湯博家鄉慶祝冥王星探索

　　7月17日VOA聽力：湯博故鄉慶賀冥王星摸索

　　STREATOR, ILLINOIS— Astronomer ClydeTombaugh, born in rural Illinois in 1906,discovered what became the ninth planet in oursolar system – Pluto. Today, NASA’s NewHorizons spacecraft is providing the clearestimages of this distant body. The probe'sencounter with the dwarf planet is an historic moment for the astronomer'shometown.

　　Streator, Illinois, is about as far away from Pluto as you can get on planet Earth.

　　But Pluto is at the center of Streator’s universe.

　　“We are pro-Pluto in Streator,” said Streator City Councilman Ed Brozak.

　　The reason why began in the backyard of a rural Streator farmhouse almost a century ago,when 12-year-old Clyde Tombaugh looked to the heavens through this telescope made by hisuncle, who was Judith Bliss’s grandfather. What he saw through it, says Bliss, changedTombaugh's life.

　　“They looked at the moon that night. And that was the first time Clyde had seen anythingthrough a telescope. And he was very impressed,” Bliss said.

　　Tombaugh went on to build his own telescopes that took the human eye further into thecosmos.

　　In 1930, from the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona, Tombaugh spotted the celestial bodywe know as Pluto. The discovery made headlines in Streator.

　　What also made headlines 76 years later was the International Astronomical Union’sreclassification of Pluto as a “dwarf” planet.

　　“I think we all feel, it was a planet, we knew it as a planet, so why is not it a planet?” askedStreator Mayor Jimmie Lansford.

　　But what the International Astronomical Union took away from Pluto, it has in a way, given backto Streator.

　　“With all the controversy over the last several years, it has really brought attention to the cityof Streator,” Councilman Brozak said.

　　So planet or not, Streator used Pluto’s spotlight to honor its famous son.

　　“There are new road signs going up on Main Street and will be dedicated very soon, 'PlutoPathway,” Brozak said.

　　There is also a mural of Tombaugh in Streator’s downtown, and a plaque honoring hisdiscovery that stands outside city hall. And there are T-shirts as well.

　　But, Bliss says the greatest honor to Tombaugh is not bound to these earthly confines. It ison the New Horizons spacecraft - her cousin’s cremated remains.

　　“It is kind of neat that someone from Streator has ashes that are almost to Pluto, or going byPluto,” Judith Bliss said.

　　In mapping out the far reaches of our solar system, Tombaugh put Streator on the map ofhistory. Now, a little part of Streator, and a part of Bliss -- the DNA she shared with her cousin-- hurtles on through space, continuing the journey on New Horizons as it maps outunchartered depths of our solar system.

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　　【參考譯文】

　　伊利諾斯州的斯特裏特，在地球上離冥王星非常迢遙。

　　但冥王星倒是斯特裏特天下的中間。

　　斯特裏特市議集會員艾德·布羅紮克說“在斯特裏特市咱們是冥王星粉”。

　　這是由於一個世紀前，在斯特裏特一個農舍的後院裏，12歲的男孩克萊德·湯博用叔叔制造的千裏鏡看天空，他的叔叔是朱迪斯·布利斯的祖父，布裏斯說湯博所看到的統統轉變了他的平生。

　　“他們那天晚上看著月球，這是克萊德·湯博第一次應用千裏鏡看器械，他異常震動。”

　　湯博開端制造本身的千裏鏡，進一步視察宇宙。

　　1930年，湯博應用亞利桑那州弗拉格斯塔夫的洛厄爾天文台發明了冥王星，這一發明成為了斯特裏特的頭條消息。

　　76年後，國際天文結合會將冥王星從新分類為“矮”行星，這一新聞再次成為了頭條。

　　“我以為咱們都認為這是一顆行星，咱們曉得它是一顆行星，為何不克不及是行星呢?”

　　但國際天文結合會從冥王星那邊拿走的，在某種水平上又還給斯特裏特了。

　　“曩昔幾年存在著爭議，確切也讓斯特裏特獲得存眷。”

　　以是不管是不是行星，斯特裏特應用冥王星這一聚光燈給了它有名的兒子以光榮。

　　“骨幹道上很快就有新路標‘冥王星路徑’。”

　　斯特裏特市中間另有一個有關湯博的壁畫，市政廳外另有一幅懷念湯博發明的牌匾，另有各類T恤。

　　然則，布裏斯說，對湯博最大的懷念其實不限於這些世俗的嘉獎，“新視線號”飛船上帶有她表哥的骨灰。

　　“這是一種光榮，將斯特裏特人的骨灰送到冥王星，或是經由冥王星。”

　　在摸索迢遙的太陽系時，湯博將斯特裏特放在汗青的圖冊中。如今，斯特裏特的一部門，布裏斯的一部門——她和表哥配合的DNA，正向太空飛去，在“新視線號”摸索太陽系的新深度時持續這一路程。