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The Sky’s the Limit? Not for Burt Rutan 超越极速，谁与争锋

課文朗讀

課文中英文講解

繁體中文譯本

On March 3, 2005, pilot Steve Fossett set the world’s last great flying record when he flew the airplane GlobalFlyer around the world solo, without ever stopping or refueling. This historic event wouldn’t have been possible if not for the daring of the pilot. However, credit also has to go to the awesomely creative genius of aviation engineer Burt Rutan, the designer of GlobalFlyer.

2005年3月3日，飞行员史提夫佛赛特驾驶环球飞行号，中途没有休息及补充燃料独自环球飞行，缔造了最新的飞行世界纪录。而创下这项历史性的纪录，除了飞行员的胆识之外，还得归功于一位航空工程师的顶尖创造力，这位工程师就是环球飞行者号的设计师伯特鲁坦。

Helping to set records is all in a day’s work for Burt. From his company’s desert workshop in Mojave, California, Burt and his team have been patiently designing and building revolutionary airplanes for years. What’s most impressive is how endlessly fertile Burt’s creativity seems to be. “An engineer in a normal [aviation] company gets to work on two or three airplanes in his whole career,” says Rutan, “We have developed over forty new types since 1972.” To work for Burt, engineers must design and build planes. This is surprisingly only if one knows that due to union laws, this is not only impossible at mainstream aviation companies like Boeing and Lockheed-Martin, but even illegal.

帮忙达成这项纪录，对伯特而言根本不算什么。在他公司位于加州摩哈维沙漠的厂房里，伯特及他的团队花了好几年的时间，耐心地设计及建造革命性的飞行器。最令人印象深刻的是，伯特的创造力似乎源源不绝。他说:「一般飞机制造公司的工程师，在他的职业生涯中大概可以建造两三架飞机，而我们从1972年开始，已经研发了四十多种新款的飞机。」要为伯特工作，工程师得设计及建造飞机。这是很令人惊讶的，如果你知道根据工会法，在波音及洛克希德马丁这类主流飞机制造公司里，这种作法不只是不可能的，甚至是违法的。

All Burt’s planes are made of cutting-edge materials called composites, which are stronger and lighter than naturally-occurring materials. With composites, Burt has built record-setting aircraft like GlobalFlyer as well as bizarre-looking ones, like the Boomerang plane. This lopsided plane looks like it should spin and crash, but it actually flies true because of its unusually shape.

伯特所有的飞机都是以最先进的复合材料打造，比天然产生的材质要来的坚固轻盈。借着这些复合材质，伯特已经建造出像环球飞行者这种创纪录的飞行器以及回力镖这种外观古怪的飞行器。回力镖这台不对称的飞行器看起来应该会翻转坠毁，不过它不寻常的外型却让它真的飞了起来。

Now, as if conquering the skies wasn’t enough, Burt Rutan – with a little help from his friends, has set his sights beyond the skies and into space.

现在，好像征服天空还不够似的，借着一些朋友的帮助，伯特鲁坦已经将他的目标放在天空之外的太空了。

Vocabulary

daring [ˋdɛrɪŋ] n. 勇敢；胆量

awesomely [ˋɔsəmlɪ] adv.【口】了不起，了不得

aviation [͵evɪˋeʃən] n. 航空﹐航空学﹐飞行（术）

fertile [ˋfɝt!] adj. （创造力或想象力）丰富的

bizarre-looking [bɪˋzɑrˋlʊkɪŋ] adj. 看上去外观怪异的

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set a record 创造记录

refuel [riˋfjuəl] v. 给……补给燃料

all in a day’s work: 每日常规的一部分, 日常工作it is a usual part of their job

workshop [ˋwɝk͵ʃɑp] n. 作坊；小工厂

due to: 因为, 由于 because of

cutting-edge ['kʌtɪŋ'ɛdʒ] adj.尖端的

composite [kəmˋpɑzɪt] n. 复合材料

lopsided [lɑpˋsaɪdɪd] adj. 不平衡的；不对称的

fly true : 没有偏离航道飞行  fly without deviation of route

as if: 好像, 似乎, 彷佛  seemingly

課文中英文講解

Aviation genius Burt Rutan has changed an airport into a spaceport. On June 21, 2004, Burt and his cutting-edge aviation company launched SpaceShipOne, making Mojave Airport also Mojave Spaceport. The plane became the first privately-funded, privately-built spacecraft to reach the edge of space (100 kilometers above Earth). What’s more, Burt and his company repeated the feat again in less than two weeks, winning Burt the ten-million-US dollar Ansari X Prize.

航空奇才伯特鲁坦已经将机场变成了宇宙飞船基地。2004年6月21日，伯特和他先进的飞机制造公司发射了宇宙飞船一号，将摩哈维机场变成了摩哈维宇宙飞船基地。这艘到达太空边缘(地面上100公里处)的飞行器成了第一艘由私人出资及建造的宇宙飞船。更甚的是，伯特及其公司在两星期内又重演了这次创举，为他赢得奖金一千万美元的安萨利X奖。

Adventurer and billionaire Richard Branson was so impressed with Burt’s astonishing feat that he decided to open the first space tourism company. Together, the two launched Virgin Galactic in September, 2004. By 2007, Virgin Galactic’s first spacecraft, VSS Enterprise a newer model of SpaceShipOne, is slated to take nine passengers to the edge of space. For US$200,000, space tourists will experience the ride of their lives in the weightlessness of space. By the way, William Shatner, who played Captain Kirt in Star Trek, and actress Sigourney Weaver, heroine of the Alien movies, are already on the waiting list.

探险家暨亿万富翁理察布兰森队伯特惊人的事迹印象深刻，决定开设第一家太空旅游公司。他们两位在2004年9月一起成立了维京银河太空公司。维京银河的第一架宇宙飞船VSS企业号(新款的宇宙飞船一号)，预计在2007年以前带着九位乘客到太空边缘。每人花费二十万美金，这些太空旅客将能拥有在太空中无重力状态下的旅行体验。顺便一提，在《星舰迷航记》中饰演寇克船长的威廉费雪特纳以及在电影《异形》中演女主角的女演员雪歌妮薇佛，老早就在候补名单上等着上太空了。

Hard work, openness to ideas, and a visionary approach have been at the core of Burt’s success in his endeavors. Burt focuses on rewarding improvement rather than searching for problems. In his own words, “…. Instead of firing somebody who designed something unsafe, you reward whoever found a better way… “. And safety is priority one for Burt. No pilot has ever been injured in a test flight of any of Burt’s airplanes. With a safety record and business perspective like that, Burt Rutan and his incredible flying machines may take all of us to the stars someday.

勤奋工作、作风开朗及具有远见已经成为伯特打拼成功的最重要特质。伯特重视奖励改良而非找寻问题。以他的话来说就是:「......与其开除一个设计出不安全飞机的人，不如去奖励那些发现有较好解决方法的人......」而安全是伯特的首要考虑。没有任何飞行员在伯特的飞行器中试飞中受过伤，有这样的安全纪录以及企业愿景，伯特鲁坦与他不可思议的飞行机器说不定有一天能带我们到太空去。

－By Iain Ferguson

Vocabulary

launch [lɔntʃ] v. 发射；使升空

feat [fit] n. 功绩；英勇事迹

astonishing [əˋstɑnɪʃɪŋ] adj. 令人惊讶的；惊人的

slate [slet] v. 预定

visionary [ˋvɪʒə͵nɛrɪ] adj. 有远见的

core [kor] n. 核心

endeavor [ɪnˋdɛvɚ] n. 努力

perspective [pɚˋspɛktɪv] n. 看法，观点

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spaceport [ˋspes͵pɔrt] n. 太空站; 宇宙飞船基地

fund [fʌnd] v. 提供（事业，活动等的）资金

spacecraft [ˋspes͵kræft] n. 宇宙飞船，航天器

what’s more 更重要的是, 更有甚者, 而且

weightlessness [ˋwetlɪsnɪs] n. 失重；没有重量

by the way 顺便提起

focus on 集中(于焦点)

priority one 首要工作

Reading Questions 

1. What can we say about the aircraft that Burt Rutan designs?

A. New technology has allowed for the building of them with older and cheaper materials

B. The one that has been to the edge of space was built with government money.

C. Some of them look like they shouldn’t be able to fly, but they fly very well.

D. They are quite safe, although a few pilots have lost their lives in test flights.

2. According to the articles in the unit, what can we say about Burt Rutan’s workshop in California?

A. It’s located in a place that doesn’t have much water or rainfall.

B. It’s located where strong winds make it the perfect place for flying test planes.

C. It’s located in a state with low taxes for aviation companies.

D. It’s located in a place where many aviation records have been broken throughout history.

3. Why don’t engineers in many mainstream aviation companies both design and build planes?

A. Because in those companies, engineers are forbidden by law doing so.

B. Because those engineers are not creative enough to both design and build planes

C. Because many engineers feel that building planes isn’t as important as designing them.

D. Because in those companies, having engineers do both jobs is inefficient and unsafe.

4. Which of the following statement about Virgin Galactic’s first spacecraft is NOT true?

A. It will be able to carry at least nine people into space where they will be weightless.

B. Famous stars are already making plans to go to space on it.

C. It will take passengers to the moon for under a million U.S. dollars.

D. It is similar in design to the spacecraft SpaceShipOne.

Virgin Galactic

Answer