高考英语冲刺阅读理解训练题（二十二）_高考复习指南

高考英语冲刺阅读理解训练题（二十二）

　　On its departure from Edwards Air Force Base in California on December 14, 1986, the Voyager’s success seemed doubtful. The plane taxied to the very end of the runway before slowly becoming airborne. The tips of its wings dragged limply on the ground. With this menacing takeoff, the Voyager started on its history making flight around the world.

　　Circling the globe without stopping had been done before. However, the Voyager was the first plane to fly around the world without refueling.

　　To carry enough fuel for such a trip required a plane designed for efficiency. The wings of the Voyager are light and flexible, so flexible that they flap (拍动), bowing at a 12 meter arc. In rough air the plane pitches and rolls, like a row-boat in heavy swells.

　　To keep the plane light, the cockpit has only one seat. The crew, made up of Jeana Yeager and Dick Ruyan, had to roll over each other to switch off piloting duties. Finally, to maintain maximum efficiency, the plane can’t fly faster than 200km/hr. On average it goes no faster than a race car in the Indy 500. At this speed, it took nine cramped (难忍的) days to circle the globe. The journey of the Voyage was as much a testimony to human endurance as it was to innovative engineering.

　　The Voyager’s route was planned to avoid two dangers: rough weather and unpredictable or hostile countries. Even with the careful planning, the crew ran into both. They had to pass close by a hurricane, at one point doing a 180-degree turn to avoid heavy turbulence (猛烈地、无规则地气流). Refused emergency permission to fly over Vietnam, the Voyager skirted dangerously close to a wall of thunderstorms, looming more than 25,000 meters high. They suffered a broken wing tip before they even left the ground and came uncomfortably close to crashing in the 11th hour.