地球与火星的亲密接触

ANCHOR MALE

Well, stargazers1 are looking to the heavens to catch a rare glimpse of the red planet.

ANCHOR FEMALE

Mars is closer to the earth than it has been for some 60,000 years. Skip Loescher joins us now from the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington for more. Skip.

CORRESPONDENT

Andrew, Karen, it has been quite a day and it’s just starting. This is a real show, and if you don’t believe me, go to the web, the Hubble rather, website, and take a look at some of the spectacular2 pictures that it has gotten now of the planet Mars. Mars and earth coming together just about two hours ago now. The closest they have come in years and years and years, and the closest they will come till the year 2287.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE Mars is fun. It’s neat.

CORRESPONDENT

And it’s closer to earth than it’s been in a long time, a very long time, about 60,000 years, Neanderthals3 roamed this earth the last time Mars was this close.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE

I thought I might not be around for the next 60,000, so I will take the chance while I had it.

CORRESPONDENT

So people from all over the earth are looking into the sky. And you don’t have to have the kinds of high-powered equipment they have at places like here at the U.S. Naval Observatory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE

We can experience it from our own backyards through binoculars4, telescope, even people with good vision. It’s tremendous5.

CORRESPONDENT

Experts say it looks like a fussy red orb as bright as almost any of the other planets with a disk. It is still 34 million miles away even at its closest point. Scientists are still trying to find out for sure if there ever was enough water to support some form of life on Mars, or pretty sure there aren’t any little green people around. But they keep exploring Mars, and there is good reason.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE

The weather on Mars matters for landing robotic vehicles there. Someday it may matter if we choose to land human beings there. We need to understand that.

CORRESPONDENT

And we’re told the very best time to get a look at Mars will be between tonight and the end of September. We’re live in Washington at the Naval Observatory.

地球与火星的亲密“接触”

主播

天文学家们在仰望天空，以抓住这颗红色星球难得的一瞬。

女主播

六万年以来火星现在离地球最近。现在斯吉普·劳什尔在华盛顿美国海军天文台与我们一起作详细报道。斯吉普。

记者

安德鲁，克伦，人们等了快一天了，现在刚刚开始。这是一次真正的展现。如果你不相信，那就去上网，登录哈勃网站，看看它给火星拍摄的一些引人入胜的画面。现在火星和地球的亲密接触才两个小时。这是许多许多年来它们距离最近的一次，而且也是2287年之前它们最接近的一次。

男被访者

火星很有趣。它很优雅。

记者

很久以来，很久很久以来，火星现在离地球最近。大约六万年前，当火星上一次离地球这么近的时候，穴居人还在地球上漫步呢。

女被访者 我想，再过六万年我大概已经不在这个世上了，所以我要把握这次属于我的机会。

记者 所以，全世界的人都在仰望天空。而且你没必要拥有像美国海军天文台这里一样的高倍望远镜。

男被访者

我们可以在自己的后院里，用双筒望远镜、（单筒）望远镜欣赏它，视力好的人甚至可以直接看到它。它非常大。

记者

专家们说，这个看起来像是仔细装饰过的红色天体，几乎和所有其他有碟形环绕的行星一样亮。即使在近地点，它（离我们）也还有三千四百万英里远。科学家们仍在试图确定那里是否有足以维持某些生命形式的水，或基本确定那里并没有“小绿人”的存在。但他们还是一直在探索火星，并且有不错的理由。

男被访者

火星的天气对于在那里降落遥控车至关重要。如果我们人类有一天决定在那里着陆，那将是非常重要的。我们需要了解它。

记者

我们得知，观察火星的最佳时间是今晚至九月末之间。我们在华盛顿海军天文台为您现场报道。

注释：

1. stargazer [] n. 天文学家

2. spectacular [] adj. 引人入胜的，壮观的

3. Neanderthal [] n. 尼安得特人（旧石器时代广布于欧洲的猿人）

4. binoculars [] n. 双眼望远镜 5. tremendous [] adj. 极大的，巨大的