A space station is easy to describe and hard to run. It is a set of rooms flying about four hundred kilometres above the earth at nearly eight kilometres a second. Inside, three people live and work for months at a time, and every hour of their day is planned.
The Chinese station has been in full use since the early 2020s. Its main job is not to set records but to run experiments that cannot be done on the ground. In low gravity, fire burns in a round shape, liquids float in balls, and metal can be mixed in ways that are impossible in a normal workshop. These conditions allow scientists to test ideas that gravity would ruin.
The list of work covers many fields. Biologists grow plants and cells to see how living things react without a sense of up and down. Doctors study how bones and muscles change when they are not used for lifting. Engineers test new materials and small machines, and astronomers point instruments at the earth and at the sky.
Crews arrive and return on a regular schedule, and a robotic arm outside the station moves equipment and helps with repairs. Cargo ships bring food, water, spare parts and new experiments, and take away waste. Most of this work is quiet. There is no crowd and no applause; there is a checklist and a result.
Big missions to the moon get more attention, and they matter. But a station is where the long, unglamorous work of learning to live away from earth actually happens. If people are ever to spend years off this planet, the answers will come from laboratories like this one.
Words to know:
- gravity (n. 重力，引力)
- orbit (n. 轨道；v. 沿轨道运行)
- experiment (n. 实验，试验)
- biologist (n. 生物学家)
- muscle (n. 肌肉)
- material (n. 材料，原料)
- crew (n. 机组人员，乘组)
- cargo (n. 货物，货运)
长难句拆解 · 定语从句 + 并列结构 + 介词短语作状语
原文：Its main job is not to set records but to run experiments that cannot be done on the ground.
拆解：主干是 Its main job is not to set records but to run experiments（它的主要任务不是创纪录，而是做实验）。这是 not … but … 结构，表语由两个并列的不定式短语构成：not to set records 与 but to run experiments。注意 not … but … 连接的两个成分必须保持同样的语法形式，这里都是不定式，所以正确。that cannot be done on the ground 是定语从句修饰 experiments，其中 cannot be done 是被动语态，on the ground 意为「在地面上」。
直译：它的主要任务不是创纪录，而是开展那些在地面上无法完成的实验。
同义替换 · 雅思阅读利器
雅思阅读最爱把原文的词换成另一个说法来出题，认出这些替换，定位就能快一半。
- at nearly eight kilometres a second → at a speed close to eight kilometres per second（nearly ＝ close to）
- has been in full use since → has been fully operating from（in use ＝ operating）
- run experiments → carry out tests（run ＝ carry out）
- In low gravity → where the pull of the earth is weak（gravity ＝ 重力）
- living things react without a sense of up and down → organisms respond when there is no sense of direction（living things ＝ organisms）
- get more attention → attract greater interest（attention ＝ interest）
- the long, unglamorous work → the slow, unattractive labour（unglamorous ＝ 不光鲜的）
阅读自测 · 3 题
- T / F / NG：中国空间站的主要任务是创造在轨飞行时间的世界纪录。（判断正误并说明依据）
- 简答：在低重力环境下，文中举出的与地面不同的现象有哪些？
- 选词填空：Doctors study how bones and muscles change when they are not used for ____.（供选：lifting / living / listing）
参考答案与解析
- FALSE。原文明确说 Its main job is not to set records but to run experiments that cannot be done on the ground，即主要任务不是创纪录，而是做实验。题目与原文恰好相反。
- 火以球状燃烧、液体漂浮成球、金属能以普通车间不可能的方式混合。原文对应 In low gravity, fire burns in a round shape, liquids float in balls, and metal can be mixed in ways that are impossible in a normal workshop。三点全部答出为佳。
- lifting。原文说 Doctors study how bones and muscles change when they are not used for lifting，意为骨骼与肌肉在不用于承重时如何变化。lifting 是 lift 的动名词，作介词 for 的宾语。living 与 listing 虽形近，语义完全不同。
中文译文
空间站描述起来容易，运行起来极难。它是若干舱室以每秒近八公里的速度，在地球上方约四百公里处飞行的一套组合体。舱内有三人一次生活工作数月，他们一天的每个小时都被安排好了。
中国空间站自 2020 年代初起全面投入使用。它的主要任务不是创纪录，而是开展那些在地面上做不了的实验。在低重力环境下，火以球状燃烧，液体漂浮成球，金属能以普通车间不可能的方式混合。这些条件让科学家得以检验那些会被重力破坏的设想。
工作清单覆盖许多领域。生物学家培育植物与细胞，观察生命体在没有上下之分时如何反应。医生研究骨骼与肌肉在不承受负重时如何变化。工程师测试新材料与小型机械，天文学家把仪器对准地球与星空。
航天员按固定周期往返，站外的机械臂搬动设备、协助维修。货运飞船送来食物、水、备件和新实验，并带走废弃物。这些工作大部分是安静的。没有观众，也没有掌声；只有一份清单和一个结果。
登月这类大任务更受关注，也确实重要。但空间站才是「学会远离地球生活」这项漫长而不光鲜的工作真正发生的地方。如果人类有朝一日要在地球之外度过数年，答案将来自这样的实验室。