Lesson 61 — Trouble with the Hubble · 新概念英语第二册

原文

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 Earth's 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.

译文

哈勃望远镜于 1990 年 4 月 20 日由 NASA 发射升空，耗资超过 10 亿美元。从一开始，哈勃望远镜就遇到了麻烦。它发给我们的照片非常令人失望，因为它的主镜有故障。美国宇航局现在正在修复望远镜，很快就会派出四名宇航员来修理它。

奋进号航天飞机将把宇航员送往哈勃望远镜。当宇航员进行必要的维修时，奋进号的机械臂将抓住望远镜并握住它。当然，哈勃望远镜位于地球大气层之上。因此，它将很快向我们发送我们所见过的最清晰的恒星和遥远星系的照片。

哈勃望远镜将告诉我们很多关于宇宙的年龄和大小的信息。当你读到这篇文章时，哈勃的鹰眼已经向我们发送了成千上万张精彩的照片。