VOA慢速英语:Is NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope a Time Machine?

If you could build a time machine, what would it look like? Maybe, it should look like a telescope. American scientists are building a space telescope, they hope, will look back over unimaginable distances and time to show the universe close to its beginning.
如果你能研发一个时光机器，它会是什么样子呢？它可能像一个望远镜。美国科学家们正在研发太空望远镜，他们希望它可以回顾到难以想象的距离和时代，表明宇宙跟它的开端密切联系。

But this distant past will mainly be seen in infrared light. Visible light is just one form of radiation. Today, telescopes take pictures using forms of light hidden from the human eye.
但是这个距离主要是利用红外线探测的。可见光只是辐射的一种形式。今天，望远镜利用人类肉眼见不到的光线进行拍摄。

The American space agency, NASA, is now building the largest space telescope ever. The James Webb Space Telescope, named after NASA’s second director, will have a mirror seven times the size of the Hubble Space Telescope.
美国宇航局NASA正在研发一个至今为止最大的太空望远镜。詹姆斯．韦伯太空望远镜，是以美国宇航局第二任局长詹姆斯．韦伯命名的，它的主反射镜面积是哈勃太空望远镜的7倍。

But it will mainly study the universe in infrared light. We usually experience infrared light as heat. But, if you have ever used a TV remote control, you know there are many uses for it.
但是它将利用红外线研究宇宙。我们通常感受到红外线的热量。但是，如果你使用过电视遥控装置，你就会知道有很多方面使用到红外线。

The James Webb Space Telescope is a complex engineering project. It will be huge -- about the size of a passenger jet. And it will have to be super-cooled. Because the telescope studies infrared heat, its mirror must be kept very close to absolute zero. That is minus two hundred seventy-three degrees Celsius.
詹姆斯．韦伯太空望远镜是一个复杂的工程项目。它的体积将非常大——大约跟一辆客机一样大。而且它必须能承受极度低温。因为它要研究红外线的热量，所以反射镜温度必须保持接近绝对零度。即是零下273摄氏度。

NASA is building the Webb telescope at the Goddard Space Center, outside Washington DC.  The agency hopes to launch it in twenty-fourteen.
美国宇航局在华盛顿外的戈达德宇航中心研发韦伯望远镜。该中心希望在2014年进行发射。

Jonathan Gardner is a project scientist for the telescope. We asked him how the device can look back in time.
乔纳森．加德纳是太空望远镜的项目科学家。我们询问他这个装置是如何回顾过去。

JONATHAN GARNER: “We can see back in time because light takes time to get from there to here. So, as we look further and further away, it takes longer and longer for the light to get from where it’s emitted to here and we can actually see backwards in time.
乔纳森．加德纳：“我们可以探测过去因为光线从宇宙到地球需要一定的时间。所以，当我们的目光移得越远，光线从它发出的位置转移就要花更长的时间，因此我们真的可以回顾过去。”

And if you look far enough, you start to approach the event scientists believe gave birth to everything.
而且如果你看得够远，你就开始接近科学家认为的诞生一切的事情。

JONATHAN GARNER: “We’re looking at the universe when it was much younger and we’re looking back most of the way to the Big Bang.”
乔纳森．加德纳：“我们观察比较年轻使宇宙，并回顾绝大多数导致宇宙大爆炸的情况。”

The telescope has three highly sensitive infrared cameras. But perhaps its most interesting part is the six-point-five meter wide mirror. Made of light-weight beryllium, the mirror is covered in gold, and divided into eighteen linked parts.
这个望远镜有三个高敏感度的红外摄像机。但是最有趣的部分是它直径为6.5米的主镜片。主镜片是由重量轻的铍制成，表面镀金，被分割成18块互相连接的部分。

This powerful scientific instrument will be available to scientists all over the world.
这种强大的科学仪器将被全球的科学家所使用。

JONATHAN GARNER: “Any astronomer, at any university, in any country can write a proposal for what they want to do with the telescope.”
乔纳森．加德纳：“任何国家任何大学的任何宇航员都可以对他们想利用这个望远镜做什么写下他们的建议。”

Jonathan Gardner says the Jim Webb Space Telescope will help scientists learn how the first galaxies formed and what they looked like. It may even show things scientists never predicted.
乔纳森．加德纳称詹姆斯．韦伯太空望远镜将帮助科学家们研究第一个星系是如何形成和看起来是什么样子。它甚至可能发现科学家从没预言的事情。