VOA标准英语2008年-Swiss Adventurer Flies English Channel on Homem

Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy has become the first man ever to cross the English Channel strapped¹ to a jet-powered homemade wing. For VOA, Tom Rivers in London reports on the hair-raising trip.
　
Yves Rossy lands after flying across English Channel

For real-life rocket man,Yves Rossy, it was a dream come true. To retrace² the route of French pilot Louis Bleriot who 99 years ago was the first man to fly across the English Channel in an aircraft.

But the crossing for modern day adventurer Rossy, was very different.

Strapped to him was an 2.4-meter-long carbon-composite wing with four small kerosene-burning jet engines.

Dropped from a plane 2,400 meters above Calais, Rossy fired up his engines and headed in the direction of England. Flying at 200 kilometers per hour he crossed the 42 kilometer stretch of water in about 10 minutes.

Once over the white cliffs of Dover the Rocket man opened his parachute and down to earth he floated to the delight of the assembled onlookers³ gathered in a field.

For Rossy, absolutely everything went according to plan.

"It was the perfect flight, as planned. Really, everything worked as planned. Perfect. Like I wanted it and like all my team did prepare it. so, perfect," he said.

As he says once the preparation work was done, all that was left to do was to enjoy the moment and to soar like a bird. "I was really living it in the present and it is like in a dream, like you are with a big bird," he said.

But that is not the end of the story. Rossy wants to improve on his flying wing and he promises more adventures in the future.

"There is a big potential to improve everything," he said. "To be with the lighter⁴ wing, with better engines, to fly vertical⁵, aerobatics. I am sure we are now technically⁶ ready to go in that way."

When not soaring like a bird, the 49-year-old still has his head in the clouds. In real life he is an airline pilot who flies the Zurich to Heathrow route.

 

1 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 retrace   

v.折回；追溯，探源

参考例句：

• He retraced his steps to the spot where he'd left the case.他折回到他丢下箱子的地方。
• You must retrace your steps.你必须折回原来走过的路。

3 onlookers   

n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of the crash. 在撞车地点聚集了一大群围观者。
• The onlookers stood at a respectful distance. 旁观者站在一定的距离之外，以示尊敬。

4 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

5 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

6 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。