2015考研英语阅读探测火星_大学英语阅读

2015考研英语阅读探测火星

　　That, at least, is the theory. But the skycrane has never been used before, and there is plentyelse that could go wrong. Indeed, Mars has something of a reputation for destroyingspacecraft. Around half the missions sent there since the first Soviet attempts in 1960 havefailed to arrive. A conversation on the subject in 1964, between a journalist and JohnCasani, a NASA scientist, spawned the idea of a Great Galactic Ghoul, a malevolent creaturethat prowls the space-lanes between Earth and Mars, dining on unfortunate spacecraft.

　　这至少还是理论。除天空起重机从未用过外，可能出岔子的地方还有很多。火星有着宇宙飞船毁灭者的名声，自1960年苏联第一次尝试以来，约一半的登陆任务已经失败。1964 年，NASA科学家约翰卡萨尼与一名记者就这个问题有过一次对话，并得出了星系食尸鬼的概念一个险恶的、徘徊在地球与火星之间航线的、以不幸的宇宙飞船为食的家伙。

　　The ghoul s latest victim appears to have been Phobos-Grunt, an ambitious Russian missionthat was intended to return to Earth with a rock sample from Phobos, the larger of Mars smoons. The Russian space agency s engineers lost contact with it soon after its launch onNovember 8th. Limited contact had been re-established as The Economist went to press,but it is not clear whether the mission can be salvaged. NASA s engineers, rationalists thoughthey be, will be keeping their fingers crossed on Saturday, and hoping that the ghoul sappetite has thus been sated, and that it will leave Curiosity alone.