中文雜誌館的部落格

經典款式CNN互動英語(互動光碟版) 12月號/2012 第147期

博客來語言學習-英文分類站長推薦

Free Falling
Daredevil Makes Record-Breaking Leap from the Edge of Space
人類高空跳傘創舉  突破音速極限

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR
That awe-inspiring free fall from the very edge of space. With millions watching around the world, adventurer Felix Baumgartner tumbled from a capsule attached to a hot-air balloon, breaking the speed of sound on the way down. Brian Todd has this incredible story. 

MISSION CONTROLLER
Jumper away.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT
With a heart-pounding hop into the stratosphere, Felix Baumgartner makes history. He jumps from 128,000 feet above the earth, 24 miles up—higher than anyone before him. During free fall, he spun for a few harrowing moments, but stabilized quickly.

CNN 主播  約翰?沃斯
從太空邊緣自由墜落，實在讓人驚嘆不已。在全世界千萬人的注視下，冒險家菲利克斯?鮑加納從一個吊在熱氣球上的座艙一躍而下，在墜落的過程中突破了音速。布萊恩?陶德帶來這項令人不可置信的報導。

任務控制者跳傘者已躍下。

CNN 特派員  布萊恩?陶德
菲利克斯?鮑加納以驚心動魄的一躍，跳入了平流層，就此名垂青史。他從地面上空十二萬八千英尺的高度跳下，大約二十四英里——比前人都來得高。在自由墜落期間，他掙扎打轉了幾分鐘，但很快穩定下來。

FELIX BAUMGARTNER, STRATOSPHERE JUMPER
Started spinning so violent, it spun me around in all axes, you know, and I was always trying to find out how to stop this. You know, I was putting one arm out—it didn’t work—and then putting another arm out. But you’re always late because at that speed . . . when you travel at that speed with that suit it’s pressurized, you don’t feel the air at all.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT
In those first seconds he broke another record. No one had ever gone through the sound barrier outside a vehicle. Baumgartner reached a top speed of more than 700 miles an hour, well past the speed of sound.

Free fall lasted four minutes 19 seconds before his parachut opened. That’s short of the record for the longest free fall in history. But after he safely touched down, the man known as “Fearless Felix” was hailed as an aerospace pioneer.

FELIX BAUMGARTNER, STRATOSPHERE JUMPER
It’s hard to realize what happened right now because there’s still so many emotions, you know. I had tears in my eyes when I was coming back a couple of times because you’re sitting there and you thought about that moment so many times, you know, how it would feel and how it would look like, and this is way bigger than I anticipated.

平流層跳傘者  菲利克斯?鮑加納
突然開始劇烈打轉，天南地北地亂轉，我一直想找辦法止住這樣的旋轉。我伸出一隻手臂，可是沒有用，於是又伸出另一隻手臂。不過，在那種速度之下，你的動作總是來不及……在那種速度之下行進，又穿著加壓的服裝，根本感覺不到空氣。

CNN 特派員  布萊恩?陶德
在起初那幾秒，他也打破了另一項紀錄。以前從來沒有人在載具外突破音障。鮑加納的極速達到每小時七百英里以上，遠超過音速。

自由墜落持續了四分十九秒（註：官方紀錄為四分二十二秒），接著他的降落傘打開了。這段時間還不及史上歷時最長的自由墜落紀錄。不過，在安全降落之後，人稱「無畏菲利克斯」的他隨即被盛讚為一位航天先驅。

平流層跳傘者  菲利克斯?鮑加納
我現在很難理解究竟發生了什麼事，因為我心中還是百感交集。我好幾次回想這一切，眼中不禁泛出淚水，因為我就坐在那裡，之前一再想像那個時刻，想像那會是什麼感覺，風景看起來會是什麼樣子，結果這遠遠比我預期的還要偉大。