95、(1分)
In 1909 an English newspaper
offered £ 1,000 to the first man to fly across the English
Channel in an aeroplane. Today, modern jets cross it in minutes.
But at that time it still seemed a good distance. The race to win the money
soon became a race between two men. Both were very colourful.
One was Louis Bleriot. He
owned a factory in France
that made motor car lamps. He was already well known as a pilot (飞行员) because he had
had accidents several times. Some people laughed at him. One man said, “He may not be the first to fly across the Channel but he will
certainly be the first to die in an accident!” But Bleriot was really a good
and brave pilot. He also had many good ideas about aeroplane design.
The other man was Hubert
Latham. He was half French and half English. He took up flying when his doctors
told him he had only a year to live. “Oh, well,” he said, “if I’ m going to die
soon, I think I shall have a dangerous and interesting life now.” Latham was
the first to try the flight (飞行) across the Channel. Ten kilometres from the French
coast, his plane had some trouble. It fell down into the water and began to
sink under the water. A boat reached Latham just in time. He was sitting calmly
on the wing and was coolly lighting a cigarette (香烟).
Bleriot took off six days later. He flew into some very bad weather and very
low cloud. He somehow got to the English side and landed in a farmer’s field. When he did so, a customs (海关)
officer rushed up to his plane. Planes have changed since then, but customs
officers have not. “Have you anything to declare?” The officer demanded.