新托福阅读材料：把名字送上太空

NASA的太空旅行方式

NASA is on a mission: to make space travel more interactive.

NASA(美国国家航空航天管理局)最近正在执行一项任务：让太空旅行变得更加生动交互起来。

With its future unsure thanks to Discovery's final flight on Wednesday as well as growing interest in commercial space flight, NASA is trying to make space for the average citizen a bit more personal.

多亏了探索号于星期三执行的终结飞行以及人们越来越热衷于太空旅行， NASA正努力尝试着提供更多让普通百姓进入太空的机会。

While odds are you'll never be an astronaut or be able to pay the astronomical costs of private space flight, you'll at least be able to send your name rocketing into the ether.

尽管你可能没法成为航天员或有钱支付一次私人太空旅行的费用，但至少你可以把你的名字送上太空。

NASA recently announced that anyone can go online and input their name in a massive database, which will be placed onto a microchip that will be sent up with the Mars Curiosity Rover in 2011.

最近NASA宣布说，现在每个人都可以通过上网把他们的名字输入到一个巨大的数据库中，接着这些数据库会被存入到一个微芯片中，而这个存有你名字的芯片将于2011年通过“火星猎奇漫游号”送上火星。

You can even print out a certificate to show all your nerdy science friends. And while you're at it, NASA has set up a live webcam that provides video feed of NASA engineers building the next Rover, which will investigate whether the Red Planet has environments favorable for supporting microbial life.

你也可以将你参加这个活动所获得的证书展示给你的那些痴迷于科学方面的朋友们看。此外，NASA 还安设了一个摄像头，你只需上网就可以在线看到NASA 工程师建造下一个巡航器的实况。这个巡航器将用于探测火星上是否具备适合微生物生存的环境。

你是否也对太空旅行感兴趣呢?

Notes:

be on a mission: 执行任务

odds: n. 几率，悬殊

favorable: adj. 有利的