Step by Step 3000 第2册 Unit11:Space(1)

Step by Step 3000. Book Two.

Unit 11. News 3. Space.

Part 1. Warming up.

A. Keywords. the Earth, planet, the Sun, difference.

Vocabulary. circuit, luminous, contemptuous, celestial, glowworm, cosmically, thermonuclear, guise, Eurasian, landmass.

You're going to hear a passage about the Sun, Supply the missing information.

Pay special attention to the numbers.

The Earth is a planet just under 8,000 miles in diameter, moving around the Sun at a distance of 93 million miles,

and completing one circuit in 365 and a quarter days.

The Sun itself is a star.

It is by no means distinguished, and modern astronomers class it as a "yellow dwarf".

It seems splendid to us only because it is relatively so near.

We know of stars which are at least a million times more luminous than the Sun,

at yet are so far away that telescopes are needed to see them at all.

The stars visible at night time, are immensely distant, which is why they appear only as tiny points of light.

Many of them may well have planet systems of their own.

All the same, we must not be contemptuous of the Sun.

It may not be a celestial searchlight, but neither is it a glowworm.

It is normally in every way, and cosmically it is far more important than our own insignificant world.

Its diameter is 864,000 miles.

So that it could contain more than a million globes the size of the earth.

Even at its surface, the temperature is around 6,000 degrees celsius, 11,000 Fahrenheit.

And in the solar "power-house" deep inside, the temperature must rise to well over 10 million degrees.

The sun is gaseous, and is not burning in the ordinary sense of the word,

since it produce its energy by means of thermonuclear processes near its core.

The essential difference between a star and a planet is that a star is a Sun in its own right,

whereas a planet shines only because it reflects the rays of our own particular Sun.

If we could observe from the surface of another world, Mars, for instance, the Earth, too, would appear in the guise of a starlike object.

And a telescope would be needed to show even large features such as the Pacific Ocean and Eurasian landmass.

B. Keywords. Space shuttle, crew, launched, pictures, surprises, new definition of planet, make repairs, small aircraft,

dock, 100 percent success, give up hope, get a closer look.

Vocabulary. sensor, hydrogen, helium, methane, ammonia, dwarf, fledgling, outpost, checkout, revive,

space probe, volcanic. Discovery, International Space Station (ISS), Jupiter, Pluto, Internation Astronomical Union,

Prague, Hubble Space Telescope, Endeavor, Unity, Zvezda, Pathfinder, Galileo, IO.

You're going to hear ten brief news items. Focus your attention on who, what, when, where, why and how in each news item. And then answer the questions.

1. The American Space Shuttle returned to the skies on July 26th.

Discovery and its seven member crew were launched from the Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, to fly to the International Space Station.

The launch was supposed to have taken place on July 13th.

But Space Agency officials called it off just a few hours before the launch.

Because one of the Discovery's fuel tank sensors failed a test.

NASA officials investigated the system for several days, but they never learned the cause.

They decided to set up another launch for last Tuesday.

Discovery is now connected to the Space Station, orbiting hundreds of kilometers above Earth.

2. The New Horizons spacecraft has made some of the most detailed pictures ever taken of the planet Jupiter.

Yet the American spacecraft is only passing by the planet.

New Horizons is attempting to become the first space vehicle to visit Pluto.

New Horizons' pictures of Jupiter and three of its moons are filled with surprises.

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.

The planet has a deep, thick atmosphere of clouds made of hydrogen, helium, methane and ammonia.

New Horizons use its long range reconnaissance imager camera to take pictures of a storm called the little red spot.

The pictures will help scientists learn how the storm developed.

3. In August, more than 2,000 members of the International Astronomical Union met in the Czech capital, Prague.

They agreed to a new definition of planet.

They also agreed that Pluto did not meet the terms of the new definition.

So now the solar system has 8 planets instead of 9.

But do not cry for the formal ninth planet.

The Astronomical Union says we should not think we have lost a planet, but that we have gained a new kind of space object, the dwarf planet, Pluto.

4. NASA announced it would fly a shuttle crew to the Space Telescope to make repairs and add new equipment.

The telescope orbits 600 kilometers above the Earth.

The Shuttle crew is expected to make the trip in May of next year.

They hope to fix Hubble, so it can continue operating until 2013.

Michael Bakich at Astronomy Magazine was among those very happy at NASA's decision.

He calls the Hubble Space Telescope one of the great machines of all time.

5. Make room for some new arrivals in the market for small aircraft.

The new airplanes are called very light jets.

They are also known by other names, including mini jets, micro-jets and air-taxis.

The Federal Aviation Administration in the United States expects nearly 5,000 to be in services by 2017.

The new planes will cost up to 50% less than business jets now on the market.

6. U.S Space Shuttle Endeavor has docked with the International Space Station, bearing a gift of energy.

The five-man shuttle team arrived to add a set of giant solar power panels to Unity to provide electricity for science experiments that will begin soon after the U.S laboratory arrives next month.

7. The International Space Station finally has a living room and a command center.

The Russian Zvezda module docked earlier today with the fledgling outpost, which is being assembled in space.

After a checkout period, it will be ready for the first crew to live in later this year.

8. The U.S Space Agency NASA has declared its Pathfinder spacecraft mission to the Mars a 100% success.

This week the Pathfinder completed its 30 day planned mission on Mars.

And U.S space official says this spacecraft has fulfilled all its objectives.

9. The United States Space Agency NASA says it's given up any real hope for reviving its space probe on Mars.

The spacecraft Pathfinder made its last transmission of scientifc data from the surface of Mars at the end of September, 83 days after the landing.

10. The U.S Galileo spacecraft is heading for another pass by Jupiter's fiery moon Thursday to get a closer look at the most volcanic body in our solar system.

A pass just 600 kilometers away last month has provided a better understanding of just how active it is.