世界载人航天15年中最大险情：宇航员死里逃生！

日前，载有两名宇航员的俄罗斯“联盟”号载人飞船发射失败，万幸是紧急逃生系统经受住了考验，将宇航员安全带回地面。

The men who fell to Earth

A space rocket misfires

The crew are safe but the International Space Station may have to be abandoned

misfire

可以表示“〔发动机〕不点火，不启动”，英文解释为“if an engine misfires, the petrol mixture does not burn at the right time”，

也可以指“〔计划或笑话〕未达到预期的效果，失败”，英文解释为“if a plan or joke misfires, it goes wrong and does not have the result that you intended”，举个：

I was worried that the plan might misfire.

我担心这个计划可能要落空。

这个标题“A space rocket misfires”可以说是具有双关的意味，可以指火箭发动机故障，又可以暗指发射任务的失败；因为，据了解，发生故障时确实导致火箭第二级的发动机关闭。

On October 11th two travellers to the International Space Station became the first astronauts to be rescued in mid-flight by a spacecraft's escape system. Their Soyuz launch rocket got into trouble when jettisoning its first stage.

jettison

作动词表示“〔尤指从正在行驶的飞机或船上将物品〕抛弃，丢弃”，英文解释为“to throw things away, especially from a moving plane or ship”，举个：

The crew jettisoned excess fuel and made an emergency landing.

机组人员丢弃了多余的燃料，紧急着陆。

也可以表示“除掉；放弃；拒绝接受”，英文解释为“to get rid of something or decide not to do something any longer”，举个：

The scheme was jettisoned when the government found it too costly.

政府发觉这项计划花费太大后就放弃了。

the International Space Station 国际空间站

a spacecraft's escape system 宇宙飞船逃生系统

据了解，起飞约119秒后，火箭第一级分离，位于火箭顶端的整流罩被抛下，但火箭第二级的发动机突然关闭，此后两名宇航员启动紧急逃生系统，乘员舱与火箭紧急分离，抛出降落伞着陆，成功返回地球。

Shortly afterwards, the escape system's rocket pulled the capsule containing Alexey Ovchinin and Nick Hague free, and the pair landed safely in Kazakhstan, about 400km from the launch pad in Baikonur.

capsule

除了我们比较熟悉的可以表示“〔药物〕胶囊”，英文解释为“a plastic container shaped like a very small tube with medicine inside that you swallow whole”；此处表示“〔航天器的〕密封舱，太空舱”，英文解释为“the part of a spacecraft in which people live and work”，举个：

... a space capsule orbiting the Earth

...沿地球轨道飞行的太空舱

time capsule：a container that is filled with objects from a particular time, so that people in the future will know what life was like then 时间胶囊

launch pad

表示“(火箭、导弹或卫星的)发射台；发射坪”，英文解释为“A launch pad or launching pad is a platform from which rockets, missiles, or satellites are launched.”

Kazakhstan 哈萨克斯坦

Baikonur 拜科努尔航天发射基地

Crewed Soyuz missions are now suspended. Since Soyuz was the only way to reach the space station, its current crew may have to return to Earth in the lone capsule now attached to it, leaving it abandoned.

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