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飄過的美景的良機。
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).
