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It was a barren and bleak place.
月球是個荒涼、嚴酷的地方
A dead rock in the sky.
是一顆空中的死寂巖石
We'd built it up in our imagination
千百年來我們用想像力
for tens of thousands of years;
美化月球
and the disappointment was crushing.
這下大失所望，難以自已
People thought maybe there were people alive on the moon,
我們一直以為也許月球上有人
you know, maybe there were things up there
或是有些什么生物
and what we learned when we got there is indeed you know what we saw was the case,
到了才發現
it's a very cold place and it's desolate
月球寒冷荒蕪
and you know it's not capable of supporting life as we know it.
毫無生機
the lunar surface for the last time,
太空人金賽南，最后一次踏上月球表面
it was no giant leap for mankind but the last stumble of a dying era.
這不再是人類的一大步，而是一個垂死年代的最后一次踉蹌
NASA cancelled the next three moon missions
航太總署取消了其后三次登月任務
and quietly drew the Apollo programme to a close.
悄悄地結束了阿波羅計劃
Cernan was the last human being ever to walk on the moon.
賽南是最后一個在月球上漫步的人類
To this day, no one has returned.
至今沒人回去過
The love affair was over.
愛情故事結束了
But although the public's relationship
雖然大眾
with the moon had gone sour,
對月球的愛消情逝
for a small band of dedicated scientists,
但對一小群科學家而言
the romance was just beginning.
浪漫情愫才剛開始萌芽
They now had actual pieces of the moon to study.
如今他們可以研究來自月球的碎片
Nearly 400 kilos of lunar rock
太空人帶回來
had been brought back by the astronauts.
將近四百公斤的月巖
They hoped that these rocks would
科學家希望這些巖石
unlock the unanswered mysteries of the moon.
能為他們解答有關月球的謎題
Because despite the moon landings,
雖然登月計劃成功了
scientists still didn't know the answer to the big questions;
科學家仍然有幾個重要的問題
where had the moon had come from, and how had it formed?
月球來自何處？又是如何形成的？
One of those starry eyed young scientists was Gary Lofgren,
其中一名樂觀的年輕科學家，叫做蓋瑞羅夫根
a geologist working for NASA.
他是一名任職于航太總署的地質學家
He was given the job of cutting up each sample ready for study.
他的工作是切割樣本，以便進行研究
You just had no idea what you were going to see,
你壓根不知道自己會看到什么
looking at these really strange-looking rocks um,
這些奇特的巖石
that were justjumbles of debris.
看起來像是一堆碎片
I mean it was a chance to really just to look at them closely,
我們很幸運能有機會近距離觀察它們
to er, er not actually touch them but come very close
雖然不能摸但是能就近觀察
and realised we'd never seen anything quite like that on earth,
我們發現在地球上沒看過像這樣的東西
or at least we had never recognised it on earth.
至少是沒有辨識出這樣的東西
Most scientists had assumed that the moon would be similar to earth
多數科學家以為月球應該和地球十分類似
there'd be a mixture of young and old rocks,
應該可以找到年代
formed in many different ways.
和形成方法各不相同的許多巖石
They were in for a surprise.
這下他們可要大大吃驚了
It turned out that our thinking about the moon was really wrong.
事實證明，我們對月亮的想法完全錯誤
Science had not done a very good job of guessing
科學家在揣測月球樣貌時的表現
what the moon was going to be like.
令人失望
People did think it was probably fairly old.
人們大概已經猜到月球相當古老
But they didn't realise it was as old as it turned out to be.
但沒想到，它的年代居然這么久遠
We found rocks that are almost 4 and a half billion years old,
我們找到將近45億年前的巖石
almost the age of our solar system.
幾乎和我們的太陽系年代相當
You know some of these rocks formed just 50,100 million years
有些巖石是在此星體誕生后的
after the beginning of the planet.
五千萬到一億年后形成的
We just don't find rocks that old on earth.
地球上找不到這么古老的巖石
