时间:2018-12-06 作者:英语课 分类:47 The Mystery of the Hot Air


英语课

“Time for our first competition!” Sky announced suddenly.



“We’re starting with Hare and Hounds.” She explained that one balloon, the hare, would take off first. Shortly after, the other balloons would follow. Whoever landed closest to the hare would win.



“Who’s the hare?” someone asked.



“We’ll choose by lottery,” Matt said. He held up a bowl. In it were folded slips of paper. “On one of these is the word hare.”



Excitement shot through the group as the pilots lined up. One by one, they reached into the bowl. One after another, they said, “Hound.”



Don Fister pulled out his paper. He read it, then held it high over his head. “Hare!” he proclaimed.



Sky handed each pilot a map.



Matt said, “I just talked with the weather service. Conditions are perfect.” He turned to the Aldens. “Wait here,” he said. He went to the shed and came out with two small balloons on strings 1. He handed one to Soo Lee and one to Benny. “When I give the signal, let these balloons go,” he directed.



Violet looked puzzled. These were ordinary party balloons. She couldn’t imagine why they were needed.



Sky answered her unspoken question. “These balloons are filled with helium. Like hot air, it’s lighter 2 than the surrounding atmosphere. We use them to test the winds.”



Matt said, “Now!” and Soo Lee and Benny released the balloons.



Everyone watched the balloons climb and drift. Finally satisfied that they had enough information to make successful flights, the balloonists hurried to their launch sites.



Sky and Matt were not going up today, so they didn’t need the Aldens’ help. “You can watch Don get ready,” Sky suggested.



Don and his crew unpacked 3 their balloon and carefully spread it over the ground. Then, they installed the propane tanks in the basket and tipped it on its side.



“Getting ready to fly is a lot of work,” Benny observed.



“Yes, it is,” Don said. “Especially with my crew, they’re so slow,” he complained.



“And it has to be done correctly,” Henry said, “or they may have trouble.”



Finally, all the equipment was in place and the cables and ropes attached. The crew chief tested everything. Then, he started a gasoline-powered fan. Two crew members lifted the edges of the balloon, opening it to let in the fan’s airstream.



“Henry, you were certainly right,” Violet commented. “Pete Moran couldn’t have launched Brad Golder’s balloon alone.”



“It might have taken more than two people,” Jessie said.



Held down by crew members, the colorful balloon puffed 4 up, swaying gently in the breeze. Don Fister ducked inside.



“Why is he going inside the balloon?” Soo Lee asked.



“He’s checking for tears,” Jessie answered.



“And he’s making sure the opening in the top of the balloon is closed tightly,” Henry said. “It’s called the crown,” he added.



“Why is there an opening in the top of the balloon?” Benny asked. “If it has to be closed anyway . . .”



“It’s called a deflation port,” Henry explained. “When the pilot wants to come down, he pulls a cord to open it.”



Now Benny understood. He nodded. “And that lets air out.”



Don Fister emerged from inside the balloon. “Now for some heat,” he said. He turned a valve and lit the burner. With a loud whoosh 5, a yellow-blue flame shot through the balloon’s mouth, heating the air inside.



Pete Moran, a volunteer crew member, turned off the fan. Others held tight to the balloon ropes. As Don directed a series of heat bursts into the balloon covering, the balloon struggled to be free.



“Ease off!” the crew chief shouted, and the rope handlers loosened their hold.



Then, Don gave the order to let go of the ropes. The balloon rose, swaying, to an upright position.



“It’s going to take off!” Mary England cried.



The crew rushed forward. Mary joined them. They grabbed hold of the basket just as Don Fister hopped 6 inside.



After one last check, Don released another blast of heat. “Hands off!” he instructed, and everyone stood back.



The balloon and basket rose slowly skyward.



“Wow!” Benny exclaimed. “Look at it go!”



Pete Moran started his station wagon 7. Another volunteer hopped into the passenger seat. They would follow Don’s balloon to its landing site.



Everyone else was busy preparing their own balloons for flight. Before long, five more balloons took off, filling the sky with brilliant color.



“Quite a sight, isn’t it?” Matt said.



“It sure is!” the Aldens agreed.



Five cars pulled out of the port.



“There go the chase crews,” Benny observed.



Mary England came up beside them. “I ripped my stockings on that basket,” she said.



“You shouldn’t have grabbed the basket like that,” Matt said. “That’s the crew’s job.”



Mary ignored him. “I’m going home to change,” she said. “I’ll be back later.”



“Take your time,” Matt said, but Mary was already headed for her car.



One hour later, Brad Golder and his chase crew returned.



“I couldn’t find Fister anywhere,” Brad told them. “It was as if he just . . . disappeared.”



One after another, the balloonists returned, each with the same story: Don Fister was nowhere to be found. The Hare and Hounds contest was canceled.



“That’s strange,” Sky said. “He’s a good pilot, and we marked the maps with the best landing spots.”



“He’ll turn up,” Matt assured her.



When Pete returned without Don, even Matt looked worried.



“Don wasn’t following the course, and we just couldn’t keep up with him,” Pete said.



“Maybe we should all go looking for him,” Benny suggested.



Sky shook her head. “If his own crew couldn’t find him . . .” Her voice trailed off.



“Is there anything we can do?” Jessie asked.



Sky shrugged 8. “Pete can take the chase crew out for another search, and we can wait here to see if Don calls,” she answered.

 



1 strings
n.弦
  • He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上,随意地拨着吉他的弦。
  • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
2 lighter
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级
  • The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色,色调明朗了一些。
  • The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。
3 unpacked
v.从(包裹等)中取出(所装的东西),打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 );拆包;解除…的负担;吐露(心事等)
  • I unpacked my bags as soon as I arrived. 我一到达就打开行李,整理衣物。
  • Our guide unpacked a picnic of ham sandwiches and offered us tea. 我们的导游打开装着火腿三明治的野餐盒,并给我们倒了些茶水。 来自辞典例句
4 puffed
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧
  • He lit a cigarette and puffed at it furiously. 他点燃了一支香烟,狂吸了几口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He felt grown-up, puffed up with self-importance. 他觉得长大了,便自以为了不起。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 whoosh
v.飞快地移动,呼
  • It goes whoosh up and whoosh down.它呼一下上来了,呼一下又下去了。
  • Whoosh!The straw house falls down.呼!稻草房子倒了。
6 hopped
跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 ); 单足蹦跳; 齐足(或双足)跳行; 摘葎草花
  • He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
  • He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车,向市区开去。
7 wagon
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
8 shrugged
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式)
  • Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀,什么也没说。
  • She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩,装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
a brown eye
acoustical unit
acrylonitril butadiene styrene resin
AMEEGA
angular process (mandible)
beanflower
Biggekerke
blonde moment
bottom sector gate
bread tree
buoyancy vent
cardrooms
cerebral penetrating wound
clusters of needles
COLREGS
come down hard on sb
concentric-wound coil
cornman
cumulative temperature
cymming
diazonium hexafluorophosphate
duration of breaker contact
evaporation from land
fear of missing out
figurative element of mark
flap inlet
focal acral hyperkeratosis
genus trionyxes
gizzes
Gobiidae
good conscience
gordon identity
Great Zimbabwe Ruins National Park
ground communication system
guaiacol
having a cow
hydrangea family
internal-control
international mile
key to disk system
kohner
Komi-Permyatskiy Avtonomnyy Okrug
laelaps traubi
luidiid
mackerel gale
make oneself obeyed
mass mailing
maximum normal strain theory
McCloskey
measling
merzoite
methyl-hydrazine-sulfonic acid
mordors
mother's spot
nonmedically
nosographer
nucleus habenulae lateralis
onmod
ossebi
pear blight
Peristrophe tianmuensis
physiognomic categories
piexe handling time
pittari
Pleioblastus incarnatus
Preparation plant
printing-houses
Propacin
quadrature-axis synchronous impedance
radar conspicuous object
regulated value
reliability control
Rhabdophaga swainei
rocasil
rocklin
roll-driving shaft
roller lever activator
sample interval
seguidilla (spain)
shortened form
solid-state electrolyte oin sensor
source-destination order code
stichocyte
take the average
tangerine tree
task declaration
the lost generation
travia
treponemes
umbrella spray
unmoradanted
unobjectively
vacuum phototube
varix
velangiocarpy
Virignin
wadcutters
walens
washbasket
water starwort
western spruce
wet hydrogen