VOA慢速英語：中國宇航員將在太空停留數(shù)月

Chinese Astronauts Begin Month-Long Stay in Space

中國宇航員將在太空停留數(shù)月

China launched two astronauts into space on Monday.

周一中國將兩名宇航員送入了太空。

Their launch marks the beginning of China's longest human space flight yet.

這次發(fā)射標志著中國迄今為止歷時最長的人類太空飛行的開始。

A carrier rocket sent a Shenzhou-11 spacecraft with astronauts Chen Dong and Jing Haipeng into space. The rocket was fired from the Jinquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert.

一枚運載火箭將神舟11號飛船送入了太空，宇航員陳冬和景海鵬就在這艘飛船上。這枚火箭是在戈壁沙漠的酒泉衛(wèi)星發(fā)射中心發(fā)射升空的。

Chen is 37 years old. This is his first time in space. But Jing has done this before — it is his third space flight. He will turn 50 years old while orbiting the Earth.

陳冬現(xiàn)年37歲，這是他第一次進入太空。但是景海鵬以前就進入過太空，這是他第三次太空飛行。他將在環(huán)繞地球飛行期間度過50歲生日。

Their trip is off to a good start. That is what Morris Jones told VOA. Jones is an independent space expert from Australia.

他們的旅行有了一個好的開始，這是莫里斯·瓊斯(Morris Jones)對美國之音所說的話。瓊斯是來自澳大利亞的一位獨立太空專家。

"So far so good. We saw a live broadcast on Chinese television, and the rocket seemed to perform flawlessly during the flight. We had in-cabin video, we saw the solar panels deploy on the spacecraft, so far it looks like a completely nominal mission."

他說，“到目前為止一切都很好。我們在中國電視上看到了現(xiàn)場直播，火箭在飛行過程中表現(xiàn)完美。我們有機艙視頻，我們看到飛船上部署了太陽能板，到目前位置它看上去是一次極具象征意義的太空飛行任務(wù)。”

After two days in Earth's orbit, the spacecraft was to link up with China's space laboratory, called the Tiangong-2. The name means "Heavenly Palace 2" in Mandarin Chinese. The lab was placed into orbit last month.

在環(huán)繞地球軌道兩天之后，這艘飛船將與中國的空間實驗室天宮二號對接。天宮二號實驗室于上個月進入了軌道。

The astronauts will spend 30 days on the Tiangong-2. They plan to perform scientific and spacecraft-related experiments and test systems for a future space station.

宇航員將在天宮二號上度過30天時間。他們計劃進行科學以及同飛船相關(guān)的試驗，并為未來的空間站測試系統(tǒng)。

The Tiangong-2 laboratory will not be part of that space station.

天宮二號實驗室并非該空間站的一部分。

Morris Jones says China plans to launch a special module around 2018. A module is part of a space vehicle that can work independently. He says that piece will be at the center of a new space station.

瓊斯表示，中國計劃在2018年左右發(fā)射一個特制太空艙。該太空艙是太空飛船的一部分，它可以獨立運作。他說，這個太空艙將位于新空間站的中心位置。

"The main goal of Tiangong-2 is to practice the techniques and the technologies that they'll be using to build and operate that final space station."

瓊斯說，“天宮二號的主要目標是實踐技術(shù)，這些技術(shù)將用于建造和運作最終的空間站。”

The Chinese space station will be built mostly by machine. Jones said that China will send up a module of the space station, and it will connect with another part already in space. This is different from the way the International Space Station was built. But it is similar to the way Russia built an early space station.

中國空間站將主要由機器來建造。瓊斯表示，中國將發(fā)射該空間站的一個太空艙，它將同已經(jīng)進入太空的另一個部件對接。這同國際空間站的建造方式不同，但是它同俄羅斯建造早期空間站的方式類似。

There will be some jobs that require astronauts. For example, they will deploy some pieces of equipment, like solar panels. There also will be robot arms on the module to help secure the connections.

有些工作需要宇航員來完成。例如，他們將會部署一些設(shè)備，例如太陽能板。太空艙上還會有機器手臂幫助實現(xiàn)對接。

China hopes to have the space station completed by 2022. It is expected to operate for at least 10 years.

中國希望該空間站在2022年前完工。該空間站預(yù)計運行至少10年時間。

The Chinese space station will be different from the International Space Station (ISS). Jones says the ISS is very large and very complex.

中國空間站同國際空間站將會有所不同。瓊斯表示，國際空間站非常龐大和復(fù)雜。

"China will have a fairly impressive space station. But it will be a great deal less than the international space station. It will have less than half its volume, and a lot less complexity. But considering the fact that this is China's first-ever space station it's quite an impressive achievement."

瓊斯說，“中國將會擁有一個令人印象深刻的空間站，但是它比國際空間站要小得多。它的體積不到國際空間站的一半，也遠沒那么復(fù)雜。但是考慮到這是中國首個空間站，這是一項相當偉大的成就。”

China also plans to land a rover vehicle on Mars by 2020. Until now, China had completed a total of five manned space missions And, in 2003, it successfully landed a probe on the moon.

中國還計劃在2020年前讓火星車在火星著陸。到目前位置，中國共完成了五次載人航天任務(wù)。而且在2013年，中國成功地讓一個探測器在月球上著陸。

I'm Anne Ball.

我是安妮·波爾。