Flying:Dream and Reality(在线收听

 

 

(Movie Toy Story: To infinity and beyond!)

Oh, to be free as a bird. It’s been the 1)stuff of fantasy, and of reality. Sort of. 2)A self-contained flying man. This jet pack from the 1960s had barely enough fuel to fly 30 seconds. So the dream 3)languished for decades. Everyone agreed it was completely impractical, except Michael Moshier.

Michael Moshier: The pilot controls the 4)flaps with the right-hand 5)control stick.

Moshier, a former Navy-pilot-turned-entrepreneur, has spent the last 5 years of his life working in secret designing a tiny twin 6)blade strap on helicopter called The Solotrek.

He said he finally made his first cautious test flight only two feet up at first. But to Moshier, two feet up was like being in heaven.

Michael Moshier: It was 7)exhilarating beyond description. I will tell you that I didn’t sleep that night or for several nights thereafter. It was just a monumental experience.

With a little more work, he says, the machine will 8)zip around the treetops at 80mph, stabilized by computers. He can picture the army using it to get over 9)rugged 10)terrain, police on search and rescue missions, and if an occasional daredevil wants to beat traffic, well, Moshier believes a pilot who can walk and chew gum with minimal training should be able to get on the aircraft and fly it safely and suitably. There’s just this one 11)nagging question, the machine will fly, but will the idea? True, Moshier has help from the Defense Department and from NASA, but won’t the machine be noisy or dangerous or hard to park?

Jeffrey Schroeder(NASA scientist): I think we can do it but it would be expensive. The challenge is to make it so that it has more of a mass appeal.

Perhaps we are only destined to dream of only flying without wings and never do it. On the other hand, Michael Moshier was two feet up.

 

12) Supersonic Jet

A test launch of what Japanese scientists hope will be the next generation of supersonic jet has failed spectacularly, 13)spiraling in the sky and crashing onto the Australian desert. The super jet was a 14)scale model of the plane that would be able to fly as fast as the Concord, with twice the range and triple the capacity. But it 15)dodged back to earth shortly after takeoff. Scientists sponsored by Japan’s government funded national aerospace laboratory, spent the last 6 months preparing to test it. Despite the crash they said, they would continue to work on the project and plan another test. CE

20、飞翔的梦想与现实

 

(电影《玩具总动员》:飞向无限!)

啊,像小鸟一样自由自在。这一直都是人类的幻想,同时我们也要面对现实,至少有一点儿吧。这是一个可以自我操控的飞人,这个飞行器产于二十世纪六十年代,它的全部油料最多只够飞行30秒种。就这样,几十年来这个梦想被搁置起来。所有人都一致认为要飞是不现实的,只有迈克尔·莫舍例外。

迈克尔·莫舍:飞行员用右边的驾驶杆控制飞行器的翼。

莫舍以前是一名美国海军的飞行员,如今他成了一名企业家。他用了整整5年时间,一直在秘密研制一种小型双叶片直升机,并给它命名为The Solotrek

他说他终于谨慎地进行了第一次试飞。在这次试飞中,他设计的飞行器只能飞离地面两英尺。但对莫舍来说,离地两英尺已经像进了天堂一般。

迈克尔·莫舍:我的兴奋程度真是难以形容。我告诉你吧,试飞成功的那天晚上和以后的几个晚上我都高兴得睡不着。这真是一次具有历史意义的经历。

莫舍说,只要再稍加努力,这个飞行器就可以靠电脑控制其稳定性,以每小时八十英里的速度在树顶上盘旋。他预测军队可用这种飞行器在地势崎岖的地区飞行,警察可以用它执行搜索营救任务。如果有谁想避开交通堵塞的话,莫舍认为,只要稍加训练,任何人都可以舒适地一边嚼着口香糖,一边操纵着他的飞机安全飞行。不过还有一个让人困扰的问题,这个飞行器会飞起来,可这个概念能不能让人接受呢?莫舍确实得到了美国国防部和美国宇航局的帮助,但这个飞行器会不会噪音太大,太危险,或者说是很难停靠?

杰弗里·施罗德(美国国家宇航局科学家):我想这个飞行器是可行的,但价格不菲。现在面临的挑战是如何使普罗大众对这个飞行器感兴趣。也许我们命中注定只能在梦里作无翼飞翔,而在现实中却永远做不到。不过与此同时,迈克尔·莫舍已经离地两英尺了。

 

超音速飞机

一次超音速喷气飞机的试飞突如其来地失败了,飞机呈螺旋型从天空下坠,落到澳大利亚的沙漠之中。日本科学家对这次试飞寄予了厚望,原希望它能产生新一代的超音速飞机。这次测试的飞机是计划设计飞机的缩小比例模型,它的设计目标是达到协和式飞机的速度,而航距则是协和式的两倍,载客量为三倍。但它升空后不久就掉了下来。由日本政府的国家航天研究所资助的科学家用了六个月的时间为这次测试做准备。尽管此次试验以失败告终,但他们说他们还会不断努力,并准备再进行一次试验。CE

 

 

 

 

 

1) stuff [stQf]  n. 原料,材料,素材

2) A self-contained flying man: 一个可以自我控制的飞人。这是指在上个世纪六十年代由贝尔航空公司制造的单人飞行器,曾在1965年上映的影片《雷球》中出现。

3) languish [5lANgwiF]  v. 变得衰弱无力,松懈

4) flap [flAp] n. (飞机的)襟翼,副翼

5) control stick: 操纵杆,驾驶杆

6) blade [bleid] n. 螺旋桨叶

7) exhilarating [ig5zilEreitiN] a. 令人高兴的,使人兴奋的

8) zip [zip] v. 有力而迅速地行动或移动

9) rugged [5rQgid] a. 高低不平的,多丘陵的

10) terrain [5terein] n. 地区,地带

11) nagging [5nAgiN] a. 令人烦恼不已的,使人不得安宁的

12) supersonic [5sju:pE5sCnik ] a. 超音速的

13spiral [5spaiErEl ] v. 螺旋形行进

14scale [skeil] n.比例,比率

15) dodge [5dCdV] v. 跳开,躲开

 

 

 

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