BBC 6分钟英语学习 第一次太空行走

English from

BBC, learning English. Hello, and welcome to Six minute English.

I'm Rob and I'm Neil. Hello, hello, neil.

Now, I watched that space movie last night, the one where those astronauts are stranded in space.

Sawyer another one. Um stranded. Now that means stuck in a place

with only a small chance of leaving gravity.

That was the name. Is that the name of the film?

Yeah, that's the one. That's the one.

And as we're talking about space, did you know that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1st ever spacewalk?

On 18 march 1965, russian cosmonot Alexey Leonov was the 1st man to drift free in space 500 km from the surface of the Earth.

And that's the subject of today show What on Earth must he have felt like?

Ah, very good. Yes, it would have felt like nothing on Earth.

And that's to say, very strange.

Indeed, he was the 1st person to experience the colorful geography of our planet stretched out before him.

Oh, very poetic, right? But how about answering today's quiz question?

OK, how long did the 1st spacewalk last?

Was it A 2 min? B 12 min or C 22 min?

Hmm. All quite short. So I think I'll go for the one in the middle.

Uh, 12 min. Well, we'll find out if you're right or wrong later on.

Now, cosmonaut literally means sailor of the universe, but leonov's mission wasn't plain sailing.

In other words, it wasn't easy or straightforward.

That's right. No one had ever gone out into space before.

It was unknown territory. Unknown Territory means a place or activity that people do not know anything about or have not experienced before.

And as it happens, there were big problems.

When Leonard left the capsule, his spacesuit inflated or swelled up like a balloon, because the pressure inside his suit was greater than outside.

This made it impossible for Leonov to get back through the door of the spacecraft, putting him in a life threatening situation.

Hmm. Well, let's listen to Helen Shaman, the 1st Britain in space, talking about it.

So he decreases a pressure of his suit, which means that it's a bit more able to move inside it, but it means that the amount of oxygen he has got around his face is now dangerously low.

So he can't cope with that for very long.

So if he's not able to get him quickly, he's going to die of oxygen starvation.

But of course, you know that one way or another, you've got to get back in.

You're going to die if you don't.

So, you know, he had the presence of mind to get on with all this, got back in, swiveled himself round, managed to close the airlock, and then when the pressure was equilibrated, and was finally able to hook his compatriot up there in space.

Now, if you can't cope with something, it means you're unable to deal successfully with a difficult situation.

And here the situation was having very little oxygen.

But Leonov had the presence of mind to find a solution.

Presence of mind means being able to react quickly and stay calm in a difficult or dangerous situation.

And if I was in leonovs shoes, meaning if I was in his situation, I would have panicked big time me too.

And there was plenty more to panic about.

Before the mission was over, the spacecraft's automatic reentry system failed, so the cosmonauts had to fire the rockets manually, meaning controlled by hand, which they'd never done before.

And that's not all. Their capsule failed to detach or separate from the spacecraft equipment module, and this sent them tumbling through space towards Earth, goodness me.

But the capsule did finally detach, then you would think they'd have been home and dry, wouldn't you?

Home and dry means being close to achieving a goal.

Well, they certainly won't try. The capsule touched down, or landed hundreds of kilometers, of course, in freezing Siberia, populated only by wolves and bears.

Leonov had sweated so much on the spacewalk that his boots were filled with water up to his knees.

Both cosmonots had to ring out or twist and squeeze their clothes to avoid frostbite.

Hmm. And of course, by the way, means not following the right route.

Those men must have been overjoyed when they were finally airlifted to safety two days later.

But what seems unfair to me is we all know about the Apollo moon landing, but how many of us know about the 1st spacewalk?

Yes, well, at least we do now.

And of course, our listeners do too.

OK, let's have the answer to the quiz question.

I asked How long did the 1st space walk last?

Was it a 2 min? B 12 min, or C 22 min?

Yes. And I said a 12 min And you were right.

Rob Well done. Ah, excellent. Good.

Good. So just 12 min say, what an amazing short stroll that must have been, but a very historic one, too.

Now, can we hear today's words again?

Please? Okay. We heard stranded like nothing on earth plane sailing

unknown territory inflated. Can't cope with something.

Presence of mind in leonov's shoes.

Manually detach home and dry touched down, Ring out, of course.

Well, that's the end of todays.

Six minute English We thought it was out of this world.

Hope you thought so too. Please join us again soon.

扫码查看听力音频