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August 25
1989: Voyager spacecraft reaches Neptune
[ 2006-08-25 08:31 ]

August 25
Voyager is carrying recorded greetings from Earth
1989: Voyager spacecraft reaches Neptune

England have

The unmanned Voyager 2 spacecraft has sent back the first close-up pictures ofNeptuneand its satellite planets.

Neptune is over two billion miles from Earth - the most distant planet in our solar system.

Scientists at Mission Control in Florida have called it the "culmination of the greatest journey of exploration this century".

Voyager 2 has already sent back pictures and information from Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.

But its trip to Neptune has provided the most spectacular so far.

Neptune's blue hue is clearly visible - it comes from the planet's mainlymethaneatmosphere.

Scientists have beenastoundedby the discovery of a storm the size of Earth hovering over Neptune.

Six new moons have also been identified.

Voyager 2 blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida in August 1977.

It is a twin to Voyager 1 which was launched the following month.

Originally their trip was only designed to take in Jupiter and Saturn but scientists later decided to extend their journey and reprogrammed them by remote control.

Voyager 2 is due to leave our solar system soon and begin a journey of exploration of the stars - it is the last we will hear of it for many years.

Voyager 1 is already on its way to conduct studies of interplanetary space.

Both spacecraft carry an disk of recorded sounds and images from Earth.

Included are greetings from many languages, images of life on our planet and human achievements.  

August 25
Parisians cheered as Allied troops marched down the Champs Elysee

1944: Paris is liberated as Germans surrender

Artificially 1969: FilmTheTheAA  After four years under German occupation, Paris is now free.

Last night, the French 2nd Armoured Division under General Philippe Leclerc was the first Allied force to enter the city, greeted by loud cheers from Parisians after many days of fighting between the Resistance and the German occupiers.

The new Free French wireless station reported the German commander of the Paris region, General Dietrich von Choltitz, signed a surrender at Montparnasse station in front of General Leclerc and Colonel Rol, commander of the Forces Francaises de l'Interieur (FFI) in the Paris region.

Colonel Rol praised the Resistance forces that fought the occupying Germans and opened the way for the Allies to enter the capital.

At 1900 local time, General Charles de Gaulle - leader of the Free French who has been living in exile in London since the Fall of France in 1940 - entered the city.

In a broadcast to the nation from the Hotel de Ville he said: "I wish simply from the bottom of my heart to say to you: Vive Paris!"

"We are here in Paris - Paris which stood erect and rose in order to free herself. Paris oppressed, downtrodden andmartyredbut still Paris - free now, freed by the hands of Frenchmen, the capital of Fighting France, France the great eternal."

He said the French could now stand up as a great world power and would not rest until the enemy had been defeated on its own territory.

This evening French, American and Senegalese troops marched triumphantly down the Champs Elysee to ecstatic cheers of Parisians, young and old.

But celebrations were brought to a swift halt bysniperfire from German troops and French Fascists.

The battle for Paris is not quite over and tonight, as the French 2nd Armoured Division reached the Porte d'Orleans district in the south of Paris, the FFI are still fighting German soldiers and taking prisoners.

Earlier today, Canadian and British forces joined up with American troops on the left bank of the River Seine south of Rouen.

And on the French coast, Honfleur has been captured by the Allies.

In the south of France, Americans have taken Cannes and Grasse, the capital of the Alpes-Maritimes.

Vocabulary:
 

Neptune: a giant planet with a ring of ice particles; the 8th planet from the sun(海王星)

methane: a colorless odorless gas used as a fuel(甲烷;沼气)

astound :to astonish; to strike with amazement(大吃一惊)

martyr: torture or kill like a martyr(杀害;折磨)

sniper: a marksman who shoots at people from a concealed place(阻击兵)

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