First, to the moon. Things have not gone as planned in a recent mission by India to make a soft landing on the lunar surface. A soft landing means a spacecraft has a slow, controlled descent. And spacecraft from only three countries — the United States, China and the former Soviet Union — have ever done this. India's attempt to become the fourth country in that club probably ended in failure over the weekend. We say probably because scientists aren't sure yet what happened. There are three components to its mission — an orbiter to circle the moon, a lander to touch down on it and a rover attached to the lander.

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On Saturday, the lander was descending towards the moons surface — it was a little more than a mile above it — when contact was lost. Scientists don't know yet how hard it hit the moon, how bad the damage might be or whether the instruments aboard can still get some work done. They have located it but they're still trying to get a signal from it. Even if it's destroyed though, the mission isn't a total loss. The orbiter is still doing its job circling the moon. Its mission is to map the moon's surface and to study its atmosphere. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the mission control room when contact with the lander was lost. He said, in life, there are ups and downs but that India is still proud of its scientists and their hard work.

参考译文：

首先前往月球。印度计划在月球表面进行软着陆，但这项任务并未按计划完成。软着陆指宇宙飞船以缓慢可控的速度着陆。目前只有三个国家的宇宙飞船实现过软着陆，这三个国家分别是：美国、中国和前苏联。印度希望成为第四个实现月球表面软着陆的国家，而其在上周末的尝试可能以失败告终。我们用“可能”这个词是因为，目前科学家还未确定具体情况。印度的登月任务包括三个环节：轨道飞行器绕月飞行、着陆器在月球着陆、探测器连接到该着陆器上。

上周六，着陆器准备在月球表面着陆，但其在距离月球表面略多于一英里时失联。目前科学家还未确定其撞击月球的力度、可能造成的损害程度或其搭载的仪器能否继续完成工作。他们已经确定了着陆器的位置，但仍在试图接收其传出的信号。即使着陆器坠毁，这项任务也并非完全失败。轨道飞行器仍在绕月飞行。其任务是绘制月球表面地图并研究月球大气。着陆器失联时，印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪就在任务控制室。他表示，生活中有起起伏伏，印度依然为科学家和他们的辛勤工作感到骄傲。

重点讲解：

1. touch down 降落；着陆；

Spacecraft Columbia touched down yesterday.

“哥伦比亚”号宇宙飞船昨天着陆。

2. even if 即使；尽管；纵然；

People can sit in on meetings, even if it's not really in their subject area.

即使不在其研究专题范围之内，人们也可以列席会议。

3. ups and downs 兴衰；浮沉；起落；悲欢；

Every relationship has a lot of ups and downs.

每一段感情都有许多起伏。

4. be proud of 骄傲的；自豪的；得意的；

His father was quite naturally very proud of him.

他父亲自然为他感到无比骄傲。