时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES


英语课

WORDS AND THEIR STORIES - Rocket Scientist
By Jerry Watson


Broadcast: Sunday, November 28, 2004


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


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. This is how you might hear the words used.


Workers in an office are afraid to try to use their new computer system. Their employer 1 tells them not to be foolish. "You do not need to be a rocket scientist to learn this," he says. 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." Or a company that makes soap is trying to sell its product on television. " You do not need to be a rocket scientist to see that our soap cleans better." the company says. These words send a strong message. They say that you do not need to be extremely 2 intelligent to understand something.


How did the expression begin? 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." Not everyone would agree. 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. 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. Moving pictures from before World War Two showed a man named Buckrajors landing 3 on the planet 4 Mars 5. He was a hero who could defeat any enemy from outer space.


The rocket scientist is a different kind of hero. He or she makes space travel possible. Rocket scientists however can have problems just like anyone else.


A Washington 6 rocket scientist tells about a launch 7 that was postponed 8 many many times. Finally everything seemed ripe. Mechanical 9 failures had been repaired, the weather was good, 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 10. But in the last few seconds, a small boat entered the area. Once again the launch was postponed.


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


This program Words and Their Stories was written by Jerry Watson. I am Phil Marily.



1 employer
n.雇用方,雇主
  • My employer deducted ten pounds from my wages this week.我的雇主从我本周的工钱中扣除了十英镑。
  • His monthly salary is paid into the bank by his employer.他的月薪由雇主替他存入银行。
2 extremely
adv.极其,非常,极度
  • The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了,我非看不可。
  • The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。
3 landing
n.登陆;着陆;楼梯平台
  • Owing to engine trouble,the plane had to make a forced landing.由于发动机出了毛病,飞机不得不进行迫降。
  • When are we landing?我们什么时候着陆?
4 planet
n.行星
  • Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
  • Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。
5 Mars
n.火星,战争
  • As of now we don't know much about Mars.目前我们对火星还知之甚少。
  • He contended that there must be life on Mars.他坚信火星上面一定有生物。
6 Washington
n.华盛顿特区(是美国首都)
  • His birthplace is Washington,but he lives in San Francisco.他出生于华盛顿,但住在旧金山。
  • They, together with my father,have gone to Washington.他们和我父亲一起去华盛顿了。
7 launch
vt.发动,推出;发射;n.发射,下水,投产
  • The makers are about to launch out a new product.制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。
  • Would it be wise to launch into this rough sea?在这样汹涌的大海中游泳明智吗?
8 postponed
vt.& vi.延期,缓办,(使)延迟vt.把…放在次要地位;[语]把…放在后面(或句尾)vi.(疟疾等)延缓发作(或复发)
  • The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
  • The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。
9 mechanical
adj.机械(学)的;力学的;机械似的;手工操作的
  • He borrowed a mechanical book from me.他从我这儿借了一本力学方面的书。
  • He looks very mechanical.他看上去非常呆板。
10 warned
v.警告( warn的过去式和过去分词 );提醒;告诫;预先通知
  • Motorists have been warned to beware of icy roads. 已经提醒开车的人当心冰封的路面。
  • I've warned her countless times. 我警告过她无数次了。
学英语单词
1-Methylmethylergonovine
active rudder motor
aircraft static pressure error corrector
alikhans
alkaline tide
amphichilus impressus
atrioseptoplasty
carbonatation
carinatum
caryogenesis
center of mass coordinate
Cevitamin
chatrian
Chimwala R.
chorographer
control premise
corrosion protecting lubricant
cyclic elastic strain
devilets
dowe
doxic
entocyanoses
ephemerides
equidensity
eucentric structural hybrid (darlington 1936)
fibrous stratum
final circuit
finite sequence
fo sheezie
formal administrative act
Frascineto
galays
gentrified
guerrilla-styles
Gymnopetalum integrifolium
hetero epitaxial optical waveguide
hole coupling
IMLT
iodacyl halide
isoreineckiagenin
kirkintilloches
korundophilite (corundophyllite)
L.T.A.
land of deflation
light source
Litt.D.
loanable fund theory of interest
maculine
Maesawa
marginal sea basin magmatic association
mikes
misconnects
molemen
monophagize
Mutbīn
My Trinh
mylius
nanosandwiches
nbi
nem. con.
net obligation
nonsupersymmetric
NSPCA
outgoing trunk (ogt)
paleodistribution
potassium-argon method
PR-225
primitive alveoli
process innovation
prodelisions
pudding-pipe tree
reaction coil
Recoules-Prévinquières
regardless of feature size (rfs)
retortment
return banquet
Saussurea arenaria
sawing strips
Schistomatium
sciaenid
separation system
short hold
slender rush
slenderness coefficient
solid construction
speds
spindle horn
Spokane County
sputtering rate
statistic relative frequency
Styrax supaii
take one's way to
telar
tethydans
tetrabutylammonium chloride
the avant-garde
to pull out all the stops
tri-n-propyl-n-butyltin
trochee
wool grade
Wren-Thrush
zinc magnesium galvanizing alloy