11-26-07

中国接收到嫦娥一号首批月表照片 (China Receives its First Images of Moon's Surface)

中国星期一举行仪式，公布“嫦娥一号”探月卫星传回的第一组月球照片，这标志着这枚卫星月球表面探测使命的正式开始。中国总理温家宝在北京航天飞行控制中心举行的仪式上发表讲话，盛赞“嫦娥一号”的成功，并说这是中华民族千年奔月的梦想成真。

中国10月发射了这枚探月卫星。中国希望“嫦娥一号”能在明年年初之前探测整个月球表面。官方的新华社网站上登载的一张照片显示了灰色的月球表面，上面布满了陨石坑。中国希望在2012年以前发射无人登月探测器，然后还要把人送上月球。

China unveiled the first images of the moon captured by its lunar satellite at a ceremony Monday, marking the formal start of its mission to document the lunar landscape. Speaking at a ceremony at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center today, Premier Wen Jiabao hailed the Chang'e one's accomplishment as a major step in the "Chinese race's thousand year-old dream" of exploring the moon. 

China hopes the probe, which was launched late October, will survey the entire surface of the moon by early next year. A picture posted on the official Xinhua news agency Web site showed the gray surface of the moon splotched with craters. China hopes to land an unmanned rover on the moon's surface by 2012 and later put a man on the moon.

日本声称反对声浪不会阻其捕鲸 (Japan Says Opposition Will not Halt Whale Hunt)

日本为在南极海洋捕鲸的计划进行辩护，表示来自反对捕鲸国的阻力阻止不了它所说的“捕鲸研究项目”。美国、澳大利亚和新西兰都敦促日本停止捕鲸。不过，澳大利亚一直发出反对日本捕鲸的最强烈声音。星期六赢得议会选举的澳大利亚工党呼吁针对日本的捕鲸采取更强硬的行动。

日本政府发言人星期一对媒体说，日本不可能突然改变自己的项目。日本说，日本需要捕杀鲸类，以便研究它们的繁殖和捕食规律。日本还说，日本捕杀的鲸类数量很少，不会威胁到它们的总数目。每次捕猎之后，鲸肉会被出售。

Japan is defending its plans to hunt whales in the Antarctic Ocean and says opposition from anti-whaling nations will not stop what it calls a "research whaling program." The United States, Australia and New Zealand have all urged Japan to call off the hunt, but Australia has been one of Tokyo's most vocal opponents. Australia's Labor Party, which won parliamentary elections Saturday, has called for tougher action against Japan's whaling. 

A Japanese government spokesman told reporters Monday that it could not change its program abruptly. Japan says it needs to kill whales to conduct research on their reproductive and feeding patterns, and says the number it kills is too small to endanger their populations. The whale meat is sold after the hunt.