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1、1One small step back to where we started 注： “One small step back to where we started”是首届参考消息读者译文大赛文章要求参赛者翻译的文章。本人水平有限，不敢参加啦。不过看到这样一篇有一定挑战性的文章，不禁手痒，于是在这里献上自己的译文版本，与翻译爱好者们交流切磋。“一千个人心中有一千个哈姆雷特。 ”同样，一千个翻译就会有一千种译文。欢迎翻译爱好者们不吝指正。One small step back to where we started 重返起点的一小步The Apollo missions were suppo
2、sed to reveal the truth about the Moon. In fact, they taught us about the Earth and ourselves阿波罗任务的本意是揭示月球的真相。可实际上，它们要告诉我们的却是地球和我们自己。Mark Mason 马克 梅森In July 1969, soon after their return from the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were shown footage of the worlds reaction to the lunar landing. The
3、y saw the US newscaster Walter Cronkite wiping away his tears; people gathered around televisions from China to Brazil; pavements outside TV shops crammed as people watched in awe. Aldrin turned to Armstrong. “Neil,” he said, “we missed the whole thing”.1969 年 7 月，从月球返回后不久，有人给尼尔阿姆斯特朗和巴兹;奥尔德林放了一段录像，让
4、他们看看全世界人们对登月的反应。他们看到美国新闻主播沃尔特;克朗凯特正在擦拭自己的泪花；从中国到巴西，人们聚集在电视机旁；当人们怀着敬畏的神情观看时，电视机商店外面的人行道被围得水泄不通。奥尔德林转向阿姆斯特朗。 “尼尔， ”他说道， “我们错过了这一切” 。That comment (reminiscent of George Harrisons complaint that the Beatles felt left out because “We were the only people who never got to see the Beatles”) reveals the sur
5、prising truth about the Apollo missions: they werent about the Moon. They were about the Earth.那个评论（它令人回想起乔治;哈里森的抱怨甲壳虫乐队觉得自己被忽略了，因为“我们是唯一从来没有看过甲壳虫乐队的人” ）揭示了令人惊讶的阿波罗任务的真相：它们并非月球之行，而是地球之旅。The clues had been there from the start, when the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to leave their home pla
6、nets orbit. Orbiting the Moon on Christmas Eve 1968, fulfilling dreams as old as mankind itself, their real wonder was not at the dead grey planet beneath them, but at the vibrant blue globe in the distance. The first three men to see the Moon up close soon realised with a much deeper sense of rever
7、ence that they were the first three men to see the Earth from a distance. Witnessing an earthrise made them feel humble. They read the opening chapters of Genesis to a worldwide audience of millions, signing off with, “Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”从一开始当阿波罗
8、 8 号的全体乘员成为第一批离开其所在星球轨道的人时，这一切就不言而喻了。在 1968 年平安夜环绕月球轨道飞行，实现了与人类自身一样古老的梦想，真正使他们感到惊奇的不是他们下方那颗死气沉沉的灰色行星，而是远方那个生机勃勃的蓝色地球。第一批近距离观看月球的三个人不久就意识到怀着更深的敬意他们是第一批远距离注视地球的三个人。亲眼目睹“地出”奇观让他们觉得自己很卑微。他们向全世2界亿万观众朗读了创世纪中的开篇，在结束时说道， “圣诞快乐，愿上帝保佑你们所有人，在美好地球上的所有人。 ”Over the next four years, Apollo taught us what it means
9、to be human: in a word, restless. Curiosity is never satisfied, it merely finds new targets. Quite how quickly the shift can occur was learnt by Pete Conrad, the third man to walk on the Moon (and the first to fall over on it). Once Armstrong and Aldrin had claimed the prize, no one was interested i
10、n Apollo 12. Conrad later appeared in an American Express advert of famous Americans nobody recognised. (Others included Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny.) Yet in many ways Conrads was the most interesting Apollo mission of all. His fellow moonwalker, Al Bean, never the most naturally gifted astro
11、naut, compensated with sheer hard work. Finally standing on the lunar surface, he threw his silver Nasa badge into the distance, knowing that the moonwalk had earned him a gold one. But as they flew back to Earth, he turned to Conrad and admitted disappointment in the Moon itself: “Its kind of like
12、the song Is That All There Is?” Another timeless truth: achievements themselves arent what count, its the fact that you worked for them.在接下来的四年里，阿波罗告诉我们它对人类意味着什么：那就是，不得安宁。好奇心永远得不到满足，只不过它找到了新的目标。皮特;康拉德，第三个踏上月球的人（而且是第一个在月球上跌倒的人）总算体会到这一切改变得有多快。一旦阿姆斯特朗和奥尔德林抢去了风头，再也没人对阿波罗 12 号感兴趣了。后来康拉德在美国运通推出的“默默无闻的美国人”
13、榜上有名。 （其他人还包括兔八哥的配音演员梅尔布兰科） 。然而，从很多角度上讲，康拉德的登月之行才是所有阿波罗任务中最有趣的任务。和他一起登月的伙伴阿兰;比恩，绝对不是最有天赋的宇航员，完全依赖于勤能补拙。当他终于站在了月球的表面，他把美国国家航空航天（NASA）颁发的银质徽章扔向远方，因为他知道在月球上行走已经为他赢得了金质徽章。但是，当他们飞回地球时，他转向康拉德，承认自己对月球本身有点失望：“它有点像那首叫一切不过如此？的歌曲。 ”另一个永恒的真相就是：成绩本身并不能说明什么问题，重要的是你为之付出的努力。When Bean returned to Earth he would sit
14、in shopping malls, simply to marvel at the variety of human life. And he has never again complained about the weather: “Im just glad there is weather.” As so often, a journey into the unknown had revealed more about the travellers home than about the destination. 当比恩重返地球之后，他总是坐在购物中心，惊叹于丰富多彩的人类生活。从此以
15、后，他再也没有抱怨过天气：“有天气存在，我就觉得很高兴啦。 ”如同经常发生的那样，一段通往未知世界的旅程展示的更多的是旅行者的家乡，而不是其目的地。Virtually every Apollo astronaut came back with a deep sense of the Earths fragility. Ed Mitchell, Moonwalker No 6: “When we see ourselves in this bigger perspective call it the ET point of view, the God point of view a shift
16、takes place in your perception and you start to think quite differently.” Apollo 16s Charlie Duke describes Earth as “hanging in space like a jewel”. “People are always asking what we discovered when we went to the Moon,” says Dick Gordon, of Apollo 12. “What we discovered was the Earth.”实际上，每一位阿波罗登月宇航员返回之后，都会深深地感到地球的脆弱。艾德加米切尔，第六位登月的宇航员，曾说过：“当我们从这个更大的视角来审视自己我们称之为“外星人视角” 、 “上帝视角”你的看法就会发生变化，你就会开始用截然不同的方式3考虑问题。 ”阿波罗 16 号的宇航员查尔斯;杜克将地球描述为像 “孤悬在太空的
