How Much Do You Know About the Red Planet? 你對火星了解多少？

Named after the Roman god of war， Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in our solar system.

Mars is also known as the “Red Planet” because it’s red！ This signature color comes from the large amount of a chemical called iron oxide （or “rust”） in its rocks and soil.

Mars is the second smallest planet in the solar system after Mercury. With a diameter （distance through the middle） of 6，800 kilometers， it’s roughly half the size of Earth.

It can get pretty cold on Mars—much colder than our own planet， since it’s further away from the Sun. At the equator， temperatures can reach 20°C， but at its poles they can plummet to as low as -143°C.

Mars is home to the highest mountain in our solar system—a volcano called Olympus Mons. Standing a whopping 24 kilometers high， it’s about three times the height of Mount Qomolangma！

火星是以羅馬戰神的名字命名的，它是太陽系中的第四顆行星。

火星也被稱為“紅色星球”，因為它是紅色的！這種標志性的顏色來自其巖石和土壤中大量存在的一種化學物質——氧化鐵（或者稱之為“銹”）。

火星是太陽系中第二小的行星，最小的行星是水星。它的直徑（即穿過中心的距離）為6800千米，大約是地球大小的一半。

火星上相當寒冷——比地球要冷得多，因為它距離太陽更遠。赤道地區的溫度可以達到20℃，但在極點的溫度可以降至-143℃。

在太陽系中，火星擁有最高的山峰——一座名為奧林匹斯山的火山。它高達24千米，是珠穆朗瑪峰高度的3倍左右！

You could jump around three times higher on Mars than you can on Earth. This is because the planet’s gravity is much weaker.

Do you like to look at the moon at night？ Well， check this out—Mars has two moons！ One is called Phobos and the other Deimos.

A day on Mars is 24 hours and 37 minutes—only a little bit longer than a day on our own planet. A year on Mars， however， is almost twice as long， lasting 687 Earth days！ This is because it takes a lot longer than Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun.

Years ago， scientists believed that there was no liquid water on the surface of Mars—only rocks， soil dust and ice. But in 2018， they found evidence of a lake under the planet’s south polar ice cap.

Humans have not yet been to Mars， but scientists have sent spacecraft there to help them research this fascinating planet. The first spacecraft to land on Mars were the Viking Landers， which touched down on the surface in 1976.

在火星上你可以跳得比在地球上高出約3倍。這是因為火星的引力要小得多。

你喜歡在晚上看月亮嗎？那么，來看看這個——火星有兩顆衛星！其中一顆叫火衛一（弗伯斯），另一顆叫火衛二（戴摩斯）。

火星上的一天是24小時37分鐘——只比地球上的一天稍長一點。然而，火星上的一年天數幾乎是地球的兩倍，長達687個地球日！這是因為火星繞太陽公轉所需的時間比地球要長得多。

幾年前，科學家們還認為火星表面沒有液態水——只有巖石、土壤塵埃和冰。但在2018年，科學家們在火星南極冰蓋下發現了有湖泊的證據。

人類還沒有去過火星，但科學家們已經向火星發射了宇宙飛船來幫助他們研究這顆迷人的星球。第一艘在火星著陸的宇宙飛船是海盜號探測器，它們于1976年在火星表面著陸。

Word Bank

roughly /'r?fli/ adv. 大約，大致；粗魯地

orbit /'??b?t/ n. 軌道 "v. 環繞……運行

A new satellite has been put into orbit around the Earth.

The Earth takes a year to orbit the Sun.