在和乔纳森飞行的鸟中,包括弗莱契在内,没有一个相信,用观念飞行可能同用风和羽毛飞行一样真实
Day 15
①Jonathan circled slowly over the Far Cliffs, watching. This rough youngFletcher Gull was very nearly a perfect flight-student. He was strong and lightand quick in the air, but far and away more important, he had a blazing driveto learn to fly.
乔纳森在远崖上空慢慢盘旋,仔细观望。这个粗野的年轻海鸥弗莱契,已非常近于一个尽善尽美的飞行员了。在空中,他顽强、轻巧而敏捷。但更重要的是,他有学习飞行的炽烈欲望。
② Here he came this minute, a blurred gray shape roaring out of adive, flashing one hundred fifty miles per hour past his instructor. He pulledabruptly into another try at a sixteen point vertical slow roll, calling thepoints out loud.
一霎时,他飞了过来,只见一个模糊的灰色形体,从一次俯冲中翻飞出来,以每小时一百五十英里的速度,闪电般掠过他的导师。他一转身又作另一次尝试,这次是十六点垂直慢滚,一边翻滚一边大声数着点。
③ “...eight... nine... ten... see-Jonathan-I’m-running-out -of airspeed..eleven... I-want-good-sharp-stops- like-yours... twelve...but-blast-it-I-just-can’t-make... - thirteen... these last-three-points...without... fourteen ...aaakk!”
“……八……九……十……瞧,乔纳森,我已经——低于——空中——速度了……十—……我——想——像你——一样——一下子——煞——住……十二……可是,——天——啊——我——办——不——到……十三……最——后——三——点——啦……不成……啊呀呀”
· ④ Fletcher’s whipstall at the top was all the worse for hisrage and fury at failing. He fell backward, tumbled, slammed savagely /'sævɪdʒli/ into an inverted spin, and recovered at last, panting, a hundredfeet below his instructor’s level.
弗莱契一失败,就沉不住气,怒气冲冲,这会儿想在最高点停住时控制失灵,情况也就更糟。他一个斤斗倒栽下来,砰地一下倒转起来,最后好容易恢复了平衡,气喘吁吁,但已落到比他导师的水平面低一百英尺的地方。
⑤ “You’re wasting your time with me, Jonathan! I’m too dumb! I’m toostupid! I try and try, but I’ll never get it!”
“你这是跟我白费时间,乔纳森!我太笨了!太蠢了!我试了又试,可总是不成!”
⑥Jonathan Seagull looked down at him and nodded. “You’ll never get it forsure as long as you make that pull-up so hard. Fletcher, you lost forty milesan hour in the entry! You have to be smooth! Firm but smooth, remember?”
乔纳森低头望着他,点点头。“你在停住时候这样用力,是怎么也不成的。弗莱契,你一开头就减速每小时四十英里!你动作要平稳些!要坚定,可也要平稳,记住了吗?”
⑦ He dropped down to the level of the younger gull. “Let’s try ittogether now, in formation. And pay attention to that pull-up. It’s a smooth,easy entry.”
他下降到年轻海鸥的水平面。“咱们一块儿试试,列队飞行。要注意怎么停。开头要平稳、放松。”
⑧ By the end of three months Jonathan had six other students, Outcastsall, yet curious about this strange new idea of flight for the joy of flying.
到了第三个月底,乔纳森又另外收了六个学生,全都是弃儿。但他们都有一种好奇心,想探索为飞行的乐趣而飞行。
Still, it was easier for them topractice high performance than it was to understand the reason behind it.
然而,对他们来说,练习高级飞行术,比起理解其都意义来,还是要容易得多。
⑨ “Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited ideaof freedom,” Jonathan would say in the evenings on the beach, “and precisionflying is a step toward expressing our real nature. Everything that limits uswe have to put aside. That’s why all this high-speed practice, and low speed,and aerobatics....”
“事实上咱们每一个都是伟大海鸥的观念,一个关于自由的无限观念。”每天傍晚,乔纳森在海滩上总是这么说,“精确飞行向着表现我们的真正本质迈进了一步。任何限制我们的东西我们都要予以清除。就是因为这个原故,我们才进行这种高速和低速练习,做各种特技动作……”
⑩ ...and his students would be asleep, exhausted from the day’sflying. They liked the practice, because it was fast and exciting and itfed a hunger for learning that grew with every lesson. But not one of them, noteven Fletcher Lynd Gull, had come to believe that the flight of ideas couldpossibly be as real as the flight of wind and feather.
……而他的学生们全都打着瞌睡,经过一天飞行已经疲乏不堪了。他们喜欢这种练习,因为它速度快、叫人兴奋,还可以满足对学习的渴望,现在他们每上一课,这种对学习的渴望也就越大。但他们当中,包括弗莱契在内,没有一个相信,用观念飞行可能同用风和羽毛飞行一样真实。
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