首个“太空小丑”返回地球_社会生活

首个“太空小丑”返回地球

文章来源：未知文章作者：meng 发布时间：2009-10-17 02:46 字体： [大中小]　进入论坛

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Ground crew members assist Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte after he returned in the Russian Soyuz space capsule near the town of Arkalyk, in northern Kazakhstan, October 11, 2009.

The first clown in space, Canadian circus tycoon¹ Guy Laliberte, arrived safely back on earth Sunday touching² down in a Russian Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan, the Russian mission control centre said.

The capsule, also carrying Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and US astronaut Michael Barratt, landed in Kazakhstan's steppe at 0431 GMT after travelling from the International Space Station (ISS).

"The team took the landing quite well, they are feeling fine," the space official commented as quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.

Laliberte is the billionaire founder³ of the popular Cirque du Soleil and the seventh person in history to spend millions of dollars from a personal fortune to fly into space.

The Canadian, who arrived at the ISS on October 2, could be the last space tourist for some time as seats will be limited aboard the Soyuz once NASA takes its long-serving shuttles out of service from 2010.

The Cirque du Soleil, which Laliberte founded in 1984, fuses acrobatics⁴ with music and has made him the world's 261st richest man with a fortune of 2.5 billion dollars, according to Forbes magazine.

据俄罗斯地面飞行控制中心消息，首个“太空小丑”、加拿大马戏团富翁盖•拉利伯特于周日安全返回地球，乘坐俄罗斯联盟号飞船降落在哈萨克斯坦境内。

这架载人飞船结束国际空间站之旅，于格林尼治时间4时31分降落在哈萨克斯坦的大草原上。同行的还有一名俄罗斯宇航员杰纳迪•帕达尔卡和一名美国宇航员迈克尔•巴勒特，

俄罗斯新闻通讯社援引宇航局官员的评论说：“他们的着陆很成功，现在他们感觉良好。”

拉利伯特是加拿大广受欢迎的“太阳马戏团”的创始人，他身家达亿万，是历史上第七位自费花百万美元前往太空旅游的人。

这名加拿大人于10月2日抵达国际空间站。他可能将成为短期内的最后一位太空游客，因为美国国家航空航天局的几架服役年限较长的航天飞机计划于2010年退役，届时俄罗斯联盟号载人飞船上的席位将会受限。

《福布斯》杂志称，拉利伯特于1984年创建的“太阳马戏团”将杂技与音乐结合了起来。他凭借太阳马戏团在全球富人榜上排第261位，资产达25亿美元。

Vocabulary:

tycoon: a wealthy and powerful businessperson or industrialist⁵; a magnate （企业界的）大亨；巨头

cosmonaut: 和astronaut一样，都是“宇航员”的意思，但是cosmonaut专指被俄罗斯航空及航天局雇佣的宇航员或前苏联的宇航员。

steppe: a vast semiarid grass-covered plain, as found in southeast Europe, Siberia, and central North America（西伯利亚一带没树木的）大草原；干草原

GMT: Greenwich mean time 格林尼治标准时间

fuse:mix（融合；结合）

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收听单词发音

1 tycoon
n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨
参考例句：
The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。 The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

2 touching
adj.动人的，使人感伤的
参考例句：
It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。 His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

3 Founder
n.创始者，缔造者
参考例句：
He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。 According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 acrobatics
n.杂技
参考例句：
Acrobatics is hard to learn but beautiful to watch.杂技不好学，但很好看。 We watched a performance which included a puppet show and acrobatics.我们观看了一场演出，内容有木偶和杂技。

5 industrialist
n.工业家，实业家
参考例句：
The industrialist's son was kidnapped.这名实业家的儿子被绑架了。 Mr.Smith was a wealthy industrialist,but he was not satisfied with life.史密斯先生是位富有的企业家，可他对生活感到不满意。

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