美国宇航局的丑闻也恁多了吧！据7月26日最新丑闻披露：一名宇航员在本周四执行飞行任务前醉酒；与此同时，一台将被送往国际太空站的计算机遭人为破坏。2007年可谓美宇航局的灾难年，先是女宇航员因三角恋“追杀”男宇航员女友；后又发生命案，60岁雇员先杀同事后杀自己…… 听着这等揪心事，怎不让高层烦心？怪不得已退休宇航局经理希米尔在谈到最新丑闻时称：“我可以告诉你，这将震惊世界。国会将对此举行听证会。”

Space shuttle Endeavour sits on launch pad 39A after rolling out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida July 11, 2007. A panel has found that astronauts were allowed to fly on at least two occasions despite warnings they were so drunk they posed a flight risk, Aviation Week reported on Thursday on its Web site. REUTERS/Scott Audette Email Photo Print Photo

America's space agency was shaken Thursday by two startling and unrelated reports: One involved claims that astronauts were drunk before flying. The other was news from NASA itself that a worker had sabotaged a computer set for delivery to the international space station.

It was just anotherjoltfor an operation that has had a rocky year from the start, beginning with the arrest of an astronaut accused of attacking a rival in a love triangle.

"It's going to shake up the world, I'll tell you that," retired NASA executive Seymour Himmel said of the latest news. "There will becongressionalhearingsthat you will not be able to avoid."

News of the two latestbombshellsbroke within just a few hours of each other Thursday afternoon.

Aviation Week & Space Technology reported on its Web site that a special panel studying astronaut health found that on two occasions, astronauts were allowed to fly after flight surgeons and other astronauts warned they were so drunk they posed a safety risk.

The independent panel also found "heavy use of alcohol" before launch, the magazine reported, although that drinking was within the standard 12-hour "bottle-to-throttle" rule.

The independent panel reviewing astronaut health and NASA's psychological screening process was created following the arrest in February of former space shuttle flier Lisa Nowak.

Nowak is accused of attacking the girlfriend of a fellow astronaut — her romantic rival — with pepper spray in a parking lot at Orlando International Airport. Fired by NASA in March, she has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault.

The scandal was followed by a freak hailstorm that tore into a space shuttle on the launch pad that set back the year's flight schedule. Then there was a shooting at Johnson Space Center in Houston by an employee who ultimately killed himself.

（Agencies） 

Vocabulary: 

jolt：令人震惊的事，文中指最新披露的两起丑闻

congressional hearings：国会举行的听证会

bombshell：令人震惊的突发事件，可与文中的“jolt”替换

（英语点津陈蓓编辑）