英语美文名人励志故事25:莱特兄弟发明飞机的故事
25. The Wright Brothers, Inventors of the Airplane
25. 莱特兄弟——飞机发明家
The Wright brothers, namely, Orville Wright (1871—1948) and Wilbur Wright (1867—1912) invented the first safe, successful airplane. But their first flight, on December 17, 1903, was not great news. Nothing appeared in the newspaper on that day. A few days later, short items began to appear in newspapers across the country, but no one seemed very interested or impressed.
莱特兄弟名为奥维尔·莱特(1871一1948)和威尔伯·莱特(1867-1912)成功友明了第一架安全可靠的飞机。但是他们在1903年12 月17日的首次飞行并不是那么理想。在那天的报纸上没有出现与此有关的任何新闻。几天后，流通全国的报纸上开始出现一些简单的报道，但是没有任何一个看起来是那么有趣或者能够令人印象深刻。
Orville Wright took the "Flyer I" up in the air and flew it for 12 seconds. Wilbur Wright took turns with his brother flying their airplane. The next two flights lasted twice as long as the first one. On the fourth flight that day, the airplane stayed in the air for 59 seconds. After it landed, a sudden gust of wind tipped the plane over. "Flyer I" was badly damaged. The first successful airplane was never flown again.
奥维尔·某特驾驶“飞行器1号”在高空中飞行了12秒。威尔伯·莱特和他弟弟轮流驾驶飞机。接下来的两次飞行持续的时间大概是第一次飞行的两倍。那天的第四次飞行，飞机在空中停留了59秒。在它着陆后，一阵突如其来的风吹翻了飞机。“飞行器1号”严重受损。这架第一个成功飞行的飞机从此再也没有飞起来过。
Louis Bleriot flew across the English Channel in 1909 He flew from France to England in a Bleriot XI monoplane which had only one set of wings. His flight was historic. He proved that people from different countries could now visit each other fairly early.
路易斯·布雷里奥在1909年飞越了英吉利海峡。他乘坐一架布雷里奥五号羊翼机从法国飞往英国。他的飞行具有历史性的意义。他证明了在不同国家的人们可以彼此更早一些见面。
The first woman pilot was Baroness de la Roche. She made her flight in 1908. Two years later, she received a pilot's license.
第一位女飞行员是贝罗尼丝·德拉罗什。她在1908年进行了第一次飞行。两年后，她拿到了飞行员资格证。
