Cette série de conversations en anglais suit une famille qui part en voyage aux États-Unis. Allez avec elle à la découverte des passe-temps et de l’histoire associés aux lieux qu’elle visite. Ces conversations s’adressent à des personnes ayant un niveau d’anglais intermédiaire, voire plus avancé.

Si vous voulez suivre toute la leçon exclusivement en anglais, cliquez ici.

En tournée à Huntsville, dans l’Alabama, la famille visite le centre de vol spatial Marshall de la NASA.

Cliquez sur le lien audio et écoutez la conversation tout en la lisant ci-dessous. Les mots importants sont expliqués à la fin, en anglais, de façon à favoriser une immersion totale dans la langue. Certains sont suivis d’une brève traduction ou explication en français.

 


Claudine: I thought NASA was in Florida, not Alabama.

Gina: NASA is in Florida as well, at the Kennedy Space Center, but the Marshall Space Flight Center is the largest NASA center.

Sam: And what do they do here?

Gina: For starters, they design and build engines, vehicles and instruments.

Paul: And the things they build make space exploration possible.

Gina: And it’s home to the most powerful rocket ever designed.

Paul: This is a place that enables scientific discovery related to space!

Un peu de vocabulaire

NASA is an acronym for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is a U.S. government organization that organizes travel into space and does research about space. An acronym is a word formed from the first letter of each word in a phrase.

Space is the area beyond the Earth’s atmosphere where there are other planets, stars, etc.

For starters is an informal phrase that means first of all or to start with. (Pour commencer)

A vehicle is a machine that is used to carry people or things from one place to another. A space vehicle (or spacecraft) is a machine that carries people or things from Earth to space.

An instrument is a tool or device that is used for a particular purpose, especially for scientific work.

Space exploration is travel through space to learn more about it and discover new stars, etc.

A rocket is a spacecraft shaped like a tube. Fuel is burned and expelled out of the rear, sending the vehicle forward. (Une fusée)

Enable means to make it possible for someone to do something. (Donner à quelqu’un la possibilité de faire quelque chose; ici : favoriser, faciliter)

Scientific discovery is the process of asking questions to gain information related to the natural world and find something new. (La méthode scientifique)

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