VOA慢速英语听力：美国国家航空航天局提供卫星技术帮助对抗亚马逊森林砍伐 NASA Offers Satellite Technology to Help Fight Amazon Deforestation

VOA慢速英语听力：美国国家航空航天局提供卫星技术帮助对抗亚马逊森林砍伐 NASA Offers Satellite Technology to Help Fight Amazon Deforestation.

The American space agency NASA has offered its satellite technology to Brazil to help identify destruction in the Amazon rainforest.

美国国家航空航天局NASA向巴西提供其卫星技术，以帮助识别亚马逊雨林的破坏。

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson made the offer during a recent trip to Brazil. The NASA chief visited the country’s space agency – the National Institute for Space Research – in the southeastern city of Jose dos Campos. Nelson’s trip to South America also included visits to Argentina and Colombia.

NASA局长比尔·纳尔逊在最近的巴西之行中提出了这一提议。NASA局长访问了巴西国家空间研究所，该机构位于东南部城市若泽·多斯·坎波斯。纳尔逊对南美洲的访问还包括阿根廷和哥伦比亚。

Brazilian Science Minister Luciana Santos showed Nelson around the institute and explained some of the space agency’s programs.

巴西科学部长卢西亚娜·桑托斯向纳尔逊展示了该研究所，并解释了一些空间机构的项目。

During a news conference, Nelson described one new NASA satellite that he said would be completed by January. He said the satellite, called NISAR, will even be able to capture images of what is happening in real time below the forest cover.

在一次新闻发布会上，纳尔逊描述了一颗新的NASA卫星，他表示该卫星将在明年1月份完成。他说，名为NISAR的卫星甚至能够实时捕捉到森林覆盖下的情况。

"It is going to be able to look through the canopy of the jungle so that we can see if someone has burned the undergrowth and that would ultimately kill the big trees," Nelson said.

“它将能够穿透丛林的树冠，这样我们就可以看到是否有人烧毁了林下植被，这最终会导致大树死亡，”纳尔逊说道。

NASA says the new satellite will support a project called SERVIR Amazonia. It helps provide Earth science data to scientists and decision-makers across the Amazon area to record environmental changes in near real-time. The project helps predict climate threats like deforestation and food insecurity. It can also provide data to emergency workers during natural disasters.

NASA表示，新的卫星将支持名为SERVIR Amazonia的项目。该项目帮助向亚马逊地区的科学家和决策者提供地球科学数据，以便实时记录环境变化。该项目有助于预测森林砍伐和粮食不安全等气候威胁。在自然灾害期间，它还可以向紧急救援人员提供数据。

Brazil’s space agency has launched a series of satellites in partnership with China since 1999. Those satellites aim to gather data on agricultural operations and the environment.

自1999年以来，巴西的航天局与中国合作发射了一系列卫星。这些卫星旨在收集农业运营和环境方面的数据。

Brazil depends on satellite imagery to watch over the Amazon. But cloud cover often makes it difficult for satellites to capture clear and timely images. The NASA chief said the satellites NASA plans to place into orbit early next year will add an "extreme ability to understand what is happening" to the rainforest.

巴西依赖卫星图像来监视亚马逊雨林。但云层经常使卫星难以捕捉到清晰及时的图像。NASA局长表示，NASA计划于明年年初将这些卫星送入轨道，将为雨林增加“极其了解正在发生的情况”的能力。

Nelson, a former U.S. senator who once flew to space, also met with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia. After the meeting, he told reporters he thanked the president “for his continuous effort to save the Amazon rainforest."

纳尔逊是一位曾飞往太空的前美国参议员，他还在巴西利亚会见了总统卢拉。会后，他对记者表示，他感谢总统“不断努力拯救亚马逊雨林。”

Nelson said that when he flew aboard NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986, he witnessed the destruction of the rainforest by the different colors he could see from his spacecraft window.

纳尔逊表示，当他在1986年搭乘NASA的哥伦比亚号航天飞机飞行时，通过飞船窗口所看到的不同颜色，让他目睹了雨林的破坏。

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

canopy – n. a cover or kind of roof used for protection or decoration

ultimate – adj. better, worse or greater than all similar things