(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember. On a cold October day in nineteen fifty-seven, the Soviet Union launched a small satellite into orbit around the Earth. Radio Moscow made the announcement. "The first artificial Earth satellite in the world has now been created. This first satellite was today successfully launched in the USSR." The world's first satellite was called Sputnik 1. Sputnik was an important propaganda victory for the Soviets in the Cold War with the United States. Many people believed the nation that controlled space could win any war. And the Soviet Union had reached outer space first.
The technology that launched Sputnik probably began in the late nineteenth century. A Russian teacher of that time, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, decided that a rocket engine could provide power for a space vehicle. In the early nineteen hundreds, another teacher -- American Robert Goddard -- tested the idea. He experimented with small rockets to see how high and how far they could travel. In nineteen twenty-three, a Romanian student in Germany, Hermann Oberth, showed how a spaceship might be built and launched to other planets. Rocket technology improved during World War Two. It was used to produce flying bombs. Thousands of people in Britain and Belgium died as a result of V-1 and V-2 rocket attacks. The rockets were launched from Germany. The larger V-2 rocket had the ability to hit the United States. After the war, it became clear that the United States and the Soviet Union -- allies in wartime -- would become enemies in peacetime. So, both countries employed German scientists to help them win the race to space. The Soviets took the first step by creating Sputnik.
This satellite was about the size of a basketball. It got its power from a rocket. It orbited Earth for three months. Within weeks, the Soviets launched another satellite into Earth orbit, Sputnik 2. It was much bigger and heavier than Sputnik 1. It also carried a passenger: a dog named Laika. Laika orbited the earth for seven days. The United States joined the space race about three months later. It launched a satellite from Cape Canaveral, in the southeastern state of Florida. This satellite was called Explorer 1. It weighed about fourteen kilograms. Explorer 1 went into a higher orbit than either Sputnik. And its instruments made an important discovery. They found an area of radiation about nine hundred sixty kilometers above Earth. The next major space victory belonged to the Soviets. They sent the first man into space. In April, nineteen sixty-one, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched in the vehicle known as Vostok. He remained in space for less than two hours. He landed safely by parachute near a village in Russia.
Less than a month later, the United States sent its first astronaut into space. He was Alan Shepard. Shepard remained in space only about fifteen minutes. He did not go into Earth orbit. That flight came in February, nineteen sixty-two, with John Glenn. By nineteen sixty-five, the United States and the Soviet Union were experimenting to see if humans could survive outside a spacecraft. In March, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to do so. A strong tether connected Leonov to the spacecraft. The tether gave him oxygen to breathe. And it permitted him to float freely at the other end. After about ten minutes, Leonov had to return to the spacecraft. He said he regretted the decision. He was having such a good time! A little more than two months later, an American would walk outside his spacecraft. Astronaut Edward White had a kind of rocket gun. This gave him some control of his movements in space. Like Leonov, White was sorry when he had to return to his spacecraft.
Later that year, nineteen sixty-five, the United States tried to have one spacecraft get very close to another spacecraft while in orbit. This was the first step in getting spacecraft to link, or dock, together. Docking would be necessary to land men on the moon. The plan called for a Gemini spacecraft carrying two astronauts to get close to an unmanned satellite. The attempt failed. The target satellite exploded as it separated from its main rocket. America's space agency decided to move forward. It would launch the next in its Gemini series. Then someone had an idea: why not launch both Geminis. The second one could chase the first one, instead of a satellite. Again, things did not go as planned. It took two tries to launch the second Gemini. By that time, the first one had been in orbit about eleven days. Time was running out. The astronauts on the second Gemini moved their spacecraft into higher orbits. They got closer and closer to the Gemini ahead of them. They needed to get within six hundred meters to be considered successful.
After all the problems on the ground, the events in space went smoothly. The two spacecraft got within one-third of a meter of each other. The astronauts had made the operation seem easy. In January, nineteen fifty-nine, the Soviets launched a series of unmanned Luna rockets. The third of these flights took pictures of the far side of the moon. This was the side no one on Earth had ever seen. The United States planned to explore the moon with its unmanned Ranger spacecraft. There were a number of failures before Ranger 7 took pictures of the moon. These pictures were made from a distance. The world did not get pictures from the surface of the moon until the Soviet Luna 9 landed there in February, nineteen sixty-six. For the next few years, both the United States and Soviet Union continued their exploration of the moon. Yet the question remained: which one would be the first to put a man there. In December, nineteen sixty-eight, the United States launched Apollo 8 with three astronauts. The flight proved that a spacecraft could orbit the moon and return to Earth safely.
The Apollo 9 spacecraft had two vehicles. One was the command module. It could orbit the moon, but could not land on it. The other was the Lunar module. On a flight to the moon, it would separate from the command module and land on the moon's surface. Apollo 10 astronauts unlinked the Lunar module and flew it close to the moon's surface. After those flights, everything was ready. "Twelve, eleven, ten, nine ... ignition sequence start ... six, five, four, three, two, one, zero. All engines running. Lift-off. We have a lift-off. Thirty-two minutes past the hour. Lift-off of Apollo 11." On July sixteenth, nineteen sixty-nine, three American astronauts lifted off in Apollo 11. On the twentieth, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin entered the Lunar module, called the Eagle. Michael Collins remained in the command module, the Columbia. The two vehicles separated. It was a dangerous time. The Eagle could crash. Or it could fall over after it landed. That meant the astronauts would die on the moon.
Millions of people watched on television or listened on the radio. They waited for Armstrong's message. "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." "The Eagle has landed." Then they waited again. It took the astronauts more than three hours to complete the preparations needed to leave the Lunar module. Finally, the door opened. Neil Armstrong climbed down first. He put one foot on the moon. Then, the other foot. And then came his words, from so far away: "That's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind." That's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind. "Man on the moon. Oh, boy! Whew, boy!" "OK, were gonna be busy for a minute." CBS television newsman Walter Cronkite shared the excitement that he and so many people felt as man first walked on the surface of the moon. Later, Cronkite would remember the historical significance of that moment in nineteen sixty-nine. "It's hard, I think, to imagine our emotions at the moment. It really was something that had to grip you. It was as if you could have stood at the dock and waved goodbye to Columbus. You knew darn good and well that this was the real history in the making."
Armstrong walked around. Soon, Aldrin joined him. "They're setting up the flag now." The two men placed an American flag on the surface of the moon. They also collected moon rocks and soil. When it was time to leave, they returned to the Eagle and guided it safely away. They reunited with the Columbia and headed for home. The United States had won the race to the moon. "The thing that made this one particularly gripping was that sense of history -- that, if this was successful, this was a date that was going to be in all the history books, for time evermore. I think we sensed that at the time, sitting there at the Cape (Canaveral), watching that great beast get on its way, that this was it."
重点解析
1.less than 不到；小于
We'll be there in less than no time.
我们马上就到。
2.return to 在家里；在国内
She's planning to return to work once the children start school.
她正计划孩子一入学就恢复上班。
3.try to 设法；试图
Try to put a little more expression into it!
尽量注入更多的感情！
4.set up 设立；设置
Our first task is to set up a communications system.
我们的首项任务是架设通信系统。
参考译文
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语之建国史话节目，我是史蒂夫·恩伯。1957年10月一个寒冷的日子，苏联发射了一颗小卫星进入环绕地球的轨道，莫斯科电台宣布了这一消息。“世界上第一颗人造地球卫星现在已经诞生。第一颗卫星今天在苏联成功发射。”世界上第一颗卫星被称为“史普尼克一号”，史普尼克卫星是苏联与美国冷战中，在宣传方面取得的重要胜利。许多人认为，控制太空的国家可以赢得任何战争，苏联首先到达了外层空间。
发射史普尼克卫星的技术可能始于19世纪末，当时的一位俄罗斯教师康斯坦丁·齐奥科夫斯基认为，火箭发动机可以为太空飞行器提供动力。在19世纪初，另一位教师——美国人罗伯特·戈达德——对这个想法进行了测试。他用小型火箭做实验，看看它们飞行的高度和距离。1923年，一个在德国的罗马尼亚学生赫尔曼·奥伯思，展示了建造太空船并将其发射到其他行星的方式。火箭技术在第二次世界大战期间得到了改进，它被用来制造飞行炸弹。英国和比利时数千人死于V-1和V-2火箭袭击，火箭是从德国发射的，更大的V-2火箭有能力击中美国。战后，战时的盟友美国和苏联在和平时期会成为敌人，这一点变得很明显。因此，两国都聘请德国科学家帮助他们赢得太空竞赛。苏联人通过制造史普尼克号卫星迈出了第一步。
这颗卫星有篮球那么大，它的动力来自火箭，绕地球运行了三个月。几周内，苏联将另一颗人造卫星“史普尼克二号”送入地球轨道。它比史普尼克一号更大，也更重，上面还载有一名乘客：一只名叫莱卡的狗。莱卡围绕地球环绕了七天。大约三个月后，美国加入了这场太空竞赛。它从佛罗里达州东南部的卡纳维拉尔角发射了一颗卫星。这颗卫星被称为探索者一号，重约14公斤。探索者一号进入了比两颗史普尼克号卫星都高的轨道。它的仪器获得了重要发现。它们在地球上空大约960公里处发现了一个辐射区。在太空方面取得的另一个重大胜利属于苏联，他们第一次把人送入太空。1961年4月，宇航员尤里·加加林乘坐名为“沃斯托克”的运载火箭升空。他在太空呆了不到两个小时，他乘降落伞在俄罗斯一个村庄附近安全着陆。
不到一个月后，美国将其第一名宇航员送入太空，他就是艾伦·谢泼德。谢泼德在太空中只停留了大约15分钟，他没有进入地球轨道。那次飞行是在1962年2月，约翰·格伦是其搭档。到1965年，美国和苏联正在进行试验，看看人类能否在太空船外生存。同年3月，俄罗斯宇航员列昂诺夫成为第一个这样做的人。利昂诺夫与宇宙飞船之间有一条牢固的系绳，绳子为他提供呼吸的氧气，让他在另一端自由漂浮。大约十分钟后，列昂诺夫不得不返回飞船。他说，他对这个决定感到遗憾，他玩得非常开心！两个多月后，一个美国人走出飞船。宇航员爱德华·怀特配有一种火箭枪，这使他对自己在太空中的动作有了一些控制。和列昂诺夫一样，怀特在不得不返回飞船时也感到遗憾。1965年末，美国试图让一个航天器在轨道上非常接近另一个航天器，这是使航天器进行连接或停靠在一起的第一步。
人类登陆月球需要对接，该计划要求双子座航天器上搭载两名宇航员以靠近无人卫星。该尝试失败，目标卫星与主火箭分离时发生爆炸。美国航天局决定继续实施该计划，它将发射双子座系列的下一个航天器。后来有人有了一个想法：为什么不同时发射两个双子座航天器。第二个追赶第一个，而不是只发射一个。同样，事情并没有按计划进行。发射第二颗双子座航天器共进行了两次努力。那时，第一颗已经在轨道上运行了大约11天。时间不多了，双子座二号上的宇航员把他们的宇宙飞船移到了更高的轨道上。他们离前面的双子座宇航器越来越近，需要在600米以内才能被认为是成功的。
在地面出现所有问题之后，太空中的活动进展顺利。两个航天器相距不到三分之一米，宇航员使操作看起来很容易。1959年1月，苏联发射了一系列无人驾驶月球火箭。其中第三次飞行拍摄到月球远端的照片。人们在地球上从没见过这一面。美国计划用无人驾驶的“游骑兵”号宇宙飞船探索月球。在游骑兵七号拍摄月球之前，曾经历了过很多次失败。这些照片是从远处拍到的。直到1966年2月，苏联的月球九号登陆月球，世人才获得了月球表面的照片。在接下来的几年里，美国和苏联都在继续他们对月球的探索。然而，问题仍然存在：哪个国家会第一个使人类登陆月球。1968年12月，美国发射了阿波罗八号，上面搭载着三名宇航员。这次飞行证明宇宙飞船可以绕月球飞行并安全返回地球。
阿波罗九号飞船有两个运载工具，一个是指挥舱，它可以绕月球运行，但不能在月球上着陆。另一个是登月舱。在飞往月球的飞行中，它将与指挥舱分离并降落在月球表面。阿波罗十号的宇航员断开了登月舱的连接，使其接近月球表面。在这些飞行之后，一切都准备就绪。 “12、11、10、9......启动点火顺序，6、5、4、3、2、1、0。所有引擎运转，起飞，我们要起飞了。32分钟后，阿波罗11号升空。”1969年7月16日，三名美国宇航员乘坐阿波罗11号升空。20日，尼尔·阿姆斯特朗和埃德温·奥尔德林进入“鹰”号登月舱。迈克尔·柯林斯留在指挥舱哥伦比亚号中。两辆飞行器分开了。这是危险的时期。“鹰”号登月舱可能会坠毁，或者降落后会掉落，这意味着宇航员会葬身于月球。
数百万人在收看电视或收听广播，他们等待着阿姆斯特朗的消息。“休斯顿，这里是静海基地，鹰号着陆。”“鹰号着陆了。”然后他们又开始等待。宇航员们花了三个多小时才完成离开登月舱所需的准备工作。最后，门开了。尼尔·阿姆斯特朗先爬下来，他把一只脚踏上月球，然后是另一只脚。随后从很遥远的地方传来他的话语：“这是我迈出的一小步，却是整个人类的一大步。”这是我迈出的一小步，却是整个人类的一大步。“人类登陆月球。哦，天哪！哇，真棒！”“好吧，我们要忙一会儿。”哥伦比亚广播公司电视台新闻记者沃尔特·克朗凯特分享了，人类首次登上月球表面时，他和许多人所感受到的兴奋。后来，克朗凯特会记住1960年那具有历史意义的时刻。“我想，现在很难想象我们的情绪。它真是使人兴奋的事情，仿佛你站在对接站向哥伦布号挥手告别。你很清楚这才是真正的历史。”
阿姆斯特朗四处走动。很快，奥尔德林与他会合。“他们现在正在竖起旗帜。”这两个人在月球表面竖起一面美国国旗，他们还收集了月球上的岩石和土壤。离开时，他们返回鹰号，驾驶它安全飞离。他们和哥伦比亚号重聚，然后回到地球。美国赢得了登月竞赛。“让这一天特别扣人心弦的是它的历史感，如果成功，这一天将永远铭记于史册。我想我们当时感觉到，坐在卡纳维拉尔角，看着这个巨兽启程，就是这个时刻。”
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