Chapter 2

IT WAS A QUARTER of an Earth century before Mars was again visited byhumans. Six years after the Envoy¹ was silent, the drone probe Zombie,sponsored jointly² by the Geographic³ Society and La Société AstronautiqueInternationale, bridged the void and took up an orbit for the waiting period,then returned. The photographs taken by the robot vehicle showed a landunattractive by human standards; her recording⁴ instruments confirmed thethinness and unsuitability of the Arean atmosphere to human life.

　　But the Zombie’s pictures showed clearly that the .canals“ were engineeringworks of some sort and there were other details which could only beinterpreted as ruins of cities. A manned expedition on a major scale andwithout delay surely would have been mounted had not World War IIIintervened.

　　But the war and the delay resulted eventually in a much stronger, saferexpedition than that of the lost En my. The Federation⁵ Ship Champion,manned by an all-male crew of eighteen experienced spacemen and carryingmore than that number of male pioneers, made the crossing under Lyle Drivein only nineteen days. The Champion landed just south of Lacus Soli, asCaptain van Tromp intended to search for the Envoy. The second expeditionreported to Earth by radio daily, but three despatches were of more thanscientific interest. The first was:

　　.Rocket Ship Envoy located. No survivors⁸.“The second worldshaker was: .Mars is inhabited.“The third was: .Correction to despatch⁶ 23-105: One survivor⁷ of Envoylocated.“

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

3 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

5 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

6 despatch   

n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道

参考例句：

• The despatch of the task force is purely a contingency measure.派出特遣部队纯粹是应急之举。
• He rushed the despatch through to headquarters.他把急件赶送到总部。

7 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

8 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者