万花筒 2013-01-12&0114 热气球婚礼惊险着陆

 A high flying wedding that ended an alarming crash landing for a couple getting married up in the air. Everyone is OK but what a scary it was. ABC's Rob Nelson here with the story.   

-Hey, Rob.

-Good morning, scary is the right word. As many of us know, marriages are supposed to be for better or worse. But for the couple you're about to meet that worst part it came way too soon and way too high.

It was supposed to be a romantic sunset wedding in a hot air balloon, but romance quickly turned to fear. The couple and 11 others, including their wedding party and the balloon's operator bracing¹ for a crash landing. 

Karen and Jonathan Narccis had just exchanged vows² thousands of feet in the air. 

Now, they were on their sides, stranded³ in a stranger's back yard.

“This is our crash landing here.”

A member of the wedding party recorded the crash on her cellphone. The newlyweds had no idea what was happening.

-The first couple of times he tried to land in the.

-we floated over,yeah. 

-Yeah, We kept missing landing spots. And next thing you know, we’re descending⁴ and I’m thinking how is he going to land here because there is no place to land.

The balloon hit a fence, skidded⁵ through some trees and then finally stopped.

-I got a little worried when we hit the fence and I thought, “Well, if the fence doesn't stop us then we're going down this hill.”

Making the ordeal⁶ all the more terrifying, the bride's dream of a mid-air wedding was actually the groom's worst nightmare. As it turns out, he's scared of heights.

“I'm terrified, yeah...”

And one of the balloon's occupants did suffer a minor⁷ back injury and was transported to a local hospital just as a precaution. No other injuries were reported. The couple actually continued onto the reception. If ever there was a need for an open bar, that would be a good one.

1 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

2 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

3 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

4 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

5 skidded   

v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区

参考例句：

• The car skidded and hit a lamp post. 那辆汽车打滑撞上了路灯杆。
• The car skidded and overturned. 汽车打滑翻倒了。

6 ordeal   

n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验

参考例句：

• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
• Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。

7 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。