布鲁斯·麦坎德利斯：太空漫步第一人

Bruce McCandless:

The First Astronaut to Fly 1)

Untethered in Space

布鲁斯·麦坎德利斯：太空漫步第一人

尼尔·阿姆斯特朗——登月第一人，但你很可能不知道布鲁斯·麦坎德利斯，哪怕你早已看过他那张历史性的照片——身背航天装置的宇航员独自在太空漂浮。麦坎德利斯正是人类第一个未系带在太空中行走，像卫星一样环绕地球“飞行”的宇航员，他与同事长达五个小时的太空漫步催生了“人体卫星”（human

satellite ）一词。麦坎德利斯在去年12月去世

了，但他在太空自由漂浮的情景将永载人类史册。

⊙ By Russell Lewis ⊙ 翻译：BillyBudd

美式发音 适合泛听语速：130词/分钟

听力难度

NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless has died. You may not know his name, but you’ve probably seen him in one of the most famous pictures ever taken in space. In 1984, McCandless strapped on a jet-powered backpack and flew away from the shuttle, by himself, untethered, with the Earth as a backdrop. It was the first time an astronaut ever floated free in space, and McCandless helped develop the technology.

B r u c e M c

C a n d l e s s h a d b e e n a n astronaut for a long time before he first flew in space aboard the shuttle. He was one of the ones who communicated with the 2)crew of Apollo 11. Here’s Neil Armstrong talking to McCandless as the spacecraft was about to enter lunar 3)orbit during the first moon landing in 1969—

(Recording in file)

Neil: It’s a view worth the price of the trip. Bruce: Well, there are a lot of us down here that would be willing to come along.

While he was waiting his turn to fly in space, he helped design what became to be known as the MMU—the 4)Manned5)Maneuvering Unit. McCandless first went to space in 1984 aboard the shuttle Challenger and took these jet-powered backpacks along. During the mission, McCandless climbed into the 300-pound 6)contraption and slowly eased out of the shuttle’s 7)cargo bay as mission controllers looked on.

(Recording in file)

Commander: You have a lot of 8)envious people watching you. Looks like you’re having a lot of fun up there.

Bruce: Yeah, it’s working very nicely.

Neil Armstrong was on Bruce McCandless’s mind when he took that first untethered 9)foray into space. More than three decades later, he remembered precisely what he said. Bruce: It may have been one small step for Neil…注

(Recording in file)

Bruce: …but it’s a heck of a big leap for me. Commander:10)Roger. Copy that, Bruce.

During a 2016 NPR interview, McCandless recalled the tension associated with the spacewalk. He said he wanted to say something to put people at ease.

Bruce: My wife happened to be in Mission Control at the time. And she says the laughter 11)literally12)brought down the house, which was sort of what I had intended. I wanted to 13)loosen things up a little.

1) untether [ ] v. 解下栓（牛、马的）绳，无缆

2) crew [ ] n. （轮船、飞机等的）全体工作人员

3) orbit [ ] n. 轨道

4) manned [ ] adj. （指机器）有人控制的，载人的

5) maneuver [ ] v. 操纵

6) contraption [ ] n. 奇妙的装置，新发明

7) cargo bay 货舱

8) envious [ ] adj. 妒嫉的

9) foray [ ɒ ] v. 突袭，冒险

10) roger [ ɒ ] int. （无线电通讯答语）已收到

11) literally [ ] adv. 差不多，简直

12) bring down the house 引起哄堂大笑

13) loosen up 放松

注：阿姆斯特朗在登月时曾说：“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. （对于一个人来说，

这只是一小步，但对人类来说，这是一次飞跃。）”