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1、第一架不着陆环绕世界的飞机It was called the last great goal in flying. It would be a flight around the world without stopping or adding more fuel. Today, Frank Oliver and Doug Johnson tell about a special plane called Voyager and the effort to set a difficult world record.FRANK OLIVER: Voyager began as a quick d
2、rawing on a small piece of paper. Six years later, the drawing was a plane that made history.Many people gave their time, energy and money to help make the flight happen. But three people had lead parts in the event. Dick Rutan. Burt Rutan. And Jeana Yeager.Dick Rutan was an experienced flier. He ha
3、d been a pilot in the United States military during the war in Vietnam. After the war, he worked as a test pilot. He flew planes designed by his younger brother Burt.Burt Rutan was well-known as a designer of experimental planes. And Jeana Yeager held nine world flight records as a pilot.DOUG JOHNSO
4、N: One day in early nineteen eighty-one, Dick, Burt and Jeana were eating in a restaurant in Mojave, California. Burt turned to his brother and asked a wild question: “How would you like to be the first person to fly around the world without stopping tore-fuel?“这被称为是飞行事业的最后一个伟大目标一架飞机环绕地球飞行，没有中途停歇和补充
5、燃料！今天，Frank Oliver 和 Doug Johnson 讲述了一架特制的飞机“航行者” （Voyager）号成就这一困难的世界纪录的故事。“航行者”号从画在一小片纸上的一张草图开始。六年之后，草图成为了那架创造历史的飞机。许多人奉献了他们的时间、精力和金钱来帮助实现这一飞行计划。但是，其中有三个人在这一活动中发挥了领导作用Dick Rutan、Burt Rutan 以及 Jeana Yeager。Dick Rutan 是一名经验丰富的飞行员。他曾在越南战争期间作为飞行员在美国空军服役。越战之后，他成为了一名试飞员他试飞的是他的弟弟 Burt 设计的飞机。Burt Rutan 是一位
6、著名的实验型飞机设计师。而 Jeana Yeager 作为飞行员，拥有 9 项世界飞行记录。1981 年的一天，Dick，Burt 和 Jeana 在加利福尼亚莫哈韦的一家饭店吃饭。Burt 转向他的哥哥，问了一个疯狂的问题：“你想不想成为世界上第一个驾驶飞机不着陆加油而环绕世界的人？”The three considered the idea. A non-stop flight around the world without re-fueling was the last flight record to be set. The flight always had been consid
7、ered impossible. No plane could carry enough fuel to fly that far: forty thousand kilometers.But now there were new materials for planes. Burt thought he could build a plane that could make the voyage. Dick and Jeana thought they could fly it. No one could think of a good reason not to try.Burt pick
8、ed up a small piece of paper. He drew an airplane that looked like a giant wing, and not much more. That was the beginning.FRANK OLIVER: Not since the days of Orville and Wilbur Wright had the people making a record flight designed and built their own aircraft. Dick, Burt and Jeana did. Some people
9、thought their Voyager project was both impossible and foolish. Everyone knew it would be dangerous.The Voyager crew worked on the plane in a small building at an airport in Californias Mojave Desert. Dick, Burt and Jeana received no government money. Instead, they got smallamounts of money from lots
10、 of different people.As news of the project spread, more and more people offered to help. There were aviation engineers and workers from the space agencys experimental plane project. Several airplane companies offered equipment to be used in the plane. When Voyager was finished, it had two million d
11、ollars worth of parts in it.这三个家伙开始考虑这个问题。不着陆加油地环绕世界飞行被称为是终极的飞机记录，这一直以来被认为是不可能的。没有飞机能够装载足够的燃料来飞行这么远足足 4 万公里！不过，现在有了新的飞机材料。Burt 认为他可以制造一架能够完成任务的飞机。Dick 和 Jeana 认为他们可以驾驶它。没有人可以给出一个不去尝试一下的理由。Burt 随手捡起一小片纸，画了一架像一个巨大的翅膀的飞机，除此以外就没什么了。这就是一切的开始。自从莱特兄弟之后，还没有人能够用他们自己设计制造的飞行器创造一项飞行记录。Dick，Burt 和Jeana 做到了。有些人认为
12、他们的“航行者”计划既不可能也很愚蠢。每个人都知道，它非常危险。“航行者”计划的成员们，在加州莫哈韦沙漠中一个飞机场的一所小房子里打造着他们的飞机。Dick，Burt 和 Jeana 没有受到政府的资助，不过他们却从许多不同的人那里得到了小额的捐款。随着这一计划的新闻报道的传播，越来越多的人提供了帮助。有航空工程师和宇航局实验型飞机计划的工人。几家航空公司提供了飞机上需要使用的设备。当“航行者”号完工的时候，它身上的零件共价值二百万美元。DOUG JOHNSON: Burt Rutan had built light-weight planes before. He knew a normal
13、 plane made of aluminum metal could not make a trip around the world without adding fuel. So his solution was to build Voyager almost completely out of new materials. The materials were very light, but very strong. This meant Voyager could lift and carry many times its weight in fuel.The finished pl
14、ane weighed just nine hundred kilograms, about the weight of a small car. The full load of fuel weighed three times that much, about three thousand kilograms. Voyager was not built to be a fast plane. It flew about one hundred seventy-five kilometers an hour.FRANK OLIVER: The main wing of the finish
15、ed plane was more than thirty-three meters across. That is wider than the main wing on todays big passenger planes. The center part of the plane held the crew. And on either side of this body were two long fuel tanks.In fact, almost all of the Voyager was a fuel tank. Seventeen separate containers w
16、ere squeezed into every possible space. During the flight, the pilots had to move fuel from container to container to keep the plane balanced. One engine at each end of the body of the plane provided power.The area for the two pilots was unbelievably small. It was just one meter wide by two-and-one-quarter meters long. The person flying the plane sat in the pilots seat. The other person had to lie down at all times.DOUG JOHNSON: After many test flights, the Voyager was finally rea
