3 Trouble in space

Chapter Three TROUBLE IN SPACE "Time to get on with the mission," said Roshni. A space probe needed the Secret Explorers' help. They didn't know what kind of help, but they knew it was urgent. "Where's the probe?" Ollie asked. Roshni peered out into space. "I can't see it. Hey, Beagle, can you scan for the probe?" The Beagle was quiet for a few seconds.

“是时候继续执行任务了，”Roshni说。 一个太空探测器需要秘密探险者的帮助。 他们不知道需要什么样的帮助，但他们知道事情很紧急。 “探测器在哪里？”奥利问道。 Roshni凝视着太空。 “我看不见。嘿，小猎犬，你能扫描一下探测器吗？”小猎犬号安静了几秒钟。

Lights went on and off. Then it beeped a triumphant TA-DAAAH! An image of the probe appeared on the navigation display, as well as directions to reach it. Roshni carefully pointed the Beagle's nose the right way and Ollie fired the rockets. Steadily, the spacecraft changed course.

灯忽亮忽灭。然后它发出一声胜利的嘟嘟声！导航显示器上出现了探测器的图像，以及到达它的方向。 罗什尼小心翼翼地把小猎犬号的机头指向正确的方向，奥利发射了火箭。 飞船稳步地改变了航向。

"Flying a spaceship isn't as easy as it looks in the movies, is it?" Ollie said. "That's because in space, if you set off in one direction, you continue moving that way and don't stop," Roshni explained. "You can't hit the brakes like you would in a car." "So how do you slow down?" "You have to turn on thrusters that fire in the opposite direction, so the movement cancels out," said Roshni. "Got it," said Ollie. He turned to the navigation display. "Looks like we're heading the right way," he said. Next to the image of the probe, a distance counter was ticking down.

“驾驶宇宙飞船不像电影里看起来那么容易，对吧？”欧利说。 “这是因为在太空中，如果你从一个方向出发，你会继续朝那个方向移动，不会停下来，”罗什尼解释说。 “你不能像开车那样踩刹车。” “那你怎么才能慢下来？”“你必须打开向相反方向发射的推进器，这样运动就会被抵消，”Roshni说。 “明白了，”奥利说。他转向导航显示器。 “看来我们正朝着正确的方向前进，”他说。 在探测器的图像旁边，一个距离计数器正在滴答作响。

Something huge, gray, and round appeared in the distance. Another asteroid? wondered Roshni. No—it's far too big! She quickly nudged the controls to steer them safely past it. As it rushed closer, she could make out craters on the surface. "Hey, that looks like the moon!" Ollie said. "It's a moon, all right," said Roshni. She'd figured out what they were looking at. "That's Ganymede, the biggest of Jupiter's moons." "Is it bigger than our moon?" Roshni laughed. "It's bigger than Mercury!"

远处出现了一个巨大的、灰色的、圆圆的东西。 另一个小行星吗?想知道Roshni。 不，它太大了！她迅速推了推控制装置，让他们安全地通过了它。 当它冲得更近时，她能辨认出地表上的陨石坑。 “嘿，那看起来像月亮！”欧利说。 “这是月亮，没错，”罗什尼说。 她知道他们在看什么。 “那是木卫三，木星最大的卫星。” “它比我们的月亮大吗？”Roshni笑了。 “它比水星还大！”

"But Mercury's a planet!" Ollie said. "Wow! Seems like everything about Jupiter is king-size." "That makes sense," Roshni said. "Jupiter gets its name from the king of the Roman gods, after all." The Beagle made urgent little BIP-BIP-BIP noises. Roshni noticed that the distance counter was nearly at zero. "We've almost reached the probe!" she said. "We need to slow down now. The Beagle should have retro-rockets somewhere—they fire in the direction a spaceship is flying, which slows it down." "Got them!" Ollie pulled a lever. "Retro-rockets… fired!" he said. Steadily, the Beagle slowed to a complete stop. The probe floated in space in front of them, gleaming in the light from the cockpit.

“但水星是一颗行星！”欧利说。 “哇!似乎木星的一切都是超大号的。” “这是有道理的，”罗什尼说。 “毕竟，朱庇特的名字来自罗马诸神之王。” 小猎犬发出急迫的哔-哔-哔的声音。 Roshni注意到距离计数器几乎为零。 “我们快到探测器了！”她说。 “我们现在需要放慢脚步。 小猎犬号应该在某个地方安装反向火箭——它们朝着飞船飞行的方向发射，从而使飞船减速。” “让他们!”奥利拉动杠杆。 “复古火箭……发射了！”他说。 小猎犬号慢慢地慢下来，完全停了下来。 探测器漂浮在他们面前的太空中，在驾驶舱的灯光下闪闪发光。

It looked very tiny against the gigantic planet in the background. Roshni felt a sense of wonder at how far it had come. It's probably been ten years since it blasted off from Earth, she thought. That's how long it takes to fly to Jupiter. And now something had gone wrong. But what could it be?

在背景中巨大的行星衬托下，它显得非常小。 罗什尼对事态的发展感到惊奇。 它从地球上发射出去大概有十年了，她想。 这就是飞到木星所需要的时间。 现在出了问题。 但会是什么呢？