Guiding questions:
Chapter 11 takes both on Earth and Mars. Events conclude on Mars immediately get picked up on Earth, back and forth for a few rounds. Really my thing. Anyway, question time:
Communication is now set up. But there's a slight problem. At first, all communications are done through a camera, but why can't Mark use the alphabet to "receive" message but have to resort to a seemingly more complex system?
It will be too hard to recognize which letter the camera is pointing at, if he uses a 26-letter system. Rather than that, all geeks know ASCII via a table of the values, they chose such a easier way.
Mitch is going to tell the crew the news that Mark is still alive. If you haven't read ahead, what do you think their reactions will be?
To be honest, I have already gone to chapter 15. It's really a tough thing to recall details from previous chapters. I believe if I recall correctly, everyone was happy and excited except Lewis, thinking she should be responsible for giving up on Mark.
Chapter 12 takes us back to the time before everything went south, both for Mark and the remaining crew members. What do think about Lewis, the Commander, more specifically, her heroism and, later, deep remorse?
This chapter also answers a question I asked a couple of days ago, remember?
Apparently the answer is yes. I think I can totally understand what Lewis feels and how badly she wants to make it right. If put myself in her shoes, I would definitely have done the same thing. NO one can foresee what will happen in the future. So risking others' lives to get an uninsured outcome, which I believe, no one would do it. I found it interesting that the leaders of NASA also have the similar dilemma. Whether to risk the others' lives to save only one crew, that is a question. The positive side is they are smart enough to pull the media in and keep all the American citizens on board. Great!
There're expressions I like a lot.
Venkat turned to Bruce. “God damn, Bruce. You really pulled a rabbit out of your hat this time! Good work!”
It's saying that you have made something magical, impossible, or amazing! I think it's a vivid example of how someone has done a wonderful job.
Tim shrugged. “You can never tell with managers.”
It seems to imply you'd better not to deny or have different opinions with managers. I'm not for sure. I'll update ASAP when I figure it out.
The sea of reporters raised their hands.
The "sea" makes me think of "People mountain people sea", though it may not be a appropriate saying, the sea of plus nouns may be a good expression.
“Not enough,” Annie said. “The press is crawling down my throat for this. And up my ass. Both directions, Venkat! They’re gonna meet in the middle!”
This is apparently expressing the situation Annie facing to.
Teddy swiveled in his chair and looked out his windows to the night sky. He pondered the faint, red dot amongst the stars. “Hang in there Watney,” he said to no one. “We’re coming.”
If something swivels or if you swivel it, it turns around a central point so that it is facing in a different direction.
例句: She swivelled her chair and stared out the window.
If you ponder something, you think about it carefully.
例句: He pondered over the difficulties involved.