Yuri Gargarin' was born on 9th March, 1934, in a village near Smolensk2 in former Soviet Union. His father was a village woodworker. The family had an unhappy life during the Second World War. Their part was the scene of hard fighting. At one time the German Army occupied3 the country round Yuri's home. The older children were sent away to work in Germany. Luckily Yuri was too small to work and he stayed with his parents. Most of the time they were cold and hungry. Sometimes they only had grass to eat.
At last the Germans were driven out and the war was won. Life began again. A new village school was built and Yuri learnt to read. Soon his teachers saw that he was becoming a good scientist. He was sent to Moscow to a special school where he trained as a metal-worker4.
Young Yuri wanted to fly. He joined a flying school in Moscow. He had the right character5 for flying. He was calm, quick and determined6. Soon he became a very good pilot7. At last he joined the Soviet air force, where he could make the most of8 his knowledge of flying.
Soviet space scientists were then looking for young men who could become astronauts9. Yuri Gargarin determined to become one of these. He was examined very closely, day after day. Every day he had to answer the questions of scientists, doctors and other air force officers. Only the best young men were chosen. But Yuri satisfied the men who examined him. He was accepted10 for astronaut training.
Training astronauts is long and difficult. An astronaut must be both a pilot and a scientist. He needs a strong mind and a healthy body and a good character. His teachers do not only teach him his work. They try to make his mind sharper and his body harder. Yuri learned very quickly. He had a good memory, good sense11 and good judgment12. He was chosen for special training.
In the early morning of 12th April, 1961, Yuri Gargarin was woken by the doctor. He had a special breakfast and was helped into his big, orange space-suit. Two hours later he was fixed into his seat in the small cabin13 on top of the Vostok 114 rocket15. The complete spaceship was 125 feet high. There were, in fact, three rockets for lifting the astronaut into space. Each rocket was going to use all its power and fuel16. Then it was going to drop away17 in space, leaving the next rocket to go higher.
There were some anxious18 moments while everyone waited for the rocket to take off19 from the Earth. Only Yuri did not seem anxious. He said later that he could smell spring fields in his cabin. It was a happy memory to take into space.
An hour later the journey started. Vostok 1 rose slowly off its “pad”20 —the place from which spaceships are fired into the air.
“How splendid21!” Yuri cried as the spaceship climbed higher and higher and the whole world appeared beneath22 him. “I see the Earth, forests, clouds...” His spaceship was traveling at seventeen thousand miles an hour (17,000 m.p.h.). He passed over Soviet Union, India, Australia and the Pacific Ocean. Vostok 1 was now in orbit23, circling round the Earth. Gargarin became weightless24.The experience was not uncomfortable. He had work to do and instruments25 to control. Being weightless did not stop him doing his work. He did not seem anxious or unhappy at any time. Now we are not surprised by this. Many other astronauts have followed Yuri Gargarin into space. We know they all work well and calmly. But Gargarin was the first astronaut. People were excited by the news that a man could think clearly and quickly in space. Yuri's movements were not slow or unsure. He did not lack26 any of the common sense he showed on Earth. People saw that men did not change when they went into space. This was not one of the dangers of space travel.
Yuri Gargarin's flight was not long. He only went two hundred miles high and he came back to Earth in one hour and forty-eight minutes. The rockets slowing the spaceship's fall were fired over Africa. Gargarin looked at the bright light outside his window as the smooth metal shield27 of the spaceship began to melt28. That shield was his only protection. Was the whole cabin going to melt? But Gargarin knew that pilotless spaceships had been sent into space and had returned safely. He was not anxious.
At eleven o'clock in the morning the first astronaut landed by parachute29 near a village. He was six miles away from the landing place where scientists were waiting to recover Vostok 1. An old village woman and her daughter milking a cow were there to welcome Yuri Gargarin.
This brave man was killed later in an accident while flying near his home. He never went into space again. But his name will always be remembered in the history of man. He had proved that men could safely visit space. He had led the way with courage.
Scientists everywhere were pleased at this proof of their ideas. Soon another Soviet astronaut followed Yuri Gargarin into space. Herman Titov in Vostok 2 circled the Earth in orbit seventeen times. He was in space for twenty-five hours. A year later Major30 Nikolayev in Vostok 3 and Colonel31 Popovich in Vostok 4 traveled in orbit near each other. They were practicing for the moment when astronauts were going to meet in space, moving from one spaceship to another. They guided32 their spaceships together. Now astronauts were controlling their spaceships like the pilots of aeroplanes.
There were more experiments. The first woman astronaut, Valentian Tareshkov33, took Vostok 6 into space in June, 1963. She later married Major Nikolayev, beginning the first real astronaut family!
Another success was sending the first crew into space. A larger spaceship called Voshkod 134 carried a crew of three men. They could live inside their cabin without heavy suits or helmets35. A crew could do more work than one man.
In March, 1965, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov took the big Voshkod 2 into orbit. This time Leonov actually got out of the spaceship and “walked” or floated36 in space. Men were really beginning to feel free above the clouds.
Meanwhile American scientists were also making bigger and better spaceships. The first American to orbit the Earth in space was Colonel John Glenn in Mercury 437 on 20th February, 1962. A lot of facts are always given during the American journeys into space. Soon the whole world was watching the actual journeys on television. The anxious moments before the spaceships left their pad were shared by millions of people. In June, 1964, people all over the world shared the excitement of watching Edward White walk in space for twenty minutes. People sitting safely in their homes on Earth were speechless as they watched a man floating in space. Only a thin rope held him firm. Everyone could see that the scientists and the astronauts were succeeding together.
President Kennedy of America described the first journeys in orbit round the Earth as “practice runs before the great voyage38 begins”. The spaceships were improving. They could stay in space longer and move from one orbit to another. They could carry larger crews and these crews were learning their work and proving their characters.
What character is needed for this work?
Astronauts must be calm and firm at all times, especially during long hours of danger. Men who enjoy risks are not wanted. There is plenty of danger in space. Astronauts must always look for safety, not for risks. But they must be able to act quickly when action is necessary. They must also show good judgment and common sense so that they can do the right thing after an accident.
Crews of two or three men must live together as friendly companions. Bad temper39 is usually a danger when people live in a small space. But astronauts must always be on good terms with each other. A quarrel can be dangerous. Men who can control their tempers are wanted in space. If they are always ready to forgive40 and to help each other, the journey in space can be happy and safe.
All astronauts, of course, must be strong and healthy. Working in space can make a man very tired. It is not easy to be weightless for many days. Everything has to be pulled or pushed into its place. Walking is hard work. Any weakness in a man is soon recognized. If a man is not completely healthy he will not be allowed to go into space.
The astronauts must also be good pilots, engineers, scientists and explorers41. They are helped by all the instruments that science can provide42. But they must use these instruments well. Even the best instrument sometimes fails. Then, in terrible danger, the astronaut will have to take control of himself. Unexpected things happen. An astronaut must have the knowledge and courage to control the spaceship.
Courage, of course, is an important part of an astronaut's character. He would not choose this life without courage. Perhaps the first astronauts needed a little more courage than their descendants43 will need. Everything was new and unknown to them. Unfamiliar44 risks are worse than familiar risks. Men like Gargarin and Glenn were facing unknown dangers alone. Anybody now in space travels with a group of companions. Danger is not so dreadful45 among friends, and men do not become so tired.
Now we have more knowledge. Great journeys have already been taken in space. Greater journeys will follow. Men are more excited by the future than by the past. But we shall always respect and admire the great men whose courage led the way to the moon.
1． Yuri Gargarin 尤里·加加林（人类第一位太空人）
2． Smolensk n． 斯摩棱斯克（白俄罗斯首府）
3． occupy v． 占, 占领
4． metal－worker n． 冶金工人
5． character n． (人的)品质, 性格, 素质
6． determined adj． 坚决的, 决定了的
7． pilot n． 飞行员
8． make the most of 充分利用
9． astronaut n． 太空人, 宇航员
10． accept v． 接受, 认可
11． sense [sens] n． 感觉
12． judgement n． 判断力
13． cabin n． 机舱，舱位
14． Vostok 1：“东方一号”
15． rocket n． 火箭
16． fuel n． 燃料
17． drop away 离开
18． anxious adj． 渴望的, 盼望的
19． take off 起飞，离开
20． pad n．（火箭的）发射台
21． splendid adj． 壮丽的, 辉煌的
22． beneath prep． 在．．．．．．之下
23． orbit n． 轨道
24． weightless adj． 无重量的, 无重力的
25． instrument n． 器械
26． lack v． 缺乏, 没有
27． shield n． 防护物, 护罩
28． melt [melt] v． 融化, 熔化
29．parachute n． 降落伞
30．major n． 少校
31．colonel n． 上校
32．guide [gaid] v． 指导, 操纵
33．Valentian Tareshkov 瓦连金娜·捷列什科娃（第一位女太空人）
34．Voshkod 1: “升天一号”
35．helmet n． 头盔, 钢盔
36．float v． 浮动, 飘浮
37．Mercury 4: “水星四号”
38．voyage n． 航程
39． temper n． 性情, 脾气
40． forgive v． 原谅, 饶恕
41． explorer n． 探险家
42． provide v． 供应, 供给
43． descendant n． 子孙, 后裔
44． unfamiliar adj． 新奇的, 不熟悉的
45． dreadful adj． 可怕的