By Laura Antoinette Large 作者：劳拉·安托瓦内特·拉奇

　　For hundreds of years men have wished that they could fly like the birds. 几百年来，人类一直希望自己能像鸟儿一样飞翔。

　　Men first made balloons, but they could only drift with the winds. 人类首先制造了气球，但它们只能随风飘荡。

　　Then, just a few years ago, Orville and Wilbur Wright made an airplane. 然后，就在几年前，奥维尔和威尔伯·赖特制造了一架飞机。

　　When they first tried it, they could keep it up only about a minute. 第一次试飞时，只能坚持大约一分钟。

　　It could fly only a quarter of a mile. 只能飞0.25英里。

　　But that was only the beginning. 但这仅仅是开始。

　　We shall now see what a strong carrier of men and messages the airplane has become. 我们现在将看到，这架飞机已经成为一个强大的人员和信息载体。

　　Off to Paris 去巴黎

　　It was a few minutes before eight o’clock on the morning of May 20, 1927. 那是1927年5月20日早晨八点前几分钟。

　　On most days the sun is up and shining in the city of New York long before that hour, but on that morning the sun was not shining. 早在这个点之前，大部分日子太阳已经升起，并且已照耀了整个纽约城，但那天早上太阳还没有升起。

　　The sky was overcast with clouds, and there was a mist hanging over the city. 天空乌云密布，城市上空笼罩着薄雾。

　　A tall slim young man stepped out of an automobile at the aviation runway on Roosevelt Field. 在罗斯福机场的航空跑道上，一位身材高挑的年轻人从一辆汽车中走了出来。

　　A beautiful new airplane, with the name Spirit of St. Louis, stood near by. 附近停着一架漂亮的新飞机，名字叫“圣路易斯精灵”。

　　The tall young man stood still a moment. 那个高大的年轻人一动不动地站了一会儿。

　　He looked up into the sky toward the east and northeast. 他向东方和东北的天空望去。

　　The weather was bad around New York. 纽约周围的天气很恶劣。

　　What was the weather out on the ocean over which he was to travel? 他将要去海洋，那里天气如何？

　　What would it be later in the day? 晚些时候又会发生什么？

　　What might it be that night after darkness had set in? 夜幕降临后的那个晚上会是什么呢？