In ancient times, our ancestors relied on stars to guide them on a clear night. Today, we have navigational systems to help us find our way, with the latest being the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).
古時候，我們的祖先通過觀測晴朗夜空中的星星來指引方向。如今，我們擁有了能夠幫助我們辨路的導(dǎo)航系統(tǒng)，其中最新的技術(shù)便是北斗衛(wèi)星導(dǎo)航系統(tǒng)。

The BDS is entirely built by Chinese engineers. With the launch of the last satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on June 23, the global network of 59 satellites has been completed. On July 31, Beidou started providing full-scale global services. It’s difficult to imagine the great impact those satellites, orbiting the Earth, have on our daily lives.
北斗衛(wèi)星導(dǎo)航系統(tǒng)完全由中國工程師研發(fā)建設(shè)。6月23日，隨著最后一顆組網(wǎng)衛(wèi)星于西昌衛(wèi)星發(fā)射中心成功發(fā)射，由59顆衛(wèi)星組成的全球網(wǎng)絡(luò)全部部署完成。7月31日，北斗衛(wèi)星導(dǎo)航系統(tǒng)開始提供全方位的全球服務(wù)。很難想象，這些圍繞地球運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)的衛(wèi)星對我們的日常生活產(chǎn)生了重大影響。

When you unlock one of Hellobike’s bicycles, you are using the BDS. The popular bike-sharing company came out with two new bike models this year that are equipped with the positioning service. “The intelligent lock on each bike receives Beidou satellite signals and sends positioning information to the data center, which will help collect big data on the bikes and estimate users’ riding demands in advance according to the data,” Chu Yiqun, a manager of Hellobike told Xinhua News Agency. Users can also find shared bikes more accurately thanks to Beidou’s global positioning accuracy of 2.34 meters.
當(dāng)你解鎖一輛哈啰單車時，你便在使用北斗衛(wèi)星導(dǎo)航系統(tǒng)。這家廣受歡迎的共享單車公司今年推出了兩款配有定位服務(wù)的全新單車車型?！懊枯v單車上的智能鎖能夠接收北斗衛(wèi)星的信號，并將定位信息發(fā)送至數(shù)據(jù)中心，數(shù)據(jù)中心將收集單車的大數(shù)據(jù)，并根據(jù)數(shù)據(jù)提前預(yù)測用戶的騎行需求，”哈啰單車經(jīng)理褚軼群在接受新華社采訪時如此表示。由于北斗系統(tǒng)全球?qū)崪y定位精度均值為2.34米，用戶們也能更準(zhǔn)確地找到共享單車的位置。

However, the BDS doesn’t just work one way. As the country’s largest space-based system and one of four global navigation networks, along with the United States’ GPS, Russia’s GLONASS and the European Union’s Galileo, Beidou adopts a unique two-way communication system, including its ability to receive messages sent by people from areas with poor communication signals. Obviously, this exclusive function isn’t designed for users to chat online. Instead, it plays a role when disasters occur and communications are blocked.
但北斗系統(tǒng)并非只提供單向服務(wù)。作為我國最大的航天系統(tǒng)，也是全球四大導(dǎo)航系統(tǒng)之一（其余三個分別為美國全球定位系統(tǒng)、俄羅斯格洛納斯、歐洲伽利略），北斗系統(tǒng)采用了一種特有的雙向通信系統(tǒng)，能夠接收通訊信號欠佳地區(qū)的人們發(fā)送的信息。顯然，這一獨(dú)有的功能并非是用于讓用戶線上聊天，而是在災(zāi)難發(fā)生、通訊受阻時發(fā)揮作用。

After the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, all ground-based communication facilities were interrupted. Though the first generation of Beidou could only send 120 characters in a single message at that time, communication between affected areas and rescue centers was successful. Now, Beidou’s messaging capacity has been increased to 1,200 Chinese characters in a single message. It is widely used in disaster alarms, automatic identification and information release.
2008年汶川地震后，所有地面通訊設(shè)施都被迫中斷。盡管第一代北斗系統(tǒng)當(dāng)時一次只能發(fā)送120字，但受災(zāi)地區(qū)與救援中心成功實(shí)現(xiàn)了通信。如今，北斗系統(tǒng)的短報文通信能力提升到一次1200個漢字，被廣泛應(yīng)用于災(zāi)難預(yù)警、自動識別以及信息發(fā)布。

As Sun Jiadong, former chief designer of the BDS said: “The application of Beidou is only limited by imagination.”
正如北斗衛(wèi)星導(dǎo)航系統(tǒng)前任總設(shè)計師孫家棟院士所言：“北斗的應(yīng)用只受人類想象力的限制?！?/span>

以上文章內(nèi)容選自《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報高中版》，詳情請見《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報高中版》高三719期