VOA慢速英语：中国宇航员将在太空停留数月

Chinese Astronauts Begin Month-Long Stay in Space

中国宇航员将在太空停留数月

China launched two astronauts into space on Monday.

周一中国将两名宇航员送入了太空。

Their launch marks the beginning of China's longest human space flight yet.

这次发射标志着中国迄今为止历时最长的人类太空飞行的开始。

A carrier rocket sent a Shenzhou-11 spacecraft with astronauts Chen Dong and Jing Haipeng into space. The rocket was fired from the Jinquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert.

一枚运载火箭将神舟11号飞船送入了太空，宇航员陈冬和景海鹏就在这艘飞船上。这枚火箭是在戈壁沙漠的酒泉卫星发射中心发射升空的。

Chen is 37 years old. This is his first time in space. But Jing has done this before — it is his third space flight. He will turn 50 years old while orbiting the Earth.

陈冬现年37岁，这是他第一次进入太空。但是景海鹏以前就进入过太空，这是他第三次太空飞行。他将在环绕地球飞行期间度过50岁生日。

Their trip is off to a good start. That is what Morris Jones told VOA. Jones is an independent space expert from Australia.

他们的旅行有了一个好的开始，这是莫里斯·琼斯(Morris Jones)对美国之音所说的话。琼斯是来自澳大利亚的一位独立太空专家。

"So far so good. We saw a live broadcast on Chinese television, and the rocket seemed to perform flawlessly during the flight. We had in-cabin video, we saw the solar panels deploy on the spacecraft, so far it looks like a completely nominal mission."

他说，“到目前为止一切都很好。我们在中国电视上看到了现场直播，火箭在飞行过程中表现完美。我们有机舱视频，我们看到飞船上部署了太阳能板，到目前位置它看上去是一次极具象征意义的太空飞行任务。”

After two days in Earth's orbit, the spacecraft was to link up with China's space laboratory, called the Tiangong-2. The name means "Heavenly Palace 2" in Mandarin Chinese. The lab was placed into orbit last month.

在环绕地球轨道两天之后，这艘飞船将与中国的空间实验室天宫二号对接。天宫二号实验室于上个月进入了轨道。

The astronauts will spend 30 days on the Tiangong-2. They plan to perform scientific and spacecraft-related experiments and test systems for a future space station.

宇航员将在天宫二号上度过30天时间。他们计划进行科学以及同飞船相关的试验，并为未来的空间站测试系统。

The Tiangong-2 laboratory will not be part of that space station.

天宫二号实验室并非该空间站的一部分。

Morris Jones says China plans to launch a special module around 2018. A module is part of a space vehicle that can work independently. He says that piece will be at the center of a new space station.

琼斯表示，中国计划在2018年左右发射一个特制太空舱。该太空舱是太空飞船的一部分，它可以独立运作。他说，这个太空舱将位于新空间站的中心位置。

"The main goal of Tiangong-2 is to practice the techniques and the technologies that they'll be using to build and operate that final space station."

琼斯说，“天宫二号的主要目标是实践技术，这些技术将用于建造和运作最终的空间站。”

The Chinese space station will be built mostly by machine. Jones said that China will send up a module of the space station, and it will connect with another part already in space. This is different from the way the International Space Station was built. But it is similar to the way Russia built an early space station.

中国空间站将主要由机器来建造。琼斯表示，中国将发射该空间站的一个太空舱，它将同已经进入太空的另一个部件对接。这同国际空间站的建造方式不同，但是它同俄罗斯建造早期空间站的方式类似。

There will be some jobs that require astronauts. For example, they will deploy some pieces of equipment, like solar panels. There also will be robot arms on the module to help secure the connections.

有些工作需要宇航员来完成。例如，他们将会部署一些设备，例如太阳能板。太空舱上还会有机器手臂帮助实现对接。

China hopes to have the space station completed by 2022. It is expected to operate for at least 10 years.

中国希望该空间站在2022年前完工。该空间站预计运行至少10年时间。

The Chinese space station will be different from the International Space Station (ISS). Jones says the ISS is very large and very complex.

中国空间站同国际空间站将会有所不同。琼斯表示，国际空间站非常庞大和复杂。

"China will have a fairly impressive space station. But it will be a great deal less than the international space station. It will have less than half its volume, and a lot less complexity. But considering the fact that this is China's first-ever space station it's quite an impressive achievement."

琼斯说，“中国将会拥有一个令人印象深刻的空间站，但是它比国际空间站要小得多。它的体积不到国际空间站的一半，也远没那么复杂。但是考虑到这是中国首个空间站，这是一项相当伟大的成就。”

China also plans to land a rover vehicle on Mars by 2020. Until now, China had completed a total of five manned space missions And, in 2003, it successfully landed a probe on the moon.

中国还计划在2020年前让火星车在火星着陆。到目前位置，中国共完成了五次载人航天任务。而且在2013年，中国成功地让一个探测器在月球上着陆。

I'm Anne Ball.

我是安妮·波尔。