(本文选自《经济学人》20201121期)
背景介绍：
12月1日晚间，中国探月计划最新的月球探测器嫦娥五号已成功着陆在月球正面预选着陆区，成为中国第三个成功实施月面软着陆的探测器。而在探测器成功着陆后，着陆器也将在地面控制下，正式开始“挖土”的工作。
China plans to bring back the first Moon rocks for 40 years
If it succeeds, they will arrive in December
In January 2019, when a Chinese spacecraft called Chang’e 4 visited the Moon, the mission broke new ground,
figuratively
speaking, by landing on the far side of that orb, which is perpetually invisible from Earth and thus also out of direct radio contact.
2019年1月，中国的嫦娥四号探测器成功登月，这次任务的圆满完成意味着一次新的突破，形象地说，嫦娥四号在月球远地端（即在地球上永远无法观察到的那一边）着陆，因此无法直接利用无线电进行通信。
This meant communications had to be relayed by a satellite which had been
cunningly
located for the purpose at a place where the interaction of the gravitational fields of Earth and Moon meant it could orbit a point in empty space.
这意味着我们必须通过一颗中继卫星与之保持通信，这颗中继卫星正是出于这一目的而被巧妙地定位在一个地球和月球引力场相互作用的地方，使其能够围绕太空中的某一个点运转。
China’s next lunar mission, by contrast, will break ground literally. Chang’e 5, scheduled for launch around November 24th, is intended to drill two metres down into the Moon’s surface, retrieve about 2kg of rock, and then return this to Earth.
相比之下，中国下一次登月行动才是真正意义上的破土动工。嫦娥五号探测器计划于11月24日左右发射，它将在月球表面钻地2米深，并收集约2公斤的岩石标本送回地球。
If successful, it will be the first lunar sample-return mission since 1976, when a Soviet probe called Luna 24 sent back a mere 170g of the stuff. And it will be another step forward in China’s space programme.
如果这项计划最终得以成功，这将成为人类自1976年以来首次从月球采样并返回地球的行动，当时苏联的月球24号探测器仅采集了170克的样本返回地球。这次行动将使中国太空计划再次向前迈出一大步。
The Chang’e missions, named after a Chinese Moon goddess, have had their ups and downs. Chang’e 5 was originally scheduled for blast off in 2017, but the failure in July of that year of an otherwise-unrelated project that was, like Chang’e 5, using a Long March 5 as its launch vehicle, caused a delay. (Chang’e 4 used a different sort of launcher, a Long March 3B.)
以中国的月亮女神命名的嫦娥登月计划历经坎坷。嫦娥五号探测器原本计划在2017年发射，但在2017年7月，一个与之无关的项目（该项目使用了与嫦娥五号相同的运载火箭——长征五号）的失败导致了嫦娥五号发射计划的延期。（嫦娥四号使用的是与之不同的运载火箭——长征三号B。）
The “go” does, however, now seem to have been given. State media reported on November 17th that the rocket with Chang’e 5 on board has been moved to its launch pad at Wenchang space centre, on Hainan island.
但现在看来，嫦娥五号登月计划终于提上日程了。据官方媒体11月17日报道称，搭载了嫦娥5号的火箭已被转移至位于海南文昌航天中心的发射台。
Assuming the launch goes to plan, success will then depend on a complex ballet involving the craft’s four
components
. These are a service module, a return-to-Earth module, a lunar lander and an ascender—a
configuration
originally used by America’s Apollo project.
假设嫦娥五号按计划进行发射，那么最终能否取得成功将取决于一个由四个部分组成的复杂系统。这四部分分别是轨道器、返回器、着陆器和上升器——与美国阿波罗计划最初使用的配置相似。
Once the mission is in lunar orbit, the lander and the ascender will separate from the orbiting mother ship of service and return modules as a single unit and go down to the surface. The landing site is in the northern part of a vast expanse of basalt called Oceanus Procellarum, a previously unvisited area.
当嫦娥五号进入月球轨道后，着陆器和上升器将与搭载了轨道器和返回器的轨道母舰分离，并作为一个单独的单元在月球表面着陆。着陆点位于一片广阔的玄武岩的北部，这一地区此前未曾被人类发现。
Researchers hope rocks collected here will confirm that volcanic activity on the Moon continued until far more recently than the 3.5bn years ago that is the estimate derived from studies of currently available samples.
研究人员希望采集这里的岩石标本并进行研究，从而证实月球上的火山活动一直持续到远比35亿年前更近的时间（这是研究人员对现有样本进行研究所做出的估计）。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
本文翻译：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
编辑：Vinnie
从2007年的嫦娥一号到2020年的嫦娥五号，中国无人探月工程已经圆满完成了“绕”（绕月探测）和“落”（落月探测）的阶段。如今，随着嫦娥五号的成功登月并从月球采样带回，中国探月工程即将完成最后一个阶段——“回”（采样返回探测）。
重难点词汇：
figuratively
[ˈfɪɡjərətɪvli] adv. 比喻地；象征性地
cunningly
[ˈkʌnɪŋli] adv. 巧妙地；狡猾地
component
[kəmˈpoʊnənt] n. 成分；组件
