◎本文選自時代新鮮人Times students
Spirit on Mars 火星上的精靈
A Invasion of the little white robots
白色小機器人入侵
Imagine little green men from a red planet1 invading earth. As it turns out,2 that popular 50s image of a Martian invasion got it all wrong. Instead, there are little white robots invading a red planet from the blue Earth. Yes, the Mars rover has finally landed.3
想像從紅色星球來的小綠人入侵地球。結果呢，五○年代流行的那種火星人入侵的景象全都搞錯了。反而是藍色地球來的白色小機器人入侵了紅色星球。是的，火星探測車終於著陸了。
On January 4, 2004, a NASA Mars rover, nicknamed4 Spirit, bounced5 down on Mars. NASA scientists put parachutes,6 reversible7 rockets,8 and a giant airbag9 on the rover to increase its chances of a successful landing. It seems that their efforts have paid off,10 as 53-D color photos of the Martian surface started streaming in on January 5.
二○○四年一月四日，美國航太總署的火星探測車，綽號小精靈，在火星彈跳著陸。航太總署的科學家放了降落傘、可逆轉的火箭和一個巨大的氣囊在探測車上，以增加成功著陸的機會。他們的努力似乎有了代價，火星表面的立體彩色照片自一月五日開始不斷傳送進來。
This successful landing came after nearly 10 years of failed efforts to reach Mars. NASA says that over half of all missions11 to reach Mars have ended in disaster.12 The last successful mission was in 1997, when a NASA craft13 called Pathfinder landed on desert14 -like Mars. More recently, the European Space Agency's probe15 Beagle 2, which was expected to land on Christmas day, simply disappeared.
想要抵達火星卻經過將近十年的失敗，這次終於著陸成功。航太總署表示，飛往火星的任務有超過一半都是以災難收場。上一次任務成功是在一九九七年，當時航太總署的太空船拓荒者號，在沙漠般的火星上登陸。時間更接近一點，歐洲太空總署的太空船小獵犬號，本來預計要在耶誕節登陸，結果卻消失無蹤。
The Spirit mission is a historic16 one, which attempts17 to answer the question whether life ever existed18 on the red planet. To do this, it will try to find traces19 of water that may give evidence20 that Mars used to be a wetter, warmer planet. And Spirit won't even have to be alone, because its sister rover opportunity21 was expected to land on the planet later in the same month.
小精靈任務具有歷史價值，它試圖解答在紅色星球上是否曾經有生物存在。為了達成這個任務，它將努力尋找水的痕跡，如此可以證明火星以前是比較潮溼溫暖的行星。而且小精靈甚至不必單獨行動，因為它的姐妹探測車機會號，預計在同月份稍晚也要登上這個星球。
【Vocabulary 單字精解】
1. planet〔婄pl紓n埩t〕n.：行星
2. turn out〔t焋n 婄婛痸t〕prep.：結果是……，證明是……
3. land〔l紓nd〕v.：降落
4. nickname〔婄n埩k歅n婍m〕v.：取綽號
5. bounce〔b婛痸n屙〕v.：彈跳
6. parachute〔婄p紓r瑆歅瓿ut〕n.：降落傘
7. reversible〔r埩婄崝櫹s瑆bl〕a.：可逆轉的
8. rocket〔婄r瑂k埩t〕n.：火箭
9. airbag〔婄瑎r歅b紓g〕n.：氣囊
10. pay off〔婄p婍 婄瓡f〕prep. ：獲得代價
11. mission〔婄m埩瓿瑆n〕n.：任務
12. disaster〔d埩婄崨紓st櫹〕n.：災難
13. craft〔婑r紓ft〕n.：載具（單複數同形）
14. desert〔婄d瑎崨櫹t〕n.：沙漠
15. probe〔prob〕n.： 探測器，太空船
16. historic〔h埩s婄t瓡r埩婑〕a.：具有歷史價值的
17. attempt〔瑆婄t瑎mpt〕v.：嘗試
18. exist〔埩g婄崨埩st〕v.：存在
19. trace〔tr婍屙〕n.：痕跡
20. evidence〔婄瑎v瑆d瑆n屙〕n.：證據
21. opportunity〔歅瑂p櫹婄t婇un瑆t埩〕n.：
機會