1 Stargazing

Chapter One STARGAZING. Roshni attached her telescope to its stand. Excitement buzzed through her. "I really hope I see it tonight," she said to herself. She was on the shore of Pangong Lake in India. The water seemed almost as still and quiet as the surface of the moon. Roshni's parents were talking in low voices over by the campfire. The vast Himalayan

第一章观星。Roshni把她的望远镜固定在支架上。 她兴奋不已。 “我真希望今晚能看到它，”她自言自语道。 她在印度班公湖的岸边。 水面似乎几乎和月球表面一样平静。 罗什尼的父母在篝火旁低声交谈。 广阔的喜马拉雅山脉

Mountains loomed in the distance, their great dark shapes blotting out part of the sky. Overhead, thousands of stars shone like glittering dust. It was chilly, but Roshni didn't mind. She wasn't scared of the dark, either. She loved it! In fact, the less light there was, the better. You couldn't see the stars as well in a city, because of the streetlights. But out here, so far from the nearest town, the stars stood out in brilliant pinpoints. This is the perfect place to stargaze, thought Roshni.

远处群山若隐若现，它们巨大的黑影遮住了一部分天空。 头顶上，成千上万颗星星像闪闪发光的尘埃一样闪闪发光。 天气很冷，但Roshni并不介意。 她也不害怕黑暗。 她很喜欢！事实上，光线越少越好。 在城市里你看不到星星，因为有路灯。 但在这里，离最近的城镇如此之远，星星在明亮的点上脱颖而出。 这是一个完美的观星的地方，罗什尼想。

She finished setting up her telescope and peered through the lens. It wasn't a toy—it was a real scientific instrument, and almost three feet long. Roshni was very proud of it. Down the side, she'd written her favorite saying: The night hides a world, but reveals a universe. She carefully adjusted the telescope and a planet shone brightly against the dark.

她把望远镜架好，透过镜头往外看。 它不是一个玩具——它是一个真正的科学仪器，几乎有三英尺长。 Roshni对此非常自豪。 在旁边，她写下了她最喜欢的一句话：黑夜隐藏了一个世界，但揭示了一个宇宙。 她小心地调整了望远镜，一颗行星在黑暗中闪闪发光。

"I can see you, Jupiter!" she whispered, and grinned. "Hi there, big guy." It was June, the time of year when Jupiter's orbit brought it closest to Earth. Roshni had seen Jupiter before, but never this clearly. She could even make out its colored bands. What Roshni really wanted to see was the enormous storm on Jupiter's surface. This was called the Great Red Spot. Roshni imagined that it would look like the eye of an angry giant! But she couldn't zoom in any farther. She sighed. Her beloved telescope just wasn't powerful enough. "I know!" she said. "My new lens!" Her parents had bought it for her to improve her telescope. Could it make Jupiter's image big enough to see the Great Red Spot?

“我看见你了，朱庇特！”她低声说，咧嘴一笑。 “你好，大个子。”那是六月，一年中木星轨道离地球最近的时候。 Roshni以前见过木星，但从未如此清晰。 她甚至能辨认出它的彩色条纹。 Roshni真正想看到的是木星表面的巨大风暴。 这被称为“大红斑”。 罗什尼想象它看起来像一个愤怒的巨人的眼睛！但她不能再放大了。 她叹了口气。她心爱的望远镜不够强大。 “我知道！”她说。“我的新镜片！”她父母买给她是为了改进她的望远镜。 它能使木星的图像大到足以看到大红斑吗？

She jumped up from the telescope, ran over to her little tent—and stopped in her tracks. A compass symbol had appeared on her tent flap. It was glowing. Roshni knew that symbol well. Pinned to her jacket was a badge in the exact same shape—the sign of the Secret Explorers! Grinning to herself, Roshni scrambled through the tent flaps and into brilliant white light. Wind whistled through her hair and ruffled her jacket. She felt as if she were plunging as fast as a meteor through the sky. A couple of seconds later, the light faded. Roshni looked around. She was surrounded by the familiar black stone

她从望远镜上跳起来，跑向她的小帐篷——然后停了下来。 她的帐篷门帘上出现了一个罗盘符号。 它在发光。Roshni很熟悉那个符号。 她的夹克上别着一枚形状一模一样的徽章——秘密探险者的标志！罗什尼咧嘴一笑，爬过帐篷的门帘，进入明亮的白光中。 风吹过她的头发，吹皱了她的夹克。 她觉得自己好像像流星一样快速地划过天空。 几秒钟后，灯光消失了。 罗什尼环顾四周。她被那块熟悉的黑石头包围着