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Someday rocket ships will probably carry men on trips to the Moon or even to the planet Mars.
也許有一天宇宙飛船可以載人飛行到月球上或是火星上。
How would you like to go exploring in a rocket ship beyond the World's atmosphere out through empty, airless space?
你想乘一艘宇宙飛船飛出地球的大氣層，到那空無一人、沒有空氣的太空中去探險嗎？
How would you like to be the first Man in the Moon?
你想成為踏上月球的第一人嗎？
You wouldn't find any living thing on the Moon, for the Moon is a dead, lifeless ball without any air on it at all.
你會發(fā)現(xiàn)月球上沒有任何生物，因為月球是一個沒有空氣、沒有生命的死星球。
But if your rocket got to Mars you would almost certainly find some living plants —and perhaps, who knows?—even some living animals.
但是如果宇宙飛船把你帶到火星上去，也許你能發(fā)現(xiàn)一些活的植物，甚至會有活的動物，誰知道呢？
Some mountains are so high that their tops almost stick out of the ocean of air;
有些山非常高，高到山頂幾乎都伸出了大氣層；
at least there is so little air covering their tops that people can't go all the way to the top unless they take along canned air to breathe.
至少，山頂上空氣非常稀薄，所以人們不帶氧氣罐就無法一直登到山頂。
You can't see air—you may think you can, but what you see is smoke or clouds, not air.
你看不到空氣—也許你覺得自己能看到，但你看到的只是煙或云，而不是空氣。
When air is moving, we call it wind. Then you can feel it when it blows your hat off, you can hear it when it bangs the shutters and whistles round the house;
空氣流動的時候，我們稱之為風。當風把你的帽子吹走的時候你可以感覺到它，當它撞著百葉窗，在房子外呼嘯的時候你可以聽到它。
but no one has ever seen air itself.
但是沒有人看到過空氣本身。
The world wasn't always as it is now. It was once a ball of fire—a huge burning ball.
世界并不總是現(xiàn)在這個樣子的。它曾經(jīng)是一個火球—一個巨大的燃燒的球。
That was millions of years ago, and of course long before there were any people or animals or plants on the world.
早在世界上人、動物或植物存在以前，它已經(jīng)存在幾百萬年了。
But the fiery ball got cooler and cooler until it was no longer burning but a hot ball of rock.
但是這個大火球逐漸冷卻，直到不再燃 燒，成為一個灼熱的大石球。
There were then no oceans, no water on the World, for water won't stay on anything very hot
當時世界上沒有海洋，沒有水，因為水不能在任何熱的東西上面停留，比如說一個熱熱的火爐，
it won't stay on a hot stove—it turns to steam when there is fire under it;
當下面有火的時候，水就會變成水蒸氣。
so there were only clouds of steam, an ocean of steam, around the world.
所以當時的世界上只有大團大團的水蒸氣，一個蒸汽的海洋籠罩著世界。
