近日，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）向火星发射的「洞察号（InSight）」无人探测器在火星成功着陆。据了解，「洞察号」于2018年5月5日发射升空，经半年时间的飞行（约4.8亿公里）到达火星。

如图为洞察号拍摄的第一张高清照片，火星地表上的空旷景象清晰可见。

《经济学人》在本周最新一期的文章中，对此进行了简短的介绍。

○ 第一句：

This is the view from the instrument deployment camera of InSight, America's latest probe to Mars, which landed safely on November 26th.

据介绍，洞察号（InSight）上装有Instrument Deployment Camera (IDC)和Instrument Context Camera (ICC)两台相机。

「洞察号」是用于研究火星行星内部结构的无人探测器，名字来源于Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport的首字母缩写。

作名词有“探索；探查；查究；调查”的意思，英文解释为“an attempt to discover information by asking a lot of questions”，如：an FBI probe into corruption 联邦调查局对腐败的调查；也可以指“（医生或科学家用的）探针”，英文解释为“a long thin metal instrument that doctors and scientists use to examine parts of the body”。

此处的“America's latest probe to Mars”指美国最新的火星探测器，probe可以解释为“探测器”，英文解释为：a device that is put inside something to test or record information. 如：a space probe 航天探测器/太空探测器，从文章大标题中的“A probe lands on Mars”也可以看出指的应该是“探测器”在火星着陆。

○ 第二句：

InSight joins one, or possibly two, other missions now operating on the Martian surface (an American rover called Opportunity stopped working six months ago in a dust storm, but may revive if wind blows the dust off its solar panels).

rover常见意思是“ 流浪者；漫游者”（a person who roves; wanderer）,此处rover的英文解释为“a vehicle for exploring the surface of an extraterrestrial body (as the moon or Mars)”，指的是「机遇号（Opportunity）」火星探测车，亦称为机会号或火星探测漫游者-B（MER-B）。此前，「机遇号」曾因火星尘暴与地球“失联”3个多月。

BTW, 我们常听说的汽车品牌“路虎”的英文就是“Land Rover”。

Land Rover is a luxury car brand that specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles, owned by British multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, which has been owned by India's Tata Motors since 2008.（Wikipedia）

路虎是英国的全地形车和运动型多用途车品牌，隶属于捷豹路虎，总部位于英国考文垂怀特利（Whitley）。

表示“（使）苏醒；（使）复原；（使）复兴；（使）重新流行”，英文解释为“to come or bring something back to life, health, existence, or use”，如：to revive someone's hopes/confidence/fortunes 使某人重新燃起希望/重树信心/时来运转

表示“太阳能电池板”，英文解释为“a piece of equipment, usually kept on a roof, that collects and uses the sun’s energy to heat water or make electricity”。

○ 第三句：

Six further craft are making observations from orbit.

结合我们常见的aircraft/spacecraft/hovercraft等词可以猜到，此处craft表示“船，艇；飞行器，航空器”，英文解释为“a vehicle for travelling on water or through the air”，如：

naval craft 军舰

civilian craft 民用船

patrol craft 巡逻艇

rescue craft 救生艇

补充：

hovercraft 气垫船

military aircraft 军用飞机

a manned/unmanned spacecraft 载人/无人的宇宙飞船

此外，craft作名词还可以指“工艺，手艺；技术”，英文解释为“skill and experience, especially in relation to making objects; a job or activity that needs skill and experience, or something produced using skill and experience”，如：

the craft of furniture making/sewing 家具制作/缝纫工艺

political/literary craft 政治手腕／文学手法

rural/ancient/traditional crafts 乡村的/古老的/传统的手艺

craft workers (= skilled workers) 熟练工人，工匠

当然，也可以作为动词表示“精制，(手工)制作”，举个🌰：

Each doll is crafted individually by specialists.

每个布娃娃都由专业人员手工制作。

○ 第四句：

InSight will investigate the planet's interior, deploying its instruments (a seismometer to record the echoes of Marsquakes and meteorite impacts, and a probe to measure the planet's subsurface heat) in two or three months' time, after its controllers have practised using models, built on Earth, of its surroundings.

和exterior相对，除了形容词表示“内部的；里面的；室内的”，此处作为名词，可以指“内部，里面；内地，腹地”，英文解释为“The interior of something is the inside part of it. The interior of a country or continent is the central area of it.”，如：the African interior 非洲腹地；

此外，the interior也可以指某些国家的“内政部”，如：the Ministry of the Interior 内政部；officials of the US Interior Department 美国内政部官员。

/saɪz'mɒmɪtə/

表示“地震仪”，英文解释为“A seismometer is an instrument that measures ground motions, such as caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions.”

有地震（Earthquake），就有Marsquake“火星震”。

quake本身就可以表示“地震”，此外作动词时有“颤抖，哆嗦”的意思，英文解释为“to shake because you are very frightened or find something very funny, or to feel or show great fear”，举个🌰：

Every time I get on a plane, I quake with fear.

我每次上飞机都吓得浑身发抖。

你可能会好奇，为啥要研究“火星震”呢？

Marsquakes, just like earthquakes, are vibrations that move through the ground. But the way these quakes form on the Red Planet may be fundamentally different from how they form on Earth. And it turns out that these differences could help scientists better understand what early Earth looked like.

/ˈmiːtɪəˌraɪt/

表示“陨星；陨石”，英文解释为“a piece of rock or other matter from space that has landed on earth”。

- END -

对此，网友脑洞大开，表示，洞察号又发来了第二张照片：

再然后，用不了多久...

没毛病...