Who Was Amelia Earhart 阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特 Chapter 8 The Final Flight

Amelia Earhart wanted to fly around the world. Although other pilots had circled the globe, she would fly close to the equator¹. This would make a longer and harder trip—29,000 miles.

A special plane was needed—a new Lockheed model called the Electra. The plane was large enough to carry ten passengers. But Amelia had the seats removed. Extra fuel tanks were put in. This allowed the plane to fly up to three thousand miles before stopping to refuel.

The Electra had new radio equipment. Amelia would be able to communicate by voice and code². It also had two engines that made it more complicated³ to fly. Amelia had to train with different pilots to learn how to fly it. It would take months to prepare for the trip.

Amelia and George hired two navigators to fly with Amelia. They would help Amelia stay on course.

The flight path would go from east to west. Amelia would take off from California and head toward⁴ Hawaii. On March 17, 1937, the Electra left Oakland, California. Amelia and her two navigators arrived in Honolulu about 16 hours later. The first leg of the trip was a success.

Then Amelia had an accident.

As Amelia was taking off from Honolulu, the plane lurched out of control. The landing⁵ gear⁶ collapsed⁷. A wing was torn open. Luckily, no one was hurt. But the $100,000 plane was badly damaged. It had to be shipped back to Lockheed on the mainland⁸. Almost two months went by before the plane was ready to fly again.

Because of the delay, one of the navigators could not continue the flight. That left only the other man—Fred Noonan.

There was also another change. Due to weather patterns, the flight path had to be reversed⁹. Amelia would now fly from west to east. On May 21, Amelia left Oakland, California, and headed east to Miami, Florida. The whole world was watching.

The trip started off well. From Miami, Amelia flew to Puerto Rico. Then she flew along the east coast of South America to Venezuela, then on to Surinam and Brazil. The Electra was holding up well. But there was not much room to move around. Amelia communicated with Fred Noonan by passing notes on a fishing pole. It was better than climbing over the extra fuel tanks.

Amelia flew over forty hours and four thousand miles in the first week. And that was just the beginning. She flew over the Atlantic and crossed to Africa. Within three weeks she had flown twenty thousand miles in 135 hours. Amelia was getting tired. She would be glad when the long hours of flying were over.

By July 1, Amelia had reached New Guinea. From New Guinea she’d go to Howland Island and then to Honolulu, Hawaii. The next—and last—stop would be Oakland, California. There were only 7,000 miles left on the 29,000 mile trip. Most of these last miles were over the Pacific Ocean.

On July 2, Amelia took off from New Guinea. The trip to Howland was to take about 19 hours. Howland was a tiny island in the Pacific. It was only two miles long and three quarters of a mile wide. It would be very hard to find. But it was the only place to land and refuel. Amelia had to depend on Fred Noonan to spot the tiny strip¹⁰ of sand.

To help Amelia and Fred, a U.S. Coast Guard ship was sent to Howland. The ship would be waiting at the island. It would send out a signal to guide the Electra in for landing.

On July 2, Amelia took off from New Guinea. She had radio contact with New Guinea for the next seven hours. But then she went out of range. Amelia was supposed to reach Howland Island early the next morning. Throughout the night, the radiomen on the Coast Guard ship heard short messages from Amelia. But they could not tell how far out she was. The captain was worried. Amelia did not seem to hear their radio messages. And they couldn’t get a fix on her when she called in to them.

At 7:42 A.M., the radiomen on the Coast Guard ship got a brief message. Amelia said, “We must be on you but cannot see you and gas is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio.” Again, the Coast Guard tried to respond. However, it seemed that Amelia could still not hear them. They tried to locate her plane. But her messages were not long enough to do it.

At 8:45 A.M., one more message came in from Amelia. The last thing she said was “We are running north and south.” Amelia was frantically¹¹ searching for Howland Island. But she never found it.

Right away a rescue mission¹² was begun. More than four thousand men on ten ships searched the Pacific. Another 65 airplanes flew in to help search for Amelia and Fred.

So what happened? Did Amelia’s plane crash into the Pacific Ocean? Or was she able to land on some remote island? Neither Fred Noonan nor Amelia Earhart were ever found or heard from again.

The mystery captured¹³ the public’s imagination. For years after the plane’s disappearance¹⁴, “news” stories would pop up. Some said Amelia was a prisoner of war. Others said she was alive and well, living on a remote island. But no story was ever proven true.

Even today, people are still looking for Amelia’s plane. An underwater robot submarine¹⁵ has scoured¹⁶ the Pacific Ocean floor where the Electra may have gone down. Search parties still occasionally¹⁷ hike through remote Pacific islands near Howland, hoping to find a clue in the overgrown jungles.

Who knows? Someday the remains¹⁸ of Amelia’s plane may be found. Whether that happens or not, it doesn’t change what Amelia Earhart did in her lifetime. She didn’t just fly planes. She didn’t just break records. She opened doors for women all over the world. She was a pioneer who said, “You can do anything you decide to do.”

1 equator   

n.赤道，（平分球形物体的面的）圆

参考例句：

• Singapore is near the equator.新加坡位于赤道附近。
• The United States is north of the equator.美国位于赤道以北。

2 code   

n.代码，代号，密码；法典，法规，规划

参考例句：

• What's the code for Tianjin?天津的代号是多少？
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

3 complicated   

adj.错综复杂的，麻烦的，结构复杂的

参考例句：

• The poem is so complicated that I cannot make out its meaning.这首诗太复杂，我理解不了它的意思。
• This is the most complicated case I have ever handled.这是我所处理过的最为复杂的案子。

4 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。

5 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？

6 gear   

n.齿轮，传动装置，设备，衣服；vt.使适应

参考例句：

• We have to gear our lives to the new changes.我们必须使自己的生活适应新的变化。
• The teeth of the wheel gear into each other.齿轮互相啮合。

7 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

8 mainland   

n.大陆，本土

参考例句：

• The new bridge will link the island to the mainland.新的桥梁将把该岛与大陆连接在一起。
• Hong Kong's prosperity relies heavily on mainland.香港的繁荣在很大程度上依赖于大陆。

9 reversed   

v.（使）反转( reverse的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）颠倒；（使）翻转；推翻adj.颠倒的

参考例句：

• The new president reversed many of the policies of his predecessor. 新任总统彻底改变了其前任的许多政策。
• The appeal court reversed the original verdict and set the prisoner free. 上诉法庭撤销了原判，把那个犯人释放了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 strip   

n.长条，条状；连环漫画；n.脱衣舞；vt.脱衣，剥夺；挤干(牛奶)；vt.拆卸；去除(烟叶的茎)；vi.脱衣，表演脱衣舞；剥落

参考例句：

• I need one more strip of cloth to finish this decoration.我还要一根布条来完成这个装饰品。
• We had to strip the old paint from the doors.我们只好把门上的旧漆刮掉。

11 frantically   

ad.发狂地, 发疯地

参考例句：

• He dashed frantically across the road. 他疯狂地跑过马路。
• She bid frantically for the old chair. 她发狂地喊出高价要买那把古老的椅子。

12 mission   

n.使命，任务，天职；代表团，使团

参考例句：

• He was charged with an important mission.他受委托承担一项重要使命。
• I'll leave you to undertake an important mission.我要让你承担一项重要使命。

13 captured   

俘获( capture的过去式和过去分词 )； 夺取； 夺得； 引起（注意、想像、兴趣）

参考例句：

• Allied troops captured over 300 enemy soldiers. 盟军俘虏了300多名敌方士兵。
• Most of the rebels were captured and disarmed. 大部分叛乱分子被俘获并解除了武装。

14 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

15 submarine   

n.潜水艇；adj.水底的，海底的；vt.用潜艇袭击；vi.滑入...底下

参考例句：

• Within a short time,everything on the submarine was buttoned up.不一会儿，潜水艇内所有的东西都扣紧了。
• The submarine signaled for help.潜水艇发出求救的信号。

16 scoured   

走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮

参考例句：

• We scoured the area for somewhere to pitch our tent. 我们四处查看，想找一个搭帐篷的地方。
• The torrents scoured out a channel down the hill side. 急流沿着山腰冲刷出一条水沟。

17 occasionally   

adv.偶然地；非经常地

参考例句：

• He went on talking,occasionally wiping at his face with a towel.他继续说着，偶尔用毛巾擦一下脸。
• I like playing football best,but occasionally I play table tennis,too.我最喜欢踢足球，偶尔也打打乒乓球。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。