039 莱特兄弟

旁白 neutral

" You did it, Wilbur," cried Orville as his brother landed their invention

“你成功了，威尔伯，”弟弟的发明着陆时，奥维尔喊道。

旁白 neutral

" Finally, we are successful. October the fifth of 1905 will go down in history," replied his brother

“我们终于成功了。1905年10月5日将会载入史册。”他的哥哥回答道。

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" Today you flew the world's first working airplane. You flew more than 24 miles

“今天你驾驶了世界上第一架可用的飞机。你飞了超过24英里。

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This invention is really going to change the world," exclaimed Orville." And we invented it!"

这项发明真的会改变世界，”奥维尔惊叹道，“而且是我们发明的！”

旁白 neutral

The Wright brothers were true inventors who spent their lives trying to build better machines

莱特兄弟是真正的发明家，他们毕生致力于制造更好的机器。

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Wilbur and Orville were extremely intelligent men

威尔伯和奥维尔都是极其聪明的人。

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Unlike most scientists, however, they did not go to a university. They were self-taught geniuses

然而，与大多数科学家不同，他们没有上过大学。他们是自学成才的天才。

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Wilbur was a fantastic student and was registered to attend Yale University

威尔伯曾是名出色的学生，并且已经注册准备进入耶鲁大学。

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But in 1886 he got hit in the face with a hockey stick

但在1886年，他被一根曲棍球棍击中了脸部。

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The injury was so bad that it took him almost a year to recover

伤势非常严重，他花了将近一年的时间才康复。

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By the time he recovered, his mother had become very sick

等他康复时，他的母亲已经病得很重了。

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So instead of going back to school, Wilbur spent the next year looking after his mother

因此，威尔伯没有回学校，而是在接下来的一年里照顾他的母亲。

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Whenever he had a spare moment, he would read

只要一有空闲，他就会读书。

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During this time Orville also lost interest in school

在这段时间里，奥维尔也对学校失去了兴趣。

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He found a part-time job in a small printing shop

他找到了一份在一家小印刷店的兼职工作。

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Orville knew that he could make a lot of money if he had a professional printing press, but it was far too expensive

奥维尔知道，如果有一台专业的印刷机，他就能赚很多钱，但它实在太贵了。

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So together the two brothers built their own printing press

于是，兄弟俩一起动手制造了他们自己的印刷机。

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They made it almost entirely from old junk that they found themselves, including a broken tombstone

他们几乎完全用自己找来的废旧物品制造了它，其中还包括一块破损的墓碑。

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Soon their printing business was a success, so the brothers decided to build an even larger printing press

很快，他们的印刷生意就成功了，于是兄弟俩决定制造一台更大的印刷机。

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Their second press was able to print one thousand sheets an hour, which was very fast at the time

他们的第二台印刷机每小时能印一千张，在那个时代这速度非常快。

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However, the Wright brothers were inventors and not printing men, and they soon became bored with the printing business

不过，莱特兄弟是天生的发明家，不是印刷商人，他们很快就对这行感到厌倦。

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In 1892 the Wright brothers became interested in a new sport: bicycle riding

1892年，莱特兄弟迷上了一项新运动：骑自行车。

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Because they were excellent mechanics, they soon had their own bicycle shop and became very good at fixing bicycles

由于他们是一流的机械师，兄弟俩很快开了自己的自行车店，修车技术也变得非常精湛。

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After a few years, Orville and Wilbur decided that they could build better bicycles than the ones they sold

几年后，奥维尔和威尔伯认定，他们能造出比店里卖的更好的自行车。

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So they designed two bicycles that became very popular

于是，他们自行设计了两款自行车，结果大受欢迎。

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The Wright brothers were making a lot of money in the bicycle business, but making money was not what they liked best

莱特兄弟靠自行车生意赚了不少钱，但赚钱并不是他们最喜欢的事。

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What they loved was to learn and invent

他们真正热爱的是学习和发明。

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During the next ten years, the Wright brothers would invent what almost everyone thought was impossible: the airplane

在之后的十年里，莱特兄弟将发明出几乎所有人都认为不可能的东西：飞机。

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In 1896 Wilbur read a newspaper article about a famous German pilot who died flying a plane he had designed

1896年，威尔伯读到一篇报道，讲的是德国著名飞行员在试飞自己设计的飞机时不幸遇难。

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From that moment, he became very interested in the art of flying

从那一刻起，他对飞行这门艺术产生了浓厚的兴趣。

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After careful thought, Wilbur and Orville guessed that the problem with the German pilot's airplane was that it had no controls

经过仔细思考，威尔伯和奥维尔猜测那位德国飞行员飞机的问题在于没有操控装置。

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Of course, the Wright brothers thought they could design one that worked

当然，莱特兄弟认为他们能设计出一个行得通的。

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The first thing the Wright brothers did was to read everything that they could find on aviation

莱特兄弟做的第一件事，就是阅读他们能找到的关于航空的一切资料。

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One day while reading, Wilbur saw birds flying, and he noticed that they were constantly moving their wings to keep themselves balanced

一天，威尔伯在阅读时看到鸟儿飞翔，他注意到鸟儿不停地扇动翅膀来保持平衡。

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This was the big clue that he needed

这正是他所需要的重要线索。

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The Wright brothers decided to build a glider, that is, a plane with no engine

莱特兄弟决定制造一架滑翔机，也就是没有引擎的飞机。

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It had wings that moved so that they could control and turn it

它的机翼可以活动，这样他们就能操控和转弯。

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The first two gliders that the Wright brothers built were not very successful

莱特兄弟制造的前两架滑翔机都不太成功。

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In fact, the second one was so bad that Wilbur was almost killed trying to fly it

事实上，第二架情况非常糟糕，威尔伯在试飞时差点丧命。

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After the crash, Wilbur said to his brother," Not in a thousand years will man ever fly."

坠机后，威尔伯对弟弟说："再过一千年，人也飞不起来。"

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However, after being encouraged by other engineers, they decided to try again

然而，在其他工程师的鼓励下，他们决定再试一次。

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In 1902, after careful research, the Wright brothers' third glider was a success

1902年，经过仔细研究，莱特兄弟的第三架滑翔机成功了。

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Finally they had built a plane that they could control

他们终于造出了一架可以操控的飞机。

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The next step was to build an airplane with an engine, so that it could fly on its own power

下一步是制造一架带引擎的飞机，这样它就能靠自身动力飞行。

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The brothers asked many engine companies to help them build an engine and propeller for their plane, but no one would help them

兄弟俩找了许多引擎公司帮忙为飞机制造引擎和螺旋桨，但没人愿意帮忙。

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So they decided to make their own engine and invented a method for making propellers

于是，他们决定自己制造引擎，并发明了一种制造螺旋桨的方法。

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On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers' first airplane was completed

1903年12月17日，莱特兄弟的第一架飞机完工了。

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The Flyer made four very short flights, but then crashed and was completely destroyed

"飞行者一号"进行了四次非常短暂的飞行，但随后坠毁，彻底损毁。

旁白 neutral

The Wright brothers rebuilt the Flyer and called it the Flyer 2. It worked but had many problems

莱特兄弟重新制造了飞行者号，并称之为"飞行者二号"。它能飞，但有很多问题。

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So in 1905, the Wrights completely rebuilt their aircraft

于是在1905年，莱特兄弟彻底重新制造了他们的飞行器。

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The Flyer 3 was amazing. It was the first flying machine capable of taking off and flying through the air on its own power

"飞行者三号"令人惊叹。它是第一架能够依靠自身动力起飞并在空中飞行的飞行器。

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It could rise, descend, and turn in any direction that the pilot wanted

它能按驾驶员的意愿上升、下降和向任意方向转弯。

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Wilbur flew the plane over 24 miles and landed only when his plane ran out of gas

威尔伯驾驶飞机飞行了超过24英里，直到燃料耗尽才降落。

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It was an invention destined to change the world

这是一项注定将改变世界的发明。