评论
打印
It was a barren and bleak place.
月球是个荒凉、严酷的地方
A dead rock in the sky.
是一颗空中的死寂岩石
We'd built it up in our imagination
千百年来我们用想像力
for tens of thousands of years;
美化月球
and the disappointment was crushing.
这下大失所望，难以自已
People thought maybe there were people alive on the moon,
我们一直以为也许月球上有人
you know, maybe there were things up there
或是有些什么生物
and what we learned when we got there is indeed you know what we saw was the case,
到了才发现
it's a very cold place and it's desolate
月球寒冷荒芜
and you know it's not capable of supporting life as we know it.
毫无生机
the lunar surface for the last time,
太空人金赛南，最后一次踏上月球表面
it was no giant leap for mankind but the last stumble of a dying era.
这不再是人类的一大步，而是一个垂死年代的最后一次踉跄
NASA cancelled the next three moon missions
航太总署取消了其后三次登月任务
and quietly drew the Apollo programme to a close.
悄悄地结束了阿波罗计划
Cernan was the last human being ever to walk on the moon.
赛南是最后一个在月球上漫步的人类
To this day, no one has returned.
至今没人回去过
The love affair was over.
爱情故事结束了
But although the public's relationship
虽然大众
with the moon had gone sour,
对月球的爱消情逝
for a small band of dedicated scientists,
但对一小群科学家而言
the romance was just beginning.
浪漫情愫才刚开始萌芽
They now had actual pieces of the moon to study.
如今他们可以研究来自月球的碎片
Nearly 400 kilos of lunar rock
太空人带回来
had been brought back by the astronauts.
将近四百公斤的月岩
They hoped that these rocks would
科学家希望这些岩石
unlock the unanswered mysteries of the moon.
能为他们解答有关月球的谜题
Because despite the moon landings,
虽然登月计划成功了
scientists still didn't know the answer to the big questions;
科学家仍然有几个重要的问题
where had the moon had come from, and how had it formed?
月球来自何处？又是如何形成的？
One of those starry eyed young scientists was Gary Lofgren,
其中一名乐观的年轻科学家，叫做盖瑞罗夫根
a geologist working for NASA.
他是一名任职于航太总署的地质学家
He was given the job of cutting up each sample ready for study.
他的工作是切割样本，以便进行研究
You just had no idea what you were going to see,
你压根不知道自己会看到什么
looking at these really strange-looking rocks um,
这些奇特的岩石
that were justjumbles of debris.
看起来像是一堆碎片
I mean it was a chance to really just to look at them closely,
我们很幸运能有机会近距离观察它们
to er, er not actually touch them but come very close
虽然不能摸但是能就近观察
and realised we'd never seen anything quite like that on earth,
我们发现在地球上没看过像这样的东西
or at least we had never recognised it on earth.
至少是没有辨识出这样的东西
Most scientists had assumed that the moon would be similar to earth
多数科学家以为月球应该和地球十分类似
there'd be a mixture of young and old rocks,
应该可以找到年代
formed in many different ways.
和形成方法各不相同的许多岩石
They were in for a surprise.
这下他们可要大大吃惊了
It turned out that our thinking about the moon was really wrong.
事实证明，我们对月亮的想法完全错误
Science had not done a very good job of guessing
科学家在揣测月球样貌时的表现
what the moon was going to be like.
令人失望
People did think it was probably fairly old.
人们大概已经猜到月球相当古老
But they didn't realise it was as old as it turned out to be.
但没想到，它的年代居然这么久远
We found rocks that are almost 4 and a half billion years old,
我们找到将近45亿年前的岩石
almost the age of our solar system.
几乎和我们的太阳系年代相当
You know some of these rocks formed just 50,100 million years
有些岩石是在此星体诞生后的
after the beginning of the planet.
五千万到一亿年后形成的
We just don't find rocks that old on earth.
地球上找不到这么古老的岩石
