中国火星探索的先驱

张岚

张荣桥是中国首次火星探测任务工程的总设计师，他“仰望星空，脚踏实地”，笃信“这恰恰是社会对我们每个人的需求，是我们在社会上安身立命的途径，需要我们立足当下，放眼未来”。

1Zhang Rongqiao， chief designer of China's first interplanetary endeavor （努力）—the Tianwen 1 Mars miss⁃

ion—was named by the top scientific journal Nature as one of the 10 people “who mattered in science” in 2021. The annual list， published on the journal's website， said that Zhang is an engineer who led “China's first successful Mars mission， which reached the planet last year and landed a rover （漫游者） on its surface”.

2Launched in July， 2020 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province， the Tianwen 1 robotic probe， named after an ancient Chinese poem， traveled a total of 475 million kilometers before entering Martian orbit on Feb. 10， 2021.

3After more than three months of preparations， a landing capsule released by the probe descended through the Martian atmosphere in an extremely challenging landing process and finally touched down on the planet on May 15， making China the second country， after the United States， to have successfully conducted a landing on the surface of Mars.

4On May 22， the Chinese rover Zhurong became the sixth vehicle to travel on the Martian surface， following the five predecessors （前任） from the US.

5Born in March， 1966 in Qimen County， Anhui Province， Zhang studied at local schools until he went to Xidian University in Shaanxi Province in 1982. In 1988， he received a bachelor's degree and was admitted as a postgraduate student by the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing. After graduating in 1991， Zhang started his career at the academy's Beijing Institute of Satellite Information Engineering and gradually moved up through professional ranks to eventually become the institute's head. In 2004， he was named chief engineer of the Lunar Exploration Center under the State Administration of Science， Technology and Industry for National Defense and has worked there since then. Zhang has also taken part in China's lunar exploration and high?resolution Earth observation satellite programs.

Reading Check

Choose the best answers according to the text

Detail 1. What can we know about Zhang Rongqiao from Para. 1？

A. He was elected as an editor of the journal Nature.

B. He contributed a lot to the development of science.

C. He was regarded as the greatest engineer.

D. His paper was published on Nature's website.

Vocabulary 2. What does the underlined word “descended” in Para. 3 probably mean？

A. Took off. B. Moved forward.

C. Climbed up. D. Went down.

Detail 3. How many vehicles have traveled on the surface of Mars according to  Para. 4？

A. Three.    B. Four. C. Five.        D. Six.

Inference 4. How does the author develop the last paragraph？

A. By providing examples.

B. By making comments.

C. By following the time order.

D. By explaining the process.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Analyze the difficult sentence in the text

After more than three months of preparations， a landing capsule released by the probe descended through the Martian atmosphere in an extremely challenging landing process and finally touched down on the planet on May 15， making China the second country， after the United States， to have successfully conducted a landing on the surface of Mars. 经过三个多月的准备，探测器释放的着陆舱在极具挑战性的着陆过程中穿越火星大气层，最终于5月15日降落在火星上，使中国成为继美国之后成功登陆火星表面的第二个国家。

【点石成金】句中的released by the probe是过去分词短语作后置定语，making China the second country...Mars是现在分词短语作结果状语。

Ⅱ. Memorize some text⁃centered chunks

be named after 用……命名

a total of 总数为……

more than 超过……

touch down 降落;着陆

move up 上涨;升級;升迁

take part in 参与