“Hello, everyone! Welcome to Tiangong Class.” With this greeting, a special lecture began on Tiangong space station about 400 kilometers above Earth on Dec 9.
“各位同學(xué)，大家好！歡迎來到天宮課堂?！卑殡S著一句問好，12月9日，在距地球400公里的天宮空間站上，一節(jié)別開生面的“太空課”開講了。

Lasting for about an hour, the space lecture was broadcast live to millions of students. Three astronauts from the Shenzhou XIII crew – Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu – hosted the lecture, demonstrating how they live and work on the space station and conducting some interesting experiments that can only be done in space.
天宮課堂第一課持續(xù)了大約一個(gè)小時(shí)，面向全球現(xiàn)場直播。神舟十三號乘組航天員翟志剛、王亞平、葉光富進(jìn)行太空授課，展示了中國空間站工作生活場景，并演示了一些只有在太空才能進(jìn)行的有趣實(shí)驗(yàn)。

This is the second live space lecture in China. In 2013, with the assistance of two other Shenzhou X crew members, Wang delivered the country’s first live space lecture to over 60 million schoolchildren across China.
這是中國第二次太空授課直播。2013年，在神舟十號另外兩位航天員的協(xié)助下，王亞平為全國6000多萬名學(xué)生進(jìn)行了中國首次太空授課直播。

More space to teach
授課空間更開闊

Compared with the class eight years ago, this year’s space lecture is greatly different. According to Pang Zhihao, a Beijing-based space expert, the “classroom” is bigger. Instead of Tiangong I experimental module, this year Wang delivered the space lecture in the Tianhe space core module, which is the biggest spacecraft developed by China. According to Xinhua, the launch of Tianhe signifies that China’s space station construction has entered the full implementation stage.
與8年前的課堂相比，今年的天宮課堂有很大的不同。北京航天專家龐之浩表示，這次“教室”更大了。今年，王亞平不是在天宮一號實(shí)驗(yàn)艙教學(xué)，而是在天和核心艙進(jìn)行太空授課，該核心艙是中國研制的最大航天器。據(jù)新華社報(bào)道，天和核心艙發(fā)射成功，標(biāo)志著中國空間站建造進(jìn)入全面實(shí)施階段。

Technological development
技術(shù)進(jìn)步

The quality of space to ground interaction and communication is also much improved.
天地互聯(lián)互通的質(zhì)量大大提高。

The space lecture eight years ago sometimes faced the challenges of the video freezing and an unclear picture, but this year’s lecture is different.
8年前，太空授課有時(shí)會(huì)遭遇視頻卡頓、圖像模糊等挑戰(zhàn)，但今年的太空授課大不相同。

With the help of China’s Tianlian relay satellites, the transmission speed has been highly increased and the whole live broadcast has run smoothly.
在中國天鏈中繼衛(wèi)星的幫助下，（信號）傳輸速度大大提高，整場直播順利進(jìn)行。

According to Xinhua, these changes show that Chinese aerospace industry has made great strides in the past eight years.
據(jù)新華社報(bào)道，這些變化表明中國航天工業(yè)在過去的八年里取得了長足進(jìn)步。

Bigger curriculum
授課內(nèi)容更廣泛

Along with the technological progress, this year’s space lecture discussed more disciplines of science. Eight years ago, Wang showed students the laws of physics and focused on the interesting phenomenon of weightlessness in space. But this year, biology was added. The astronauts compared the growth and shape of cells in artificial gravity and zero gravity, so as to study their changing rules and mechanisms.
隨著技術(shù)進(jìn)步，今年的太空授課涉及了更多學(xué)科。8年前，王亞平向?qū)W生們展示了物理定律，著重演示了太空中失重的有趣現(xiàn)象。但今年，授課中加入了生物學(xué)。航天員們比較了人工重力和零重力環(huán)境下細(xì)胞的生長和形狀，研究了細(xì)胞的變化規(guī)律和機(jī)制。

Though these space lectures showed various topics, the aim behind the lectures has never changed. According to China Daily, the space lectures aim to “spread knowledge about manned spaceflights and spark enthusiasm for science among young people”.
雖然太空授課的主題多種多樣，但目的始終如一。據(jù)《中國日報(bào)》報(bào)道，太空授課旨在“傳播載人航天知識，激發(fā)廣大青少年對科學(xué)的興趣”。

“The spirit of science in the youth is an important driver of the progress of mankind,” Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China’s manned space program, added. “Space activities can help them build the spirit of pursuing science and facing challenges.”
“青少年的科學(xué)精神是人類進(jìn)步的動(dòng)力。”中國載人航天工程總設(shè)計(jì)師周建平補(bǔ)充說，“航天活動(dòng)可以為青少年樹立這樣一種理念：愛科學(xué)、學(xué)科學(xué)并勇于面對科學(xué)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)?！?/span>

以上文章內(nèi)容選自《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》，詳情請見《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》高三766期