2-29

 

29.

As that controversy¹ continued to spread, I shipped off to RAF Barkston Heath. Strange time tobegin flight training, to begin any kind of training. My congenitally weak powers of concentrationwere never weaker. But maybe, I told myself, it’s also the best time. I wanted to hide fromhumanity, flee the planet, and since a rocket wasn’t available, maybe an aeroplane would do.

Before I could climb into any aircraft, however, the Army would need to make sure I had theright stuff. For several weeks they poked² my body, probed my mind.

Drug-free, they concluded. They seemed surprised.

Also, videos to the contrary notwithstanding, not a total thicko.

So…proceed.

My first aircraft would be a Firefly, they said. Bright yellow, fixed³ wing, single prop⁴.

Simple machine, according to my first flight instructor⁵, Sergeant⁶ Major Booley.

I got in and thought: Really? Didn’t look simple to me.

I turned to Booley, studied him. He wasn’t simple either. Short, solid, tough, he’d fought inIraq and the Balkans and should’ve been a hard case, given all he’d seen and been through, but infact he seemed to suffer no ill-effects from his tours of combat. On the contrary, he was allgentleness.

He needed to be. With so much on my mind, I entered our sessions wildly distracted, and itshowed. I kept expecting Booley to lose patience, to begin shouting at me, but he never did. Infact, after one session, he invited me for a motorbike ride in the country. Let’s go and clear ourheads, Lieutenant⁷ Wales.

It worked. Like a charm. And the motorbike, a gorgeous Triumph 675, was a timely reminderof what I was after in these flight lessons. Speed and power.

And freedom.

Then we discovered we weren’t free: the press had followed us the whole way and papped usoutside Booley’s house.

After a period of acclimatizing to the Firefly’s cockpit, becoming familiar with the controlpanel, we finally took her up. On one of our first flights together, with no warning, Booley threwthe aircraft into a stall. I felt the left wing dip, a sickening feeling of disorder⁸, of entropy, and then,after several seconds that felt like decades, he recovered the aircraft and leveled the wings.

I stared at him. What in the absolute—?

Was this an aborted⁹ suicide attempt?

No, he said gently. This was the next stage in my training. Countless¹⁰ things can go wrong inthe air, he explained, and he needed to show me what to do—but also how to do it.

Stay. Cool.

Our next flight, he pulled the same stunt¹¹. But this time he didn’t recover the aircraft. As wewent spinning and pirouetting towards Earth he said: It’s time.

For what?

For YOU to…DO IT.

He looked at the controls. I grabbed them, stuck the boot in, regained¹² the aircraft in what feltlike the nick of time.

I looked at Booley, waited for congratulations.

Nothing. Barely any reaction at all.

Over time Booley would do this again and again, cut the power, put us into freefall. As thecreaking metal and roaring white noise of the stilled engine became deafening¹³ he’d turn calmly tohis left: It’s time.

Time?

You have control.

I have control.

After I restored the power, after we returned to base safely, there was never any fanfare¹⁴. Noteven much chatter¹⁵. No medals in Booley’s cockpit for simply doing your job.

At last, one clear morning, after a routine handful of circuits over the airfield¹⁶, we landed softlyand Booley jumped out as if the Firefly were on fire.

What’s the matter?

It’s time, Lieutenant Wales.

Time?

For you to solo.

Oh. OK.

Up I went. (After first making sure my parachute was strapped¹⁷ on.) I did one or two circuitsround the airfield, talking to myself all the while: Full power. Keep the wheel on the white line.

Pull up… slowly! Dip the nose. Don’t stall! Turn in the climb. Level off. OK, now you’redownwind. Radio the tower. Check your ground markers.

Pre-landing checks.

Reduce power!

Start to descend¹⁸ in the turn.

There you go, steady now.

Roll out there, line up, line it up.

Three-degree flight path, get the nose on the piano keys.

Request clearance¹⁹ to land.

Point the aircraft where you want it to land…I made an uneventful one-bounce landing and taxied off the runway. To the average person itwould’ve looked like the most mundane²⁰ flight in the history of aviation. To me it was one of themost wonderful moments of my life.

Was I a pilot now? Hardly. But I was on my way.

I jumped out, marched up to Booley. My God, I wanted to high-five him, take him out fordrinks, but it was out of the question.

The one thing I absolutely didn’t want to do was say goodbye to him, but that was whatneeded to happen next. Now that I’d soloed, I needed to embark²¹ on the next phase of my training.

As Booley was so fond of saying, it was time.

 

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

4 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

5 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

6 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

7 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

8 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

9 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

11 stunt   

n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长

参考例句：

• Lack of the right food may stunt growth.缺乏适当的食物会阻碍发育。
• Right up there is where the big stunt is taking place.那边将会有惊人的表演。

12 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

13 deafening   

adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The noise of the siren was deafening her. 汽笛声震得她耳朵都快聋了。
• The noise of the machine was deafening. 机器的轰鸣声震耳欲聋。

14 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

15 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

16 airfield   

n.飞机场

参考例句：

• The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
• The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。

17 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 descend   

vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降

参考例句：

• I hope the grace of God would descend on me.我期望上帝的恩惠。
• We're not going to descend to such methods.我们不会沦落到使用这种手段。

19 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

20 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

21 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。