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  • Alice: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Alice.

  • Rob: And I'm Rob.

  • Alice: So Rob, what job did you want to do when you were little?

  • Rob: I really wanted to be an astronaut. Be in orbit, watching the Earth from afar...

  • Alice: Wow! Be in orbit - it means be in space and following the Earth's curvature.

  • Well, the view must be nice from up there.

  • But the reality of becoming an astronaut is pretty hard.

  • And it's the subject of today's show!

  • Did you know that less than 600 people have been into space so far?

  • Rob: I'd like to have been one of them. I know I have what it takes to be a spaceman!

  • Alice: Yes. There are many others like you who would like to go for this job, Rob.

  • And that's the quiz question for you today.

  • How many people have applied to join Nasa's 2017 astronaut class? Was it...

  • a) 800 b) 8,000

  • Or c) 18,000 people?

  • Rob: Mmmm... 8,000 sounds like a lot already so I'll go for b) 8,000 people.

  • Alice: Well, we'll find out if you chose the right answer later on in the programme.

  • So, what do you think is the biggest challenge when considering becoming an astronaut?

  • Rob: Well, I'd say claustrophobia ... and that means: fear of being in a small space.

  • That might be a problem because the space capsules are small and you're with the same

  • people for months at a time.

  • Alice: Yes, that's right. Well, astronauts are bound to get on each other's nerves sometimes!

  • To get on someone's nerves means: to annoy them.

  • Rob: But I'm a great team player... so I think I'll be OK.

  • Alice: Yes, I can confirm that. Anyway, the challenge of being an astronaut doesn't stop here.

  • In the space capsule, astronauts have to put up with extremely difficult conditions.

  • Like zero gravity, for example.

  • Rob: It looks like doing somersaults in the capsule and catching bits of food in your

  • mouth as it floats out of its packet.

  • Alice: But zero gravity – a condition where gravity is exerting no force

  • can lead to wasting of the bones and muscles.

  • Astronauts take two and a half hours of exercise per day to help prevent this.

  • Rob: But what do astronauts have to do before they go into space to prepare themselves for

  • weightlessness and spacewalking?

  • Alice: They can practice using a virtual reality headset and special gloves.

  • It's like playing a computer game that looks and feels like doing a spacewalk.

  • And they also train in a swimming pool!

  • Let's listen to Major Tim Peake, a British astronaut,

  • talking about the preparation he did for his mission on the International Space Station.

  • Major Tim Peake: The way we practise spacewalk is in water.

  • Water gives us the neutral buoyancy that we need.

  • So we sink training modules into swimming pools and then practise the spacewalking on them.

  • We wear very specific equipment, a pressurized spacesuitvery difficult to move in actually

  • it's hard to bend the fingers, it's hard to bend your arms ... and it really gives you quite a difficult workout.

  • Rob: British astronaut Tim Peake says water gives us buoyancy, which is the ability to float.

  • Floating in space is similar to floating in water, so astronauts practise their spacewalk in swimming pools.

  • Alice: Yes. They take to the water and to the air too.

  • Astronauts experience the feeling of weightlessness in planes.

  • A large plane with padded walls flies to high altitude and then goes into a nosedive

  • Or a fast and sudden fall which creates short periods of weightlessness.

  • Rob: Fabulous! I'd love to do that!

  • Alice: But it's not all fun and games.

  • Don't forget that one of the main reasons for being out on the International Space Station

  • is to conduct research.

  • Major Tim Peake is doing scientific experiments such as how to grow plants in space,

  • and what effect radiation and zero gravity have on this process.

  • Rob: Like that film where an astronaut gets stranded ... or left behind on Mars and has to grow potatoes.

  • Alice: Yes.

  • Rob: The film is called The Martian.

  • Alice: That's right. Yes. So do you think you have what it takes to survive in a challenging environment, Rob?

  • Let's listen to Major Tim Peake talking about his survival training.

  • Major Tim Peak: Survival training: for this year the European Space Agency sends us to Sardinia.

  • When you land in the Soyuz capsule sometimes you might not land exactly where you expect to be.

  • Foraging for food, for example, and your basic elements of shelter and protection, getting water...

  • Go and live in a cave for seven days with an international crew.

  • And it's a wonderful environment to prepare you for a mission because you are very isolated.

  • Rob: So astronauts may get stranded on Earth

  • when the space capsule lands somewhere unexpected.

  • And they have to find food. Forage means to search.

  • Alice: It's a word we often use to describe how animals search for food.

  • Rob: Indeed. Well, let's go back to that quiz question you asked me earlier, Alice.

  • I'm keen to know how many people want to live this experience of being an astronaut.

  • Alice: OK. Well, I asked: How many people have applied to join NASA's 2017 astronaut class?

  • Was it... a) 800, b) 8,000 or c) 18,000 people?

  • Rob: And I said quite a lot: b) 8,000 people.

  • Alice: And you were wrong, I'm afraid!

  • According to Nasa's website, more than 18,300 people applied to join their 2017 astronaut class.

  • This is almost three times the number of applications received in 2012 for the most recent astronaut class.

  • Rob: Wow! So there's no chance of me ever succeeding.

  • Alice: Oh, well, you mustn't give up, Rob.

  • Anyway, we are running out of time so here are the words we heard today:

  • in orbit

  • claustrophobia

  • get on someone's nerves

  • zero gravity

  • buoyancy

  • nosedive

  • stranded

  • forage

  • Rob: Well, that's the end of today's 6 Minute English. Please join us again soon!

  • Both: Bye.

Alice: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Alice.

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BBC 6分鐘英語2016年5月26日訊--你能成為一名太空人嗎? (BBC 6 Minute English May 26, 2016 - Could you be an astronaut?)

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    Adam Huang 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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