پادکست BBC شماره ۲۳۹- The first space walk

پادکست BBC شماره ۲۳۹

سلام با دویست و سی و نهمین سری از پادکست‌های BBC 6 Minute English در خدمت شما هستیم.

در این قسمت درباره اولین قدم روی فضا صحبت میشه. حدود پنجاه سال پیش فضانورد روسی به نام Alexei Leonov اولین نفری بود که به فضا قدم گذاشت. در این پادکست درباره تلاش های پیشگامانه این ماموریت فضایی صحبت میشه، همچنین اقدامات Helen Sharman اولین انگلیسی ای که به فضا قدم گذاشت، را توصیف می کنن.

در زیر کلمات کلیدی که باید با آن‌ها آشنا شوید برایتان توضیح داده شده‌اند:

stranded: left somewhere with no way of leaving

stranded: گیرافتاده ، سرگردان

like nothing on earth: (idiom) very good/very bad

like nothing on earth: خیلی خوب/ خیلی بد

plain sailing: going without any problems

plain sailing: رفتن بدون هیچ مشکلاتی

unknown territory: a place where nobody had ever visited

unknown territory: سرزمین ناشناخته

inflated: filled with air or gas

inflated: پر باد، متورم

can’t cope with something: can’t manage a difficult situation

can’t cope with something: نمیتوانید یک موقعیت سخت را مدیریت کنید

presence of mind: being able to make good decisions or act quickly in a difficult situation

presence of mind: قادر به تصمیم گیری خوب یا عملکرد سریع در موقعیت سخت

in Leonov’s shoes: doing what he (Leonov) did

in Leonov’s shoes: هرکاری او کرد، انجام دادن

manually: by hand

manually: دستی

detach: to separate from something

detach: جدا کردن

home and dry: successfully complete something

home and dry: با موفقیت کاری را به پایان رساندن

touched down: landed

touched down: فرود آمده

wring out: twist or squeeze something to remove water

wring out: چلاندن

off course: not following the right route

off course: مسیر نادرست، بیراهه

Transcript of the podcast

پادکست BBC 6 minute English – The first space walk

Rob
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Rob… 

Neil
… and I’m Neil. Hello.

Rob
Hello, Neil! I watched that space movie last night – the one where those astronauts are stranded in space. 

Neil
Stranded means stuck in a place with only a small chance of leaving. Gravity, you mean?

Rob
That’s the one. And this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first ever space walk. On 18th March 1965 Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov was the first man to drift free in space – ۵۰۰km from the surface of Earth. And that’s the subject of today’s show! 

Neil
What on earth must that have felt like? 

Rob
Ah ha! Exactly. It would have felt like nothing on earth – and that’s to say, very strange indeed. He was the first person to experience the colourful geography of our planet stretched out before him. 

Neil
Very poetic, Rob! But moving on, how about answering today’s quiz question: How long did the first space walk last? Was it…

a) 2 minutes?

b) 12 minutes?

or c) 22 minutes?

Rob
Hmm. All quite short – so I think I’ll go for the one in the middle – ۱۲ minutes.

Neil
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.

Rob
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.

Neil
When Leonov left the capsule his spacesuit inflated – or swelled up – like a balloon because the pressure inside the 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.

Rob
Let’s listen to Helen Sharman, the first Briton in space, talking about it.

Helen Sharman, first Briton in space
So he decreases the pressure of his suit, which means that it’s a bit more able to move inside it, but it means the amount of oxygen he’s 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 in quickly, he’s going to die of oxygen starvation, um […] so he had the presence of mind to get on with all of this, got back in, swivelled himself round, managed to close the airlock, and then when the pressure was equilibrated was finally able to, you know, hug his compatriot up there in space.

Neil
Now, if you can’t cope with something it means you are unable to deal successfully with a difficult situation. And here the situation was having very little oxygen.

Rob
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.

Neil
And if I was in Leonov’s shoes – meaning if I was in his situation – I would have panicked big time!

Rob
And there was plenty more to panic about before the mission was over. The spacecraft’s automatic re-entry system failed so the cosmonauts had to fire the rockets manually – meaning controlled by hand – which they had never done before.

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

Rob
But the capsule did finally detach. And then you would think they’d have been home and dry, wouldn’t you? Home and dry means being close to achieving a goal.

Neil
Well, they certainly weren’t dry. The capsule touched down – or landed – hundreds of kilometres off course in freezing Siberia populated only by wolves and bears. Leonov had sweated so much on the space walk that his boots were filled with water up to his knees! Both cosmonauts had to wring out – or twist and squeeze – their clothes to avoid frostbite.

Rob
And off 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!

Neil
But what seems unfair to me is, we all know about the Apollo moon landing, but how many of us know about the first space walk?

Rob
Well, at least we do now, and of course our listeners do too!

Neil
OK, let’s have the answer to the quiz question. I asked: How long did the first space walk last? Was it… a) 2 minutes b) 12 minutes or c) 22 minutes?

Rob
I said a) 12 minutes.

Neil
And you were right!

Rob
Excellent. Good! So 12 minutes eh? What an amazing short stroll that must have been but a very historic one too. 

Neil
Well done. Now, can we hear today’s words again please?

Rob
OK. We heard:

stranded

like nothing on earth

plain sailing

unknown territory

inflated

can’t cope with something

presence of mind

in Leonov’s shoes

manually

detach

home and dry

touched down

wring out

off course

Neil
Well, that’s the end of today’s 6 Minute English. We thought it was out of this world – hope you thought so too! Please join us again soon.

Both
Bye.

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