文/By+Michael+Bartiromo+译/袁瑞

On July 16， 1969， astronauts Buzz Aldrin， Neil Armstrong， and Michael Collins left Earth in Apollo 11. A few days later on July 20， man took his first steps on the moon. Frankly， we're still amazed at how they pulled it off1）.

1969年7月16日，宇航员巴兹·奥尔德林、尼尔·阿姆斯特朗和迈克尔·柯林斯乘坐“阿波罗11号”离开地球。几天之后的7月20日，人类在月球上迈出了第一步。坦白说，我们现在对他们的成功仍感到惊奇。

1. Neil Armstrong's famous quote was incorrectly transmitted. Instead of saying， "That's one small step for man，" the astronaut claims he said， "That's one small step for a man." As he once clarified to a biographer： "I think that reasonable people will realize that I didn't intentionally make an inane2） statement and that certainly the 'a' was intended， because that's the only way the statement makes any sense."

2. President Nixon was prepared for the worst， as was his speechwriter William Safire. Safire put together a tribute3） to the Apollo 11 astronauts just in case they never made it home. "In ancient days， men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations4），" the president would have read in one of the speech's poignant5） lines. "In modern times， we do much the same， but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood."

3. Neil Armstrong couldn't afford the life insurance policy for an astronaut， so he， along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins， made an alternate plan. Prior to their mission， the three signed hundreds of autographs6） while under quarantine7）. They then sent these autographs off to a friend， who would postmark them on the date of Apollo 11's launch， and in the event of a tragedy， the friend would distribute the memorabilia8） to the astronauts' families for them to sell for money.

4. The Apollo 11 mission insignia9） was designed by crew member Michael Collins. On astronaut Jim Lovell's advice， he chose an eagle preparing to land on the surface of the moon with an olive branch in its beak. NASA， however， felt the eagle's talons10） looked too aggressive， so Collins resubmitted the design with the eagle holding the olive branch in its claws.

5. Upon entering the lunar module11） to begin their journey home， Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong discovered that a switch on a crucial circuit breaker12） was broken， leaving them without a way to ignite the engine. They tried to sleep while NASA's mission control worked out a solution， but Aldrin eventually decided to jam his felt-tip pen13） into the mechanism to use as a make-shift switch， and it worked.

6. According to the astronauts who landed there， the moon has a smell. After tracking moon dust back into the lunar module and removing their helmets， astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin thought the lunar materials smelled of "wet ashes in a fireplace" and "gunpowder"， respectively. But back here on Earth， our oxygen-rich atmosphere renders the moon dust odor-free.endprint

1. 尼尔·阿姆斯特朗的那句名言当年被人传错了。这名宇航员声称，他当时说的并非“这是人类迈出的一小步”，而是“这是一个人迈出的一小步”。正如他曾经向一位传记作者澄清的那样：“我想明理的人都会认识到我不会故意说一句蠢话，‘一个这个词当然是我本来就要说的，因为唯有这么说这句话才有意义。”

2. 尼克松总统当时做了最坏的打算，他的演讲稿撰稿人威廉·萨菲尔也是如此。萨菲尔写了一篇悼念“阿波罗11号”宇航员的颂词，以备万一他们再也无法返回家园时使用。“古时候，人们仰望星空，在星座当中看到了他们的英雄，”总统原本会朗诵的演讲稿中有这样一句痛彻心扉的文字，“在现代，我们做着几乎同样的事情，但是我们的英雄却是有着血肉之躯的伟大人物。”

3. 尼尔·阿姆斯特朗无力为自己买一份宇航员人寿保险单，所以他跟巴兹·奥尔德林和迈克尔·柯林斯一起制定了一个备用计划。在执行任务之前的隔离期间，这三个人签了几百张亲笔签名。然后他们把这些签名寄给了一个朋友，这个朋友会在“阿波罗11号”发射当天给这些签名盖上邮戳。如果悲剧发生，这个朋友就会把这些具有纪念意义的签名分发给三位宇航员的家属，让他们拿去卖钱。

4. “阿波罗11号”的任务徽章是由登月成员迈克尔·柯林斯设计的。根据宇航员吉姆·洛弗尔的建议，柯林斯选择了一只准备在月球表面着陆的鹰，鹰的嘴里还叼着一根橄榄枝，作为设计图案。然而美国宇航局觉得鹰的爪子看起来太具攻击性，所以柯林斯重新提交了一份设计图案，让鹰的双爪抓着那根橄榄枝。

5. 在进入登月舱开启回家之旅时，巴兹·奥尔德林和尼尔·阿姆斯特朗发现一个起关键作用的断路器上的开关坏了，致使他们完全无法启动发动机。在美国宇航局的航天地面指挥中心研究解决方案期间，他们曾试图靠睡觉来打发时间，但是奥尔德林最后决定把他的毡头笔塞进机器中作为临时开关，而它居然起作用了。

6. 据登上月球的宇航员说，月球是有味道的。他们回到登月舱，脚上沾的月尘也给带了进去，摘下头盔之后，宇航员尼尔·阿姆斯特朗和巴兹·奥尔德林分别认为月球上的物质闻起来有“壁炉里潮湿的灰烬”和“火药”的味道。但是返回地球后，我们富含氧气的大气层使月尘的味道消失殆尽。

1. pull it off： <口>做成，成功

2. inane [??ne?n] adj. 愚蠢的；傻的；无聊的

3. tribute [?tr?bju?t] n. 颂词；（表示敬意的）礼物

4. constellation [?k?nst??le??n] n. 星座

5. poignant [?p??nj?nt] adj. 令人痛苦的，惨痛的

6. autograph [???t?ɡrɑ?f] n. 亲笔；（尤指名人的）亲笔签名

7. quarantine [?kw?r?nti?n] n. 隔离期

8. memorabilia [?mem?r??b?li?] n. 值得纪念的事物；纪念品

9. insignia [?n?s?ɡni?] n. 徽章

10. talon [?t?l?n] n. [常作～s] （鸟、兽、尤指猛禽的）爪

11. module [?m?dju?l] n. 【空】（航天器的）舱

12. circuit breaker： 【电】断路器，断路开关

13. felt-tip pen： （书写标签等用的）毡制粗头笔endprint