癡迷星空的小女孩

Sofi Collis knows about journeys.A long one brought her from a Russian orphanage2 to her new home and family in Scｏttsdale， Arizona not so long ago.

So it's fitting that Sofi named the two NASA rovers3 landing on Mars in January， 2004.

\"Spirit\" and \"Opportunity\" were named in an essay4 Sofi entered in a Lego Company contest. Sofi wrote about her dream of coming to America as she looked up at the stars from an orphanage in Siberia. \"At night， I looked up at the sparkly５ sky and felt better，\" she said in her essay.

The rovers will bounce to a halt6 on the Martian surface， protected by huge airbags7，then roll out and begin exploring two areas on opposite sides of the planet -- Gusev Crater for Spirit， and Meridiani Planum for Opportunity.

They will carry instruments8 to test the air， soil， and rocks for water and radio the results to Earth. Scientists want to learn about the history of water on Mars. The planet seems mostly dry today， but may have been much wetter in the past.

注釋

１. galaxy n. 銀河系，星系

2. orphanage n. 孤兒院

3. rover n. 漫游者，流浪者

4. essay n. 小文品，隨筆，散文

5. sparkly adj. 活潑的，生氣勃勃的

６. halt n. 停住，停止

7. airbag n. (空)氣囊

8. instrument n. 儀器，儀表

索菲·科利斯對(duì)旅行有所了解。不久前，經(jīng)過(guò)一段長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的旅途她從俄羅斯的一所孤兒院來(lái)到了位于美國(guó)亞利桑那州斯科茨代爾的新家。

因此，由她來(lái)命名美國(guó)國(guó)家航空航天局 (NASA)那兩艘于2004年1月登陸火星的探測(cè)器是再合適不過(guò)的了。

“勇氣號(hào)”和“機(jī)遇號(hào)”的名字源于索菲的一篇作文，那是她在參加由Lego公司舉辦的作文競(jìng)賽時(shí)寫(xiě)的。索菲寫(xiě)到，在西伯利亞孤兒院，每當(dāng)仰望夜空繁星時(shí)，就夢(mèng)想自己來(lái)到美國(guó)的情景。她在作文中說(shuō)：“夜晚，當(dāng)我仰望閃爍的星空時(shí)，心里就涌起美好的感受。”

這兩艘外表受到巨大氣囊保護(hù)的探測(cè)器，經(jīng)過(guò)彈跳后將在火星表面靜止下來(lái)，然后開(kāi)始在火星表面對(duì)兩個(gè)全然不同的區(qū)域進(jìn)行探測(cè)——“勇氣號(hào)”的探測(cè)位置是古謝夫環(huán)行山，而“機(jī)遇號(hào)”的位置是火星赤道處的平原上。

它們將用攜帶的儀器檢測(cè)火星上空氣、土壤和巖石中的水分，并通過(guò)無(wú)線電把結(jié)果發(fā)回地球，科學(xué)家想了解火星上有關(guān)水的歷史，今天火星上的大部分地區(qū)足干燥的，但過(guò)去也許曾經(jīng)比現(xiàn)在要潮濕得多。