内容提要：1962年，第一台人造通讯卫星发射成功，它用时15分钟从法国将电视图片传送至美国。
Seeing live coverage覆盖范围 of events all around the world is a common sight on television. Forty years ago, this was not possible. That is because a TV signal travels out in a straight line. It does not follow the curve曲线 of the earth. Relay stations 中继站 on land can catch the signal and send it on to another station. But there was no way to send the signal across an ocean.
Starting in the 1940s, the idea of putting satellites in space was being studied. The satellite would receive the signal from a ground station. It would then send it to another ground station, even across the ocean. From there, relay stations would send the signal to people"s TV screens.
The first successful satellite was launched on July 10, 1962. It was called Telstar通信卫星. A giant antenna 天线 was built near Andover, Maine. It locked onto锁定 Telstar when its shifting移动的 orbit reached the right position. Minutes later, the first television pictures were sent across the Atlantic. The signals were received in France. The next day, France sent pictures to the United States.
The first transmissions传输 lasted only about 15 minutes at a time. That was because Telstar would move away from the direct line of the sending and receiving stations.
The next step was to program用程序指令 a satellite that would move at the same speed as the earth"s rotation旋转. That way it would always remain above the same point on the surface of the earth.
By the early 1970s, satellites were placed to reach almost every area of the earth. The world became truly connected.
本文内容选自上海外语教育出版社引进出版的《听读美国小故事》第7册（7月）。如需购买，可到当当、亚马逊、京东等网上书城去看看。
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