Lesson 61 Trouble with the Hubble 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡的困境 What is the special importance of a telescope in space? The Hubble telescope was launched into space by NASA on April 20,1990 at a cost of over a billion dollars. Right from the start there was trouble with the Hubble. The pictures it sent us were very disappointing because its main mirror was faulty! NASA is now going to put the telescope right, so it will soon be sending up four astronauts to repair it. The shuttle Endeavour will be taking the astronauts to the Hubble. A robot-arm from the Endeavour will grab the telescope and hold it while the astronauts make the necessary repairs. Of course, the Hubble is above the earths atmosphere, so it will soon be sending us the clearest pictures of the stars and distant galaxies that we have ever seen. The Hubble will tell us a great deal about the age and size of the universe. By the time you read this, the Hubble's eagle eye will have sent us thousands and thousands of wonderful pictures. 哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡于1990年4月20日由國家航空航天局發(fā)射升空，耗資10多億美元。從最開始哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡就有問題。它傳送給我們的圖像很令人失望，因?yàn)樗闹饕R子有誤差。國家航天局準(zhǔn)備糾正這一錯(cuò)誤，為此將把4名宇航員送入太空修復(fù)望遠(yuǎn)鏡?！皧^進(jìn)”號(hào)航天飛機(jī)將把宇航員送上哈勃。當(dāng)宇航員進(jìn)行必要的修復(fù)工作時(shí)，“奮進(jìn)”號(hào)上的一只機(jī)器手將抓住望遠(yuǎn)鏡并托住它。當(dāng)然，哈勃位于地球的大氣層之外，因此，它很快就會(huì)給我們傳送我們所見到過的、有關(guān)行星和遠(yuǎn)距離星系的最清晰的照片。哈勃將告訴我們有關(guān)宇宙的年齡和大小的許多事情。等到你讀到這篇文章時(shí)，敏銳的哈勃望遠(yuǎn)鏡已經(jīng)為我們送來了成千上萬張精彩的照片。 Hubble n. 哈勃 telescope n. 望遠(yuǎn)鏡 launch v. 發(fā)射 space n. 空間 NASA n.(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) 國家航空和航天局 billion n. 10億 faulty adj. 有錯(cuò)誤的 astronaut n. 宇航員 shuttle n. 航天飛機(jī) Endeavour n. “奮進(jìn)”號(hào) robot-arm n. 機(jī)器手 grab v. 抓 atmosphere n. 大氣層 distant adj. 遙遠(yuǎn)的 galaxy n. 星系 universe n. 宇宙 eagle eye 鷹眼