英语PK台 第359期:飞行赤子心—专访空军上尉Tom Bould

 　　Track One

　　From a very young age I had a bit of a fascination¹ with flying

　　我自儿时便有些迷上了飞行

　　Bit of a fascination with speed

　　着迷那样的高速（驾驶）

　　As I went through school and into my A-Levels I wanted to pursue a flying career

　　初中毕业后进入高中学习，从那时起我就开始决定要追求飞行事业

　　I was lucky enough to get a flying scholarship with the Royal Air Force

　　我非常幸运地获得了皇家空军的飞行奖学金

　　They taught me to fly or gave me some flying lessons when I was seventeen, eighteen.

　　我十七八岁的时候，他们教会了我如何飞行，还教给我很多有关飞行的知识

　　Went to university—joined the University Air Squadron there

　　上大学后，我加入了学校的空军中队

　　Had more of an insight into the air force and had some more flying

　　这让我对空军有了更多了解，也获得了更多的飞行经验

　　At that point I was hooked—I knew I wanted to fly and knew I wanted to be a Royal Air Force pilot.

　　那个时候我已经彻底爱上飞行，我知道我渴望飞行，并且想要成为一名皇家空军的飞行员

　　I applied² and was successful enough to fly ‘fast jets’ and then to be in a position to apply for the Red Arrows and be successful to join.

　　我申请后成功获得了驾驶“快速喷气机”的机会，然后就有资格申请加入红箭了，我成功了

　　In the university air squadron what were you flying?

　　你在大学的飞行中队中都驾驶了什么飞机呢？

　　A Grob Tutor—two seat piston³ aircraft

　　格劳博教练机，两座活塞式飞机

　　How long did it take you before you could fly on your own?

　　你用了多长时间才能独立飞行呢？

　　Ten hours—you are in at the deep end so you had about ten hours then you go off on your own

　　十个小时，从没有任何经验的情况下被置于一种很难的环境当中，所以有十个小时，然后就自己驾驶了

　　I remember vividly⁴ what it felt like being at the end of a runway and you are in an aircraft on your own—it was a great feeling.

　　我一直记得很清楚那种在跑道尽头等待起飞，然后独自驾驶着飞机一飞冲天的感觉，真是棒极了！

　　You do a lot of theory based—a lot of practical and then a lot in the aircraft

　　也要学习许多飞行理论吧，很多实操，然后在飞行中操作运用

　　Ten hours in the aircraft is quite a bit

　　在飞机中的十个小时太短暂了

　　We did the taxiing as we were flying

　　我们飞行的时候先滑行

　　Went out, got airborne and brought her back

　　出发、起飞然后飞回来

　　You were lined up on the runway—your very first solo flight

　　当在跑道上列队就绪，人生中第一次独立飞行时

　　It was one of those surreal moments

　　就像做梦一样，不可置信

　　At the time you think it is fantastic—but you are actually concentrating on what is coming up next

　　当你觉得此时此刻实在太酷了的时候，你已经开始全神贯注在接下来的操作中

　　You have checks to do and you are actually working reasonably hard

　　你开始各种程序检查，并且完全专注投入

　　It is then that you land afterwards, you get out and it sinks in what you have done—and it is a great feeling.

　　直到着陆后，你从机舱里走出，回味你之前完成的一切，此时的感觉爽呆了

　　Track Two

　　When you are going along the runway—you reach a point where there is no going back

　　滑上跑道之后——你只能前进，无法后退

　　Yes—you know what is happening—you get to that ‘Rotate’ point and you are going to get airborne

　　是的—你明白接下来会发生什么——你会到达那样一个起飞临界点，紧接着你将腾空而起

　　You are briefing yourself on what is going to come up next

　　你会简略过一遍接下来的操作

　　but it is a great feeling, first time you get airborne on your own

　　但是这种感觉很棒，毕竟人生第一次单飞

　　Which is more thrilling, taking off or landing?

　　起飞和着陆，哪个更刺激？

　　That is a good question — they are both very similar - you are working very hard on both of them

　　问得好—这两个很相似——你在这两点上都付出很大的努力去学习和训练

　　You don't have that time to think about it too much - you are just concentrating on the job in hand — so, equally!

　　你没时间去想太多——你不得不集中注意力在手头的操作上——因此我认为二者同样刺激

　　You are doing this manually, it is not autopilot

　　你是手动操作的，不是自动驾驶吗？

　　All the aircraft we fly —it is done manually

　　我们所有飞行的飞机——都是手动操作的

　　When you went into the Air Force —what were the aircraft you flew?

　　当你在空军服役时——你驾驶的是什么飞机？

　　My flying career — it is very similar to many of the pilots in the Red Arrows

　　我的飞行生涯——和很多红箭飞行员的很相似

　　I went through the training system

　　我通过了系统培训

　　Once I was qualified⁵ to fly ‘fast jets' I went back and instructed

　　获得驾驶“快速喷气机”的资格后，我就开始执教

　　I instructed on the Tucano for three years

　　我驾驶Tucano 教练机执教了3年

　　in 2010 I was lucky to be able to display that.

　　在2010年，我就已经很幸运能够驾驶该飞机表演

　　That gave me my first insight or flavour of what it was like to display aircraft

　　对于如何驾驶飞机表演，这给了我第一次的深刻的理解和认知

　　I went on to fly the Eurofighter Typhoon—I did that for three years

　　我还去驾驶了“欧洲台风战斗机”——我驾驶了三年

　　I applied to join the Red Arrows and was successful

　　然后我申请加入红箭队，成功了

　　‘Fast Jet' —what kind of speed?

　　“快速喷气机”——什么样的速度？

　　Speed is relative—in the Hawks⁶ we tend to fly around 400 knots —about 500 mph.

　　速度是相对的——我们驾驶鹰时大约是400节——就是500英里每小时

　　That is reasonably fast - the aircraft we fly in the Red Arrows is our training aircraft

　　那是相当的快了——我们在红箭队驾驶的飞机是训练机

　　it can go supersonic — when we fly it the speed is around the 400 knot mark

　　它能够超音速飞行——当我们驾驶它是速度是400节

　　There are other aircraft in the Royal Air Force that do go supersonic.

　　在皇家空军有其他的飞机也是超音速的

1 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

2 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

3 piston   

n.活塞

参考例句：

• They use a piston engine instead.他们改用活塞发动机。
• The piston moves by steam pressure.活塞在蒸汽压力下运动。

4 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

5 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

6 hawks   

鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物

参考例句：

• Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
• Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。