Chang'e 4 lands on “dark” side of moon

江蘇鹽城市射陽縣陳洋中學 于玲娟

China's space program has become the first to land aspacecrafton the so-called dark side of the moon.The landing on Thursday brought the country closer to its goal of becoming a space power.The China National Space Administration said the landing of the Chang'e 4 spacecraft at 10：26 in the morning has “opened up a new chapter in human lunar exploration”.

Chang'e 4 sent a picture taken at 11：40 in the morning back to Earth.It shows a small crater（坑） and an empty surface that appears to be lit by a light from the lunar explorer.

The name Chang'e comes from a Chinese goddess that many Chinese believe has lived on the moon for thousands of years.

The landing is an example of China's growing desire to compete with the American，Russian and European space programs.China also wants tostrengthenits position as a regional and international power.

Hou Xiyun is a professor at Nanjing University's school ofastronomyand space science.He told the Associated Press，“On the whole，China's space technology still lags behind the West，but with Chang'e 4 landing on the far side of the moon，we have raced to the front.”He added that China plans to explore Mars， Jupiter and asteroids（小行星）in the future.“There's no doubt that our nation will go farther and farther，” he said.

In 2013，Chang'e 3 made the first moon landing since the former Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976.The United States is the only country that has successfully sent a person to the moon.But China is considering a crewed mission as well.For now，China plans to send a Chang'e 5 spacecraft to the moon next year and have it return to Earth with collectedparticles.

The moon's far side is not always dark.But it is often called the dark side because it faces away from Earth and little is known about it.

Chang'e 4 will make astronomicalobserva-tionsand examine the structure and mineralcompositionof the ground above and below the surface.

Yu Guobin is a Chang'e 4 mission spokesman.He said， “The far side of the moon is a rare quiet place that is free from interference from radio signals from Earth.”

He added the mission will“provide important information for studying the origin of stars and nebula（星云） evolution.”

Reading Check

What is Hou Xiyun's attitude toward China's space exploration?

A.Doubtful. B.Confident. C.Critical. D.Pessimistic.

Language Study

Vocabulary

1.spacecraft n.航天器

合作小組組長不僅要有管理，還要有示范。既然是示范，就要有一定標準。為此，我要求小亮做3個工作：一是對自己進行“全身體檢”，檢查自己存在哪些問題，必要時做全面整改；二是密切注意其他3位成員的表現，在看得見的地方，不能做得比他們差；三是做人做事要有底線，不能突破底線。

2.strengthen v.加強

3.astronomy n.天文學

4.mission n.任務

5.particle n.顆粒

6.observation n.觀察

7.composition n.成分

8.interference n.干擾

Difficult sentences

1.On the whole，China's space technology still lags behind the West，but with Chang'e 4 landing on the far side of the moon，we have raced to the front.總的來說，中國的太空技術仍然落后于西方，但是隨著嫦娥4號著陸月球背面，我們已經跑到了前面。

【點石成金】本句是一個有連詞but引導的并列句。第一個分句是China's space technology...，on the whole意為“總的來說”，作狀語；第二個分句是we have raced to the front，其中with Chang'e 4 landing...是 “with+賓語+賓語補足語”結構，land和Chang'e 4有邏輯上的主謂關系，所以用動詞-ing形式。

【句式仿寫】有瑪麗幫助我學習英語，我相信我會取得很大進步的。

2.“There's no doubt that our nation will go farther and farther，” he said.“毫無疑問，我們的國家會走得越來越遠，”他說。

【點石成金】There's no doubt that...是一個固定句式，意思是“毫無疑問……”，that引導的是同位語從句。我們還可以用have no doubt that...、 there is some/much/little doubt等。 farther and farther是比較級的疊加，表示“越來越……”。

【句式仿寫】毫無疑問，我們的國家正變得越來越強大。