What has happened?

事情经过

Jeff Bezos went into space accompanied by three other people - Mark Bezos, his brother, Wally Funk, an 82-year-old pioneer of the space race, and Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old student. Ms Funk became the oldest person to venture into space, and Oliver Daemen the youngest.

贝佐斯和另外三个人一同前往太空。和贝佐斯一同前往太空的另外三个人分别是Mark Bezos，贝佐斯的兄弟、82岁的Wally Funk，太空竞赛的先驱者以及Oliver Baemen，18岁的学生。Funk女士最为年长，而Oliver Daemen则是最年轻的一位。

The capsule they were in has the biggest windows flown in space. This meant the four passengers had stunning views of the Earth.

四位所乘坐的太空舱拥有太空中最大的玻璃窗，这意味着四位乘客可以欣赏到迷人的地球美景。

The spacecraft lifted off at 14:12 (BST) and the flight lasted for ten minutes and ten seconds. Upon touching down, Jeff Bezos exclaimed: "Best day ever!"

宇宙飞船于14:12 (英国夏令时间)起飞，飞行时长为10分10秒。落地的那一刻，杰夫贝佐斯欢呼道：“这是迄今为止最好的一天！”

What is New Shepard?

什么是New Shepard？

The spacecraft, New Shepard, was built by Bezos's company Blue Origin. It is designed for the space tourism industry.

New Shepard是一艘宇宙飞船，该飞船由贝佐斯的公司Blue Origin制造。该飞船设计用于太空旅游业。

Amazon founder Mr Bezos - and other people in the 'billionaire space race' - have been criticised for offering what some see as joy rides for the super-rich.

亚马逊的创始人贝佐斯-以及参与‘亿万富豪太空竞赛’的其他人因向超级富豪提供太空旅行而受到批评。在一些人看来，太空旅行就相当于驾车兜风。

joy ride：驾车兜风

Critics say the money could be spent in other ways – for example, on pay rises for employees or fighting climate change.

反对者们表示，这些钱可以用在别处-比如给员工加薪或应对气候变化。

What did Mr Bezos say?

贝佐斯对此怎么看?

Mr Bezos states that he has an environmental vision: "We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry and move it into space, and keep Earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is," he told MSNBC.

贝佐斯表示，他对环境有自己的看法：“我们需要把所有的重工业、所有的污染行业搬到太空去，这样就可以让我们的地球如同一颗美丽的宝石。”

"It's going to take decades and decades to achieve, but you have to start, and big things start with small steps... that's what this sub-orbital tourism mission allows us to do, it allows us to practice over and over."

“要实现这一目标，需要花费很长很长时间，但是你还是要着手去做。千里之行始于足下……而亚轨道旅行使命使我们可以朝这个目标努力，我们可以一次次的实践。”

What happened during the flight?

飞行过程

Two minutes into the flight, the capsule separated from its rocket and continued towards the Karman Line. The Karmen line is the most widely recognised boundary of space - 100km up.

飞行2分钟后，太空舱与火箭分离并继续朝卡门线飞去。卡门线是太空最为著名的边界线-100km以上。

Capsule：太空舱

Karman Line：卡门线（我们用卡门线来界定大气的边缘，这个名称得自匈牙利裔美籍工程师西奥多‧冯‧卡门）

After the flight, a video was shown of the passengers doing somersaults and tumbles during four minutes of weightlessness. Also, stunning views of the Earth could be seen outside.

飞行过后，视频会显示乘客们在4分钟的失重状态下翻跟头并进行翻滚。此外，还能从窗外看到震撼的地球美景。

Weightlessness：失重状态

On the return to Earth, Jeff Bezos told mission control: "You have a very happy crew up here."

返回地球后，贝佐斯告诉太空飞行指挥中心：“全体人员都非常开心。 ”

mission control：太空飞行指挥中心

原文来源：BBC English Learning

图片来源：Blue Origin

翻译&编辑:上海译锐翻译