Hot-air balloon legend 熱氣球飛行家的故事

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Hot-air balloon legend 熱氣球飛行家的故事

學習要點

有關 「hot-air balloons(熱氣球)」 的詞彙

邊看邊答

What were Don Cameron and his group the first to do?

文字稿

Don Cameron, Founder, Cameron Balloons
唐‧卡梅倫          卡梅倫氣球(Cameron Balloons)創辦者

It has a kind of a magical, gravity-defying feeling about it. You can fly much more low [much lower] – near the ground. And you can even talk to people on the ground, and you’re going slow enough to appreciate what is floating past you.

它有一種神奇的、失重的感覺。你可以飛得很低,接近地面。你甚至可以和在地面上的人交談,而且緩慢的飛行速度是欣賞身邊過的美景的良機。

I’m Don Cameron, and we’re in the balloon factory here in Bristol – Cameron Balloons.

我是唐‧卡梅倫。我們在布里斯托爾的氣球工廠——卡梅倫氣球。

We do special-shaped balloons, and we can make almost any shape. Animals are most fun I suppose. We built all sorts of animals – dinosaurs and squirrels, almost everything.

我們製作特殊形狀的氣球,幾乎所有的形狀都能做。製作動物形狀的氣球是最有趣的。我們做過各種各樣的動物——恐龍、松鼠,無奇不有。

It was a group of us from the gliding club who decided to build our own balloon. And we built the first modern hot-air balloon this side of the Atlantic. It was called the Bristol Belle. We started work in 1966 and didn’t finish it until the summer of 1967.

我們滑翔俱樂部裡的一群人決定自己做一個熱氣球。我們製作了歐洲的第一個現代熱氣球。它被稱為「布里斯托爾貝萊(Bristol Belle)」。我們從1966年開始製作它,直到1967年夏天才結束。

Building balloons over the years hasn’t changed a great deal. It’s still done with sewing machines. It’s still done with a light fabric.

這些年來,製作熱氣球的工序並沒有改變多少。熱氣球現在還用縫紉機來做,還是用輕薄布料做。

Here you see people packing a balloon into a bag. They’re having to work quite hard to get it in there. Now, that looks like a big one – it’s quite heavy.

這裡你可以看到人們把氣球塞進一個袋子裡。他們必須使勁裝才能把它裝進去。這個看起來像是個大的,應該很重。

Anything that has a bit of bulk to it, a bit of shape, a bit of volume, we wouldn’t admit defeat on.

就算一個熱氣球比較大,形狀奇特,體積大,我們也不會輕易認輸。

It’s totally different from being in an aeroplane. Flying a hot-air balloon is a kind of magical experience, but it’s hard to explain. You really have to try it.

乘坐熱氣球和坐飛機的體驗完全不同。乘坐熱氣球飛行是一個奇妙的經歷,很難用語言描述,必須得自己去體會。

詞彙

gravity-defying 失重的

floating 漂浮的,浮動的

gliding 滑翔

volume 體積

問題答案

They built the first modern air balloon this side of the Atlantic (Europe).