China lands a rover on Mars
中国火星车成功着陆
China woke up on May 15th to see a new slogan on its television screens and spreading through its social media: Ni Hao Huo Xing, "Hello Mars". A few hours previously the Tianwen-1 mission had changed its orbit and dropped a landing capsule into the planet's atmosphere. Nine minutes later China became only the second country ever to land a rover successfully on the surface of the planet.
5 月 15 日的清晨，一条新口号登上了中国各地的电视屏幕，也遍布了各大社交媒体: “你好，火星”。几小时前，天问一号探测器改变了轨道，将一个着陆舱（着陆巡视器）投入了火星的大气层。九分钟后，中国成为了第二个成功将火星车送上火星表面的国家。
Mars is currently 320m km from Earth, meaning radio signals between the planets take 18 minutes to travel each way. By the time mission control knew for sure that the descent was underway, the red dust kicked up by the landing at 25ºN, 110ºE had long since settled.
火星目前距离地球 3.2 亿公里，这意味着它和地球之间的无线电信号传输单程需要花费 18 分钟。等到航天地面指挥中心确认探测器已开展着陆工作的时候，探测器在火星东经 110 度、北纬 25 度位置降落时扬起的红色尘土早已落定。
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Perched on top of the landing platform is a 240kg rover called Zhurong, after a Chinese fire god. It will soon trundle down a ramp and onto the surface of Utopia Planitia to look for water ice. The distribution of ice is of consuming interest to the scientists who study Mars.
停靠在着陆平台上的火星车重达 240 千克，名为“祝融号”，这一名字取自中国的火神祝融。“祝融号”火星车很快就会沿着坡道驶下着陆平台，登上乌托邦平原表面，探查水冰存在情况。研究火星的科学家们对于了解冰在火星上的分布情况无比热衷。
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This Chinese success shows off the country's growing capabilities in space. Given that NASA was able to manage similar soft landings for its two Vikings in the 1970s, the level of the achievement might seem overstated. But for a space agency to land anything successfully on its very first mission to Mars is still impressive. It proved beyond the European Space Agency in 2003, and a subsequent attempt by ESA and Roscosmos, failed in 2016.
中国此次火星着陆的成功展示了其日渐增长的太空实力。鉴于美国国家航空航天局（NASA）在 20 世纪 70 年代就曾完成过两次类似的软着陆任务（维京一号和维京二号），夸赞中国此次的成就，似乎有些言过其实。但一个航天局能在首次火星探测任务中就成功完成着陆操作，仍然令人惊叹。相较之下，欧洲航天局（European Space Agency）在 2003 年尝试未果，欧洲航天局和俄罗斯联邦航天局（Roscosmos）在 2016 年的后续尝试也依然失败。
At the moment China, though well behind NASA in the exploration of Mars, is catching up quickly. It is not inconceivable that, in ten years' time, it might overtake it.
虽然中国目前在火星探测方面还远远落后于美国国家航空航天局，但它正在迅速赶上。中国这方面的实力在十年时间内赶超美国，并非无法想象。
主编：大仔
品控：大仔
审核：Amy
Photo credit:
HANDOUT / CHINA NATIONAL SPACE ADMINISTRATION (CNSA) / AFP
重点词汇
rover
/ˈroʊ.vɚ/
n. 移动探测器，漫游车；越野车；漫游者
相关词汇：rove（v. 漫游；闲荡）
例句：There are children roving the streets.（街上有一群小孩子四处晃荡。）
搭配短语：roving exhibition（巡回展览）
搭配短语：China's first lunar rover（中国第一辆月球车）
搭配短语：Mars rover（火星车）
文化补充：知名的越野车品牌“路虎”英文名为 Land Rover。
capsule
/ˈkæp.səl/
n. 太空舱，航天舱
mission control
/ˌmɪʃ.ən kənˈtroʊl/
n. 航天地面指挥中心
descent
/dɪˈsent/
n. 下降
例句：The plane began its descent.
相关词汇：descend（v. 下降）
例句：The plane began to descend.
underway
/ˌʌn.dɚˈweɪ/
adj. 正在进行中的
例句：Economic recovery is already underway.
long since
很久以前
例句：He has long since quit smoking. （他已经戒烟很久了。）
例句：They've long since gone home.（他们早就回家了。）
settle
/ˈset̬.əl/
v. 落下，沉降；解决；结束
例句：Snow had settled on the rooftop.（屋顶积了一层雪。）
例句：Dust had settled on everything.（所有东西上都落了灰。）
搭配短语：to settle an argument（平息一场争论）
搭配短语：to settle differences（消除分歧）
搭配短语：to settle the date of the meeting（定下会议日期）
perch
/pɝːtʃ/
v. （使）停靠在；（使）坐落于
例句：A bird is perching on the branch.
例句：A house is perched on a cliff.
trundle
/ˈtrʌn.dəl/
v.（用轮子）慢慢移动
英文释义：to move slowly on wheels
例句：A train trundled across the bridge.
ramp
/ræmp/
n. 坡道，斜坡
搭配短语：wheelchair ramp（供轮椅使用的坡道）
搭配短语：boarding ramp（登机/登船舷梯）
consuming
/kənˈsuː.mɪŋ/
adj. 极其强烈的（以至于耗费很多精力）
英文释义：so strong or important that it takes up all your time and energy
相关词汇：consume（v. 消耗）
相关词汇：time-consuming（adj. 耗时的）
相关词汇：all-consuming（adj. 令人倾尽所有的）
例句：For Elon Musk, colonizing Mars is an all-consuming mission.
例句：Music is his consuming passion.
show off
展现，使显眼；炫耀
例句：He's always showing off to his classmates.（炫耀）
搭配短语：a dress that shows off her figure（展现，衬托）
替换表达 1：While China's Zhurong is not as technologically advanced as NASA's Perseverance, its presence sends a clear signal that China's space capabilities are catching up with those of the United States.（来自 CNN 报道）
相关词汇：capability（n. 实力，能力）
替换表达 2：China's success highlights how it is rapidly catching up to, if not exceeding, many of its counterparts.（来自纽约时报报道）
相关词汇：highlight（v. 凸显，强调）；counterpart（n. 对手）
替换表达 3：“China's successful Mars landing demonstrates to the world that there is another country with advanced interplanetary space capacities.”（引自分析师 Namrata Goswami 评价）
相关词汇：demonstrate（v. 证明，表明）；interplanetary（adj. 星际间的）；capacity（n. 能力）
manage
/ˈmæn.ədʒ/
v. 做得到
例句：Can you manage six o'clock?
例句：I'm not very good at Korean, but I can manage a few words.
agency
/ˈeɪ.dʒən.si/
n. 政府机构（某某局、某某处）
搭配短语：Central Intelligence Agency（美国中央情报局）
搭配短语：European Space Agency（欧洲航天局）
prove
/pruːv/
v. 证明是；证明
搭配短语：to prove a point（证明）
例句：It proves very difficult.（证明是，相当于 be）
subsequent
/ˈsʌb.sɪ.kwənt/
adj. 随后的，接着的
attempt
/əˈtempt/
n. 企图，尝试
搭配短语：in an attempt to do sth.
例句：Two factories were closed in an attempt to cut costs.
inconceivable
/ˌɪn.kənˈsiː.və.bəl/
adj. 无法想象的
相关词汇：conceive（v. 想象，构想）
相关词汇：conceivable（adj. 可想到的）
词根词缀：in-（表否定）
例句：The COVID-19 pandemic is having an inconceivable impact on the world.