Pioneers of Flight
The legend（传说） of Wan Hu 2 万户的传说
1 China launched its first rocket with human beings aboard on
October 15, 2003. Astronaut（宇航员） Yang Liwei3 brought to its fulfillment a dream that probably had its roots in（起源于） a much earlier time.中国发射了第一枚载人火箭2003年10月15日。宇航员杨利伟实现了一个梦想，这个梦想很可能起源于很久以前。 Although the veracity（真实性） of the story cannot be confirmed（证实：确认）, legend has it that in A.D.4 1500 a man named Wan Hu prepared his own mission（任务，使命；飞行任务） to the stars. 虽然这个故事的真实性无法证实，但传说中公元前1500年，一个名叫万户的人准备了他自己的飞行任务。At that time, the Chinese invention of gunpowder was widely used in rockets for military purposes as well as in fireworks（烟火）. 当时，中国发明的火药被广泛用于军用火箭和焰火中Wan Hu devised（发明） a risky plan to harness（利用；控制） the power of such rockets to take him to the stars. 万户设计了一个冒险的计划，利用这种火箭的威力把他带到了行星。
2 The story goes that Wan Hu built the first spaceship: a chair
with 47 powerful gunpowder rockets and two kites attached（系；贴；使附属于） to it. 传说万户建造了第一艘宇宙飞船：一把椅子有47枚威力强大的火药火箭和两个风筝。On the day of the launch, each rocket was lit by a different servant carrying asort of torch翻译 torch（火把）. 发射当天，每枚火箭都由一名手持火炬的仆人点燃The servants then moved back and waited. 然后，仆人搬回来等着。An earth-shattering（惊天动地的） explosion followed: Wan Hu and his primitive （原始的）spaceship had disappeared completely. Although the story
may seem a little far-fetched（牵强的；不着边际的）, the principles（原理；原则） of rocket-powered spaceflight（航天，宇宙飞行） are contained in Wan Hu’s crazy dream. 随后发生了一次惊天动地的爆炸：万户和他的原始太空船完全消失了。尽管这个故事也许有点牵强，但万户的疯狂梦想中包含着火箭动力太空飞行的原则。
Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose 5
3 On November 2, 1947, a crowd of onlookers（旁观者） at San Pedro6
harbor in Los Angeles7 witnessed（目击者；见证者） aviation（航空；飞机制造） history.1947年11月2日，在圣佩德罗6号，一旁观者洛杉矶港见证了航空业的历史。 An enormous（巨大的） flying boat, nicknamed（给什么起绰号） the Spruce Goose, sped across the bay and rose 70 feet above the water. 一艘巨大的飞行船，绰号云杉鹅，飞过海湾，高出水面70英尺。After just under a minute, it landed perfectly one mile down the bay. It was the first and last time the boat ever flew. 不到一分钟，它就在海湾下一英里处完全着陆了。这是这艘船第一次也是最后一次飞行。
4 The concept（观念；理念）t for construction of the Spruce Goose came from the need for more effective ways of transporting troops and materials in World War II.云杉鹅的概念来源于二战时期对更有效的部队和物资运输方式的需求。 The idea came from a man called Henry Kaiser1 , but it was Howard Hughes, the legendary multi-millionaire, who actually developed the flying boat. 这个想法来自一个叫亨利·凯瑟尔的人，但实际上是霍华德·休斯，这位传说中的千万富翁发明了这艘飞行艇。
5 The Spruce Goose was the biggest airplane ever built and
still holds the record for the greatest wingspan（翼幅）, and it was made
entirely of wood. 云杉鹅是有史以来最大的飞机仍然保持着最大翼展的记录，它被创造了完全是木头做的。Though it had promise2 , in the end the project
failed for three main reasons: the cost of building the enormous
machine; the complexity（复杂性） of working with wood; and Hughes’s
perfectionist approach（方法；途径）, which caused the entire project to finish
behind schedule（进度落后于计划）.尽管它有承诺书，但最终还是完成了这个项目
失败的主要原因有三：建造巨大的机器；木材加工的复杂性；休斯的完美主义方法，导致整个项目完成落后于计划。 The Goose was put into storage（将什么储藏起来） and remained hidden from view until 1976, when it was put on display（将什么陈列出来；展示什么） for the public. 它被放进了储藏室，直到1976年才对外展出。In 1992, the plane was dismantled and transported to the state of Oregon3 , where it remains today. Many of the d
esign features（特征；特） of the Spruce Goose have been incorporated into（将什么并入） modern cargo（货物） planes.1992年，这架飞机被拆除并运到今天仍在的俄勒冈州。云杉鹅的许多设计特点已被融入现代货运飞机中。 Like other pioneers in the field of（在什么领域） transportation, Hughes was simply ahead of his time. 和其他在交通领域的先驱一样，休斯完全领先于他的时代。
The futuristic ideas of Leonardo da Vinci
6 Centuries before Hughes was designing the Spruce Goose,
another pioneer in transportation design was sketching（素描；草图） plans for different kinds of flying machines.在休斯设计云杉鹅之前的几个世纪，
运输设计的另一个先驱是为不同类型的飞行器绘制草图。 Leonardo da Vinci, perhaps the most famous artist of the Renaissance4 period, planned flying
devices（装置；器具） with flapping wings controlled and steered（掌舵；驾驶；操纵） by human pilots. His research focused on the complex anatomy（解剖学） of birds in flight,
and he based his flying machines on this analogy（类似，类比）.列奥纳多·达芬奇，也许是复兴时期最著名的艺术家，计划飞行
由人类飞行员控制和操。他的研究集中在飞行中鸟类的复杂解剖上，他的飞行机器就是基于这个类比。 It took almost 500 years for da Vinci’s sketches to become real.达芬奇的素描花了将近500年才成为现实。 In June 2000, a professional parachutist named Adrian Nicholas1 jumped out of a hot-air balloon over the South African countryside using a parachute made of wood and canvas based on one of da Vinci’s designs. Nicholas landed safely, and Leonardo’s dream became reality. 2000年6月，一位名叫阿德里安·尼古拉斯（Adrian Nicholas1）的专业降落伞师从南非乡村上空的热气球上跳下，用的降落伞是根据达芬奇的一种设计用木头和帆布制成的。尼古拉斯安全着陆，莱昂纳多的梦想成为现实。