11月 26日，有世界首例，让人揪心；也有世界首次，激动人心。

NASA “洞察号”（ InSight）在火星登陆了。

NASA’s InSight lander touches down on the surface of Mars

touch down：着陆，降落

经过6个月的火星之旅，美国国家航空航天局(NASA)的“洞察号”（ InSight）着陆器周一安全着陆火星表面。

NASA’s InSight lander touched down safely on the Martian surface Monday, after a six-month journey to the Red Planet.

Martian：火星的，来自火星的

the Red Planet：指火星

InSight’s dangerous descent through the Martian atmosphere, after a trip of 300 million miles, had nerves stretched to the max. Although its scientists are old pros at this, NASA last attempted a landing on Mars six years ago.

句子大意：在飞行了3亿英里后，“洞察号”穿过火星大气层、危险降落，这个过程真的让人神经紧张到了极点。尽管美国宇航局的科学家在这方面都是老手，但他们上一次尝试登陆火星还是在六年前。

had nerves stretched to the max.让人神经紧张到了极点

pro：在句子中是指someone who has had a lot of experience with a particular type of situation，又作old pro，即〔对某种情况有经验的〕老手；

pro：也表示“专业人士，职业人员” ，如：a tennis pro 职业网球运动员。作形容词表示“职业性的；专业的”，如： pro basketball 职业篮球。

pro还有一个常见的词组，pros and cons利与弊

The pros and cons of (doing) sth...是一个写作必背表达，意思是“...的利弊”，类似表达还有merits and demerits, merits and drawbacks, merits and faults，替换经常使用的基础词组advantages and disadvantages。 举个例子：We weighed up the pros and cons. 我们权衡了利弊得失。

The robot, designed to explore Mars’s mysterious insides, went from 12,300 miles per hour to zero in six minutes as it pierced the atmosphere, popped out a parachute, fired descent engines and landed on three legs.

 pierce：穿过、刺破；透入；   例如： Shafts of sunlight pierced the heavy mist. 缕缕阳光穿透了浓雾。

pop out 弹出

parachute降落伞

句子大意：这个机器人旨在探索火星神秘的内部世界，在进入大气层的六分钟内，它从每小时12300英里减速到零，弹出降落伞，发射下降引擎，用三条腿着陆。

Flight controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,leaped out of their seats and erupted in screams, applause and laughter as the news came in.People hugged, shook hands, exchanged high-fives, pumped their fists, wiped away tears and danced in the aisles.

句子大意：美国宇航局位于加州帕萨迪纳市的喷气推进实验室的飞行控制人员听到消息后从座位上跳下来，爆发出尖叫、掌声和笑声。人们拥抱、握手、击掌、挥拳、擦眼泪，在过道里跳舞。

以后遇上激动人心的场景，就可以这么描述了。

“Flawless,” declared JPL’s chief engineer, Rob Manning. “What a relief.”

flawless:完美的；无瑕的

“What a relief.”“总算松了一口气”

这是传回来的第一张照片，图像并不是非常清楚，而且上面有不少小黑点，科学家分析，很可能是着陆的时候沙尘颗粒引起的，但至少可以看到洞察号着陆的位置平坦，几乎没有任何岩石。

The first photo that InSight sent from the surface of Mars showed a flat, relatively rock-free landscape stretching to the horizon, with the foreground speckled with dust from the landing.

speckle布满斑点

译文仅供参考，若有不准确之处，还请温柔提点。