(diǎn)燃發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)向另一個(gè)天體的軌道進(jìn)發(fā)。
Ceres, at about 960km in diameter, is the largest asteroid. Dawn is due to arrive there in2023.
谷神星直徑大約為960公里，是小行星帶里體積最大的成員。黎明號(hào)將于2023年到達(dá)谷神星。
Ceres, too, is spherical and probably divided into core and mantle, though the mantle seemsto be wetter than that of Vesta.
谷神星也是球狀天體，它可能也被劃分成地核和地幔，但它的地幔似乎比灶神星的地幔更富含水質(zhì)。
Indeed, Ceres may have ice caps and a thin atmosphere.
實(shí)際上，谷神星可能有冰層覆蓋而且大氣稀薄。
But it has been luckier than Vestaand almost every other asteroidin avoiding collisions,and has thus not yielded a huge crop of meteorites for Earth-bound scientists to examine.
但在避免碰撞方面，它比灶神星要幸運(yùn)得多幾乎比其它任何小行星也都幸運(yùn)，因此它沒有產(chǎn)生可供地球科學(xué)家研究的大量隕石。
Dawn is able to perform the trick of moving from one asteroid to another thanks to itsion-rocket engines, pioneered on an earlier NASA mission called Deep Space One.
由于有了離子火箭發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)，黎明號(hào)能夠施展自己的絕技從一個(gè)小行星飛行到另一個(gè)小行星。
Unlike conventional rockets, which use high-energy chemical reactions to force a stream ofhot gas out of the engine,
這種發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)始創(chuàng)于美國(guó)宇航局早期的太空一號(hào)任務(wù)。與傳統(tǒng)火箭不同，離子火箭發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)利用電場(chǎng)對(duì)飛船底部燃料中的帶電粒子進(jìn)行加速，
ion rockets employ electric fields to accelerate charged particles of fuel out of the back ofthe spacecraft.
而傳統(tǒng)火箭是采用高能量化學(xué)反應(yīng)將熱氣流排出發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)。
Ion engines give a pretty feeble kick.
離子發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)產(chǎn)生的振動(dòng)極其微弱。
Dawn s produce 92 millinewtons of thrust, something like a fiftieth of the amount in asmallish firework rocket.
黎明號(hào)產(chǎn)生的推進(jìn)力僅為0.092牛頓，是小型煙花火箭推進(jìn)力的五十分之一。
The exhaust velocity, though, is enormousmore than ten times that of a chemicalrocketand this makes ion propulsion extremely efficient.
但其排氣速度卻異常驚人，大約為化學(xué)燃料火箭的十倍這使得離子推進(jìn)器的效率非常高。
Though an ion engine could never lift a spacecraft out of Earth s gravity well,
盡管離子發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)不能使航天飛機(jī)很好地?cái)[脫地球引力，
once that craft is in deep space the futuristic-looking blue glow of its exhaust can take it toparts that chemical engines find much harder to reach.
但航天器一旦進(jìn)入太空深處，尾部噴射出的極具超現(xiàn)實(shí)光彩的藍(lán)色輝光可以將它帶到化學(xué)燃料發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)難以到達(dá)的地方。
Dawn started off with 450kg of propellant, and even at maximum throttle its engines use onlya quarter of a kilo a day.
黎明號(hào)初始裝載了450公斤推進(jìn)劑，即使在全速行進(jìn)的情況下，其發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)每天消耗的燃料也僅為0.25公斤。
The arrival of Dawn at Vesta also marks another significant achievement.
黎明號(hào)到達(dá)灶神星也將標(biāo)志著太空探索取得了另一項(xiàng)重大成就。
If the craft does manage to go into orbit it will mean that working man-made satellites arecircling and scrutinising eight bodies in the solar system:
如果它能夠成功進(jìn)入軌道，那將意味著在軌人造衛(wèi)星已經(jīng)能夠?qū)μ?yáng)系的八個(gè)天體:
the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, the moon, Mars and Saturn, as well as Vesta.
太陽(yáng)、水星、金星、地球、月球、火星、土星和灶神星進(jìn)行繞行和探查。
That gives comfort to those who fear that the end of the shuttle programme might mean awider loss of interest in the exploration of space.
對(duì)于那些擔(dān)憂航天計(jì)劃終結(jié)意味著對(duì)太空探索興趣漸失的人們來說，這將會(huì)帶來一些安慰。
Whether it doesand the new record proves to be the high-water mark of unmanned spaceexploration.
是否黎明號(hào)能夠完成任務(wù)若完成將表明無人飛船創(chuàng)造了太空探索的最高記錄,
or whether Dawn s arrival proves merely a staging post on the road to greater things,remains to be seen.
或者是否黎明號(hào)的到達(dá)僅是完成了宏偉目標(biāo)中的一項(xiàng)階段任務(wù)，對(duì)此我們都將拭目以待。
詞語(yǔ)解釋
1.asteroid n.小行星;海盤車
This asteroid takes 238 years to orbit the sun.
這顆小行星需要花238年繞太陽(yáng)運(yùn)行一周。
2.blast v.爆破;摧毀;發(fā)出巨響
27 school children were injured in the blast.
27名學(xué)齡兒童在爆炸中受了傷。
3.probe n.調(diào)查;查究;探針
Pressure on the industry was building even before the latest probe.
事實(shí)上,在最近的調(diào)查之前,壓力就已經(jīng)在這個(gè)行業(yè)聚集。
4.glamour n.魔力;魅力
The glamour of inexperience is over your eyes.
無經(jīng)驗(yàn)的魔力蒙住了你的眼睛。
5.surround v.包圍;環(huán)繞
The house was surrounded by high walls.
房子的四周有高墻。
