影片对白

Speaker: There is historic news from behind the Iron Curtain. Man has traversed the reaches of outer space, and that man is a Communist. Soviet¹ pilot Yury Gagarin in the spacecraft Vostok l successfully lifted off the face of the Earth flew his craft around the globe in approximately 90 minutes and landed safely in the Soviet Union. As with the flight of Sputnik four years ago this latest Russian achievement has caught those in the American space program by surprise. The seven American astronauts of the Mercury space program suddenly find themselvesjockeying for second place. It has been reported that either Gus Grissom, John Glenn or Alan B. Shepard will be the first to fly the one-man Mercury space capsule. Just when the flight will take place has been the subject of much speculation³. Tonight President Kennedy is meeting with officials of the National Aeronautics⁴ and Space Administration to discuss not just why we are losing the space race but perhaps if it has already been lost.

Jerome Weisner: The Russian went into orbit.

James Webb: One orbit, yes.

Jerome Weisner: We can't even match that.

James Webb: Not yet.

Ted² Sorenson: Gentlemen. President has been keeping up with your hearings before Congress and committees. For the purpose of tonight's meeting, we can dispense⁵ with small talk. He will want to know how we can catch the Russians or better yet, leapfrog them.

Hugh Dryden: We can put a man on the moon before the Russians. How about that? It'll take a concerted national effort. Somethingalong the lines of the Manhattan Project.

Ted Sorenson: How much would it cost?

Hugh Dryden: Somewhere between $10 billion and $20 billion.

David Bell: Pumping that much cash into the private sector⁶ could be popular.

Jerome Weisner: He will ask if there's anything we can do for less of the taxpayers⁷' dollars.

Ted Sorenson: What if we put up a space laboratory of some kind?

Hugh Dryden: They'll beat us. If we get into a race with them over heavy lifting capabilities⁸ which is all that putting up a space station will demonstrate we're going to lose for at least the next five years.

David Bell: Hugh, were you as sure about this when you were working under Eisenhower?

Hugh Dryden: No, but the Soviets⁹ hadn't put a man in space then. Most assuredly, the moon is their ultimate objective.

David Bell: Red moon, huh? Who wants that hangin' over our heads?

Jerome Weisner: As head of the president's science advisory¹⁰, I've gotta tell him that politics aside there's no reason to put a man on the moon. The only thing we'll get for our money is some rocks. So, put a probe up, scoop¹¹ some out, bring 'em back and tour the world with them for propaganda purposes. You don't need to send a man a quarter of a million miles away to do that. And it sure as hell won't cost $20 billion.

James Webb: Well, certainly the president realizes that the moment a man steps on the moon will be a definitive¹² one in the history of the world.

David Bell: Especially when he sticks Old Glory in it and salutes¹³.

Ted Sorenson: He's ready for us. Can the president count on anything in the immediate¹⁴ future?

James Webb: Yes, the second of May. We'll have an American up on the second of May.

妙语佳句，活学活用

1. Iron Curtain

即“铁幕”。The boundary between Soviet-controlled eastern Europe and western Europe. The phrase was first used by Ethel Snowden, wife of a British Labour politician, in 1920, but was made famous by Winston Churchill, who said in Fulton, Missouri, in March 1946, ‘An iron curtain has descended¹⁵ across the Continent’. Hence the countries of the Soviet bloc¹⁶ were called ‘iron curtain countries’, especially by right-wingers.

2. Lift off

这个片语指的是“(火箭, 导弹等)发射, (直升飞机等)起飞”，例如：China’s first moon orbiter Chang’e I has been lift off successfully on October 24, 2007.

3. Sputnik

俄语，苏联人造地球卫星。

4. Jockey

Jokey 这里的意思是指“运用手段图谋某个职位或利益”，例如：John is jockeying for a promotion¹⁷.

5. Small talk

意思是“Casual or trivial conversation, chitchat 闲聊”，例如：We stood around making small talk until the guest of honor arrived.

Small 这里指“不重要的谈话主题”，和那些严肃、重大的主题相对应。

6. Along the lines of

这个片语也写作on the lines of，意思是“大致相似，差不多”，例如：We told the architect we want a design along the lines of his own house but smaller.

7. Manhattan Project

是美国政府研制第一枚原子弹的计划，时间为从1942到1945年。 In 1939 US scientists urged Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish a program to study the potential military use of fission¹⁸ (核裂变), and $6,000 was appropriated. By 1942 the project was code-named (编号)Manhattan, after the site of Columbia University, where much of the early research was done. Research also was carried out at the University of California and the University of Chicago. In 1943 a laboratory to construct the bomb was established at Los Alamos, N.M., and staffed by scientists headed by J. Robert Oppenheimer. Production also was carried out at Oak Ridge¹⁹, Tenn., and Hanford, Wash. The first bomb was exploded in a test at Alamogordo air base in southern New Mexico. By its end the project had cost some $2 billion and had involved 125,000 people.

8. Somewhere between $10 billion and $20 billion.

这是一句非常好用的口语表达，意思是“100亿到200亿美元之间吧”。当要表示“在……之间”时，我们就可以用Somewhere between 后面加上两个并列的事物，例如：somewhere between 1426 and 1435，1426年到1435年之间。

9. Private Sector

The total economy is composed of two sectors²⁰, the private sector and the public sector. 指的是社会经济中的“私营部分”。像航空航天，国家基础设施等这类关系社会公共利益的经济部分在美国一般是国营或者国家控股，而其他的都是私营。

10. Heavy lifting capabilities 指“载重能力”。

11. Old Glory

是美国人对自己国旗的爱称。

12. In the immediate future

意思是“在不久的将来”，和in the near future 差不多，例如：We'll be needing a new car in the near future.