VOA慢速英语2017 弗朗西斯教皇给国际空间站打去电话

Pope Francis Makes Phone Call to Outer Space

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Pope Francis is making his first telephone call above the earth -- and into space.

教宗方济各首次在地球上同太空通话。

On Thursday, the pope called the International Space Station. Six astronauts are currently working there -- three Americans, two Russians and one Italian.

周四这天，教宗方济各拨通了国际空间站的电话。目前有6名宇航员在那工作，包括3名美国人，两名俄罗斯人和一名意大利人。

Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli was aboard the space station for the first-ever papal call, made in 2011 by Pope Benedict. He returned to space in July. As he did in 2011, he acted as a translator Thursday during his second papal call.

意大利宇航员保罗·内斯波利（Paolo Nespoli）2011年在国际空间站上接到了教宗本笃十六世打来的有史以来首通“教宗来电。”。今年7月份他又回到了国际空间站。周四他在第二通“教宗来电”时跟2011年一样，又担任了翻译。

Francis asked Nespoli and the five other astronauts many questions. Some were simple, such as ‘why did you choose to become an astronaut?’ Other questions were much deeper and more complex.

方济各向内斯波利和其他五位宇航员提出了很多问题。有些问题很简单，例如“你为什么选择成为宇航员？”还有些问题就要深刻和复杂得多了。

Russian astronaut Sergey Ryazanskiy told Francis that his grandfather, a Soviet 1 engineer who helped build Sputnik, had inspired him.

俄罗斯宇航员谢尔盖·梁赞斯基(Sergey Ryazanskiy)告诉教宗方济各，他的父亲，一名苏联工程师，帮助建造了斯普特尼克（注：世界上第一颗人造卫星），这激励了他。

Some of the responses he received from the Russian astronauts marked a small step in improving the Vatican’s relations with Orthodox Russia. Francis has worked hard to improve the relationship. Last year, he became the first pope in 1,000 years to meet with the Russian Orthodox patriarch.

教宗从俄罗斯宇航员那里得到的一些答复标志着梵蒂冈和俄罗斯东正教在改善关系上又迈进了一小步。教宗方济各一直努力改善两者的关系。去年，他成为了近1000年以来第一位会见俄罗斯东正教牧首的教宗。

The other Russian aboard the International Space Station is Alexander Misurkin. He responded to Francis’s question about how the astronauts understood the Italian poet Dante’s line that love is the force that moves the universe.

国际空间站上另一位俄罗斯宇航员是亚历山大·米苏尔金（Alexander Misurkin）。他回答了教宗方济各关于宇航员如何理解意大利诗人但丁那句“爱是推动宇宙的力量”这个问题。

Misurkin told the pope that he had been reading Antoine de St. Exupery’s “The Little Prince” while in space. He explained that the young prince’s understanding of love affected 2 him.

米苏尔金回答说，他在空间站的时候一直在阅读安东尼·德·圣-埃克苏佩里（Antoine de St. Exupery）所著的《小王子》。他解释说，小王子理解的爱影响了他。

“Love is the force that gives you strength to give your life for someone else,” he told the pope.

他告诉教宗：“爱赋予你力量，让你甘于为他人奉献。”

Francis responded by saying “It’s clear you have understood the message that St. Exupery so poetically 3 explained, and that you Russians have in your blood, in your humanistic and religious tradition.”

教宗方济各回应说：“很显然你已经明白了圣-埃克苏佩里如此诗意地解释出来的信息，这些已经融入了你们俄罗斯人的血液、人文和宗教传统之中。”

Pope Francis considered a career as a chemist before becoming a priest. He has often expressed his concern for the environment and care for what he calls “our common home.”

教宗方济各在成为牧师之前想成为一名化学家。他经常对环境表示忧心，并且很关心他所谓的“我们共同的家园。”

Space station commander Randy Bresnik, an American, told Francis that what he enjoyed most about being in space was seeing “God’s creation maybe a little bit from his perspective.”

国际空间站站长兰迪·布雷斯尼克（Franky Bresnik）告诉教宗，他在太空中最喜欢的就是看到，“从他的角度来看，上帝创造万物可能微不足道。”（注：意思是宇宙浩瀚，地球只是非常渺小的一部分。）

Bresnik, a U.S. Marine 4, flew combat missions during the Iraq war. He told Francis that in space there are “no borders, there is no conflict, it’s just peaceful.”

布雷斯尼克在伊拉克战争期间作为美国海军陆战队员执行过飞行作战任务。他对教宗方济各表示，太空中“没有边境，没有冲突，只有和平。”

Nespoli thanked the pope for his deep questions. He said that most of the crew’s days are spent performing highly technical and mechanical tasks.

内丝波利感谢了教宗方济各提出的深刻问题。他说，国际空间站上的船员大部分时间都花在执行高科技和机械性的任务上。

“You brought us higher up,” he said. “You took us away from the daily mechanics of things and made us think about things that are bigger than us.”

他说：“你提高了我们的层次，把我们从日常机械事务中拉出来，让我们思考一些更加重要的问题。”

Since his launch in July, Nespoli has published beautiful photos of Italy from space on his Twitter page; one of his recent pictures shows the Alps from 400 kilometers above the Earth.

自从7月份发射进入太空以来，内斯波利在推特上发布了很多意大利的美景照片。他最近发布的其中一幅照片展示了从地面400公里处观看阿尔卑斯山。

Francis is known for making out-of-the-blue -- or unexpected -- phone calls. But Thursday’s call had been planned for a long time. The European Space Agency made the arrangements, with NASA’s technical support.

教宗方济各以拨打让人意想不到的电话而闻名。但是周四的电话已经计划了很长时间。欧洲宇航局在美国宇航局的技术支持下做出了这次安排。

I'm Alice Bryant.

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Words in This Story

translator - n. ?a person who changes words written in one language into a different language?

Orthodox Church - n. ?a branch of the Christian 5 church that has members mainly in the area from eastern Europe to eastern Africa?

perspective - n. ?a way of thinking about and understanding something (such as a particular issue or life in general)?

crew - n. ?the group of people who operate a ship, airplane, or train?

arrangement - n. the way that things or people are organized for a particular purpose or activity