美国英语听力80篇1 Lesson08

[00:04.88]Then your teacher shouts:"Go !"
[00:08.12]You let go of the wing support and fall away from the plane.
[00:13.40]You throw your head back, arms out, legs apart, as you learned¹.
[00:19.51]You fall face forward toward² the Earth below.
[00:23.35]The sound of the engine and the scream of the wind disappear immediately.
[00:29.44]There is only silence. You feel you are moving ... but not falling.
[00:36.21]Quickly, a line tied to the plane pulls the parachute from its pack.
[00:42.84]The lines of the parachute and the stiff³ straps⁴ of the parachute harness⁵ gently pull on your shoulders and legs.
[00:51.15]You look up.
[00:52.90]The big, colorful parachute is now fully⁶ open above you.
[00:57.86]You look at it carefully to make sure it is not damaged.
[01:02.54]Reaching over your head, you hold the left and right steering⁸ lines.
[01:08.26]You pull the left one and begin a slow, smooth turn to the left.
[01:14.40]You still have no feeling of falling.
[01:18.29]You seem to hang in the air.
[01:20.90]There is no longer any feeling of fear.
[01:24.11]Yet your heart is racing⁹ with excitement.
[01:27.77]You look around. You can see for many kilometers.
[01:32.29]You look down between your feet.
[01:34.98]You can see people, cars and buildings. They look very small.
[01:41.62]For a few moments, you enjoy the view and the silence of your first parachute jump.
[01:48.56]Too soon, it seems, it is time to prepare for landing¹⁰.
[01:53.76]You watch the landing area and move toward it by pulling on the left or right steering lines.
[02:01.36]You aim for the soft sand in the center of the landing place.
[02:07.01]Suddenly, the ground is moving quickly toward you.
[02:11.55]You bring your feet together and bend your legs at the knee.
[02:16.10]You reach high into the straps above your head. You keep your eyes straight ahead.
[02:23.20]You hit the ground, gently, it seems.
[02:26.83]And, as you learned, you roll on your side to the left and come back up onto your feet.
[02:34.62]You gather up your parachute, being careful not to cross the many lines.
[02:41.20]Your first sport parachute jump has been safe, successful and great fun.
[02:48.65]The idea of the parachute is almost as old as man's dreams of flight.
[02:55.57]The first known parachute designs were drawn¹¹ by Italian artist and inventor Leonardo Da Vinci as early as 1495.
[03:05.97]However, there is no evidence that Da Vinci ever built a parachute.
[03:11.01]About 200 years ago,
[03:14.38]Louis-Sebastian Lenormand of France invented a kind of parachute to save people at the top of tall burning buildings.
[03:24.85]Historians say he jumped safely from a building in Montpellier, France, using his small device¹².
[03:33.50]The first man to use a real parachute was Andre-Jacques Garnerin.
[03:40.26]In 1797, he parachuted from a balloon 600 meters above the city of Paris.
[03:48.26]There were more and more parachute designs after the invention of the airplane.
[03:55.23]Early planes often crashed.
[03:58.71]Fliers needed a safey device that would let them escape from a falling plane:
[04:04.92]Parachutes saved many of their lives.
[04:08.56]Parachutes became so dependable that military leaders believed they could be used to get soldiers to a battlefield quickly.
[04:18.61]American General Billy Mitchell tested the idea in 1928.
[04:25.30]Six soldiers jumped by parachute from an airplane.
[04:30.45]When they landed, they set up a machine gun.
[04:34.10]The test was a complete success.
[04:37.42]And the parachute became a useful military tool.
[04:42.20]In the past thirty years,parachuting has become an exciting sport.
[04:48.57]It became popular when young men who learned to parachute in the military
[04:54.66]wanted to continue jumping when they returned to civilian¹³ life.
[04:59.91]Today, parachuting is enjoyed by men and women, young and old.
[05:06.99]There are many kinds of sport parachuting. One of the most interesting is skydiving.
[05:15.38]Jumpers leave the airplane as it flies more than 3,000 meters above the ground.
[05:22.27]They fall for about one minute before opening their parachute.
[05:27.13]They use their bodies,
[05:29.20]and the air that rushes past them, to control their flight while falling.
[05:34.47]They can speed up or slow down.
[05:37.61]They can turn left or right.
[05:40.35]They can turn over completely.
[05:42.96]People who like to skydive say they can do anything an airplane can do,
[05:50.64]except go upi Those who jump say skydiving is as close as man will ever come to free flight ... like that of birds.
[06:03.02]Today's parachutes are very different from the device
[06:07.41]Leonardo Da Vinci designed 500 years ago.
[06:11.41]They come in many different shapes and colors.
[06:15.61]One of the most popular is shaped more like a rectangle¹⁴
[06:20.63]than the traditional circle of old parachutes.
[06:23.63]This one works¹⁵ much like a jet¹⁶ airplane.
[06:28.05]It forces the air that passes through it to the back.
[06:32.91]Large openings in the back can be opened or closed to steer⁷ it.
[06:38.99]Some of the most modern kinds of parachutes give jumpers much more control over where they float.
[06:47.77]Jumpers can fall gently down

1 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

2 toward   

prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝

参考例句：

• Suddenly I saw a tall figure approaching toward the policeman.突然间我看到一个高大的身影朝警察靠近。
• Upon seeing her,I smiled and ran toward her. 看到她我笑了，并跑了过去。

3 stiff   

adj.严厉的，激烈的，硬的，僵直的，不灵活的

参考例句：

• There is a sheet of stiff cardboard in the drawer.在那个抽屉里有块硬纸板。
• You have to push on the handle to turn it,becanse it's very stiff.手柄很不灵活，你必须用力推才能转动它。

4 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

5 harness   

n.马具；类似马具的装备；vt.给上马具

参考例句：

• He paid ten dollars for the new harness.他花十美元买了这件马具。
• I harness the horse to the cart. 我把马套在车上。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

8 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

9 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

10 landing   

n.登陆；着陆；楼梯平台

参考例句：

• Owing to engine trouble,the plane had to make a forced landing.由于发动机出了毛病，飞机不得不进行迫降。
• When are we landing?我们什么时候着陆？

11 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

12 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。

13 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

14 rectangle   

n.长方形，矩形

参考例句：

• Suppose the width of a rectangle is x metres.设长方形的宽是x米。
• He handed me a little rectangle of white paper.他递给我一张小小的长方形白纸片。

15 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

16 jet   

n.喷气发动机，喷气式飞机；v.喷出，喷射

参考例句：

• Put a match to the jet to light the gas.将火柴放在煤气喷嘴上点燃煤气。
• I don't see the jet of your plan.我不明白你的计划的要点。