VOA慢速英语:Alan Shepard, 1923-1998: The First American to Fly in Space

短语讲解：

1. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in nineteen forty-four.

graduate from从…毕业
例句：He graduated from Taipei University.
他毕业于台北大学。

2. It helped prepare Alan Shepard for an even greater danger in the future.

in the future今后, 将来
例句：He does not care in the least what will happen in the future.
他对以后发生什么事一点也不在乎。

3. The successes that the Soviet Union had with its Sputnik program caused the United States to speed up its plans for a space program.

speed up (使)加速
例句：The work was speeded up.
工作已加快进行。

4. The Americans decided to launch a satellite as soon as possible.

as soon as possible尽早, 尽快
例句：Please oblige me with a reply as soon as possible.
请尽早给予答复。

5. The final test flight was at the end of January, nineteen sixty-one.

at the end of在…结尾,在…末端
例句：The audience clapped at the end of the play .
剧终时观众鼓掌。

6. By the time the rocket was ready for launch, Yuri Gagarin had already gone into space for the Soviet Union.

be ready for为...做好准备
例句：You had to be ready for any emergency.
你得随时预防不测。

7. The fifteen-minute flight ended with a soft splash into the ocean about five hundred kilometers from Cape Canaveral.

end with以…结束
例句：We had a banquet, which end with soup.
我们举行了一个宴会，最后一道是喝汤。

8. In July of nineteen sixty-nine that goal came true.

come true实现, 成真
例句：His dream has come true.
他的梦想实现了。

9. Houston, while you're looking that up, you might recognize what I have in my hand as the handle for the contingency sample return; it just so happens to have a genuine six iron on the bottom of it.

look up查找
例句：Please look up a fast train to Leeds.
请查一下去利兹的快车。

10. It was named for his flights on Freedom Seven and Apollo Fourteen.

be named for以……命名
例句：The boy is named for his grandfather.
这男孩是以祖父的名字取名的。