VOA慢速英语: 你不需要成为火箭专家（能人）才来看这个（双语）

You Don't Have to Be a Rocket Scientist to Read This

不需要变成火箭专家（能人）才能看这个

Hello.

你好！

I'm Phil Murray with Words and Their Stories, a program in Special English.

我是慢速英语中词汇掌故的菲尔·马瑞，

"You do not need to be a rocket scientist." Americans hear these words often. People say them in schools, offices and factories. Broadcasters on radio and television use them.

“你不需要变成火箭专家（极聪明的人）。”美国人经常听到这句话。在学校、办公室和工厂，人们经常这么说，广播和电视上得播客也使用这句话表达。

This is how you might hear the words used.

下面就是你听到人们使用的场合。

Workers in an office are afraid to try to use their new computer system. Their employer tells them not to be foolish: "You do not need to be a rocket scientist to learn this," he says.

办公室的职员害怕使用新的电脑系统，老板告诉他们不要太傻就会说：“你不必成为火箭专家后才学习这个。”

Or, high school students cannot seem to understand something their teacher is explaining. "Come on," she says. "You do not need to be a rocket scientist to understand this."

或者高中生不明白他们老师讲解的内容，老师就会说：“来吧，你不必成为火箭专家就能理解这个。”

Or, a company that makes soap is trying to sell its product on television. "Youdo not need to be a rocket scientist to see that our soap cleans better," the company says.

又或者一个制造肥皂的公司想要在电视上销售它的产品就会说：“你不必成为火箭专家就能看到我们的肥皂去污能力更强。”

These words send a strong message. They say that you do not need to be extremely intelligent to understand something.

这些句子都强烈传达了一个信息：就是说你理解一些东西不需要极其聪慧。

How did the expression begin?

那这个表达是如何开始的呢？

No one seems to know for sure. But an official of the American space agency-- NASA -- says the expression just grew. It grew, he says, because rocket scientists probably are the most intelligent people around.

没人知道确切的起源，但是美国国家航空航天局的一名官员说这个表达逐渐形成、使用范围不断扩大。使用范围扩大是因为也许火箭专家是世界上最聪慧的人。

Not everyone would agree.

不是所有人同意这一说法。

Some people might be considered more intelligent than rocket scientists. For example, a person who speaks and reads 15 languages, or a medical doctor who operates on the brain.

或许一些人认为还有比火箭专家更聪慧的人。例如：能够表达、读懂15国语言的人，或者能够做大脑手术的医生。

Still, many people would agree that there is something special about scientists who build rockets. Maybe it has to do with the mystery of space travel.

不过仍然有很多人同意这一表达，因为能够建造火箭的科学家还是有些特别之处。也许他跟神奇的太空旅行有关系。

Moving pictures from before World War II showed a man named Buck Rogers landing on the planet Mars. He was a hero who could defeat any enemy from outer space.

画面移动到二战前，展示的一个叫巴克·罗杰斯的人登上火星。它是一个能够打败外太空任何敌人的英雄。

The rocket scientist is a different kind of hero. He or she makes space travel possible.

火箭专家是另一类型的英雄。他/她能够使得太空旅行成为可能。

Rocket scientists, however, can have problems just like anyone else.

但是，火箭专家也会像常人一样有一些问题。

A Washington rocket scientist tells about a launch that was postponed many, many times. Finally, everything seemed right. Mechanical failures had been repaired. The weather was good.

一个华盛顿的火箭专家讲述一个发射被推迟了很多次，最后，似乎一切都准备好了，机械故障修复好了，天气状况也不错。

The scientists had planned that part of the rocket would fall into the ocean after the launch. All ships and boats within many kilometers of the danger area had been warned. But in the last few seconds a small boat entered the area. Once again, the launch was postponed.

科学家设计的那部分的火箭也许在发射后会掉进海洋，而那一区域数千米范围的船只都收到危险的警告。但是在最后几秒钟，一只小船进入该区域，发射再一次推迟。

When the work goes well, most rocket scientists enjoy their jobs. One scientist said, "As a child I loved to build rockets. Now I am grown. I still love to build rockets. And now I get paid for it."

所有事情顺利发展时，大部分火箭专家很喜欢他们的工作。一名专家说：“当我还是个小孩子时，就喜欢造火箭；现在我长大了，仍然喜欢造火箭，现在我就要为之付出。”

This program, Words and Their Stories, was written by Jeri Watson.

词汇掌故由杰瑞·瓦特森编写。

I'm Phil Murray.

我是菲尔·马瑞。