美國宇航局的丑聞也恁多了吧！據7月26日最新丑聞披露：一名宇航員在本周四執行飛行任務前醉酒；與此同時，一臺將被送往國際太空站的計算機遭人為破壞。2007年可謂美宇航局的災難年，先是女宇航員因三角戀“追殺”男宇航員女友；后又發生命案，60歲雇員先殺同事后殺自己…… 聽著這等揪心事，怎不讓高層煩心？怪不得已退休宇航局經理希米爾在談到最新丑聞時稱：“我可以告訴你，這將震驚世界。國會將對此舉行聽證會。”

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：令人震驚的事，文中指最新披露的兩起丑聞

congressional hearings：國會舉行的聽證會

bombshell：令人震驚的突發事件，可與文中的“jolt”替換

（英語點津陳蓓編輯）