Level 1 Reading 12B

Ch.24 Reading 12B

第24章 阅读12B

THE MISSING PILOT On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan left Lae, New Guinea, for Howland Island in the Pacific. This was without a doubt the longest and most dangerous part of their trip around the world. Earhart had trouble shortly after takeoff. The weather was stormy, so she had to fly at approximately 3,000 meters. Going this high, the plane used up gas quickly. After about 20 hours, Earhart and Noonan approached Howland Island. The island was only about a hundred kilometers away at this point, but the bright sun was shining in their faces, so they couldn't see it. Near Howland, a ship—the Itasca—was waiting. Earhart contacted the ship:"Gas is low," she said. The Itasca tried to maintain contact with her, but it got no response. Finally, the Itasca called for help. People searched for Earhart and Noonan for days. Despite great efforts, they found nothing. Answers to a Mystery? What happened to Amelia Earhart? No one knows for sure. During the flight, she likely headed in the wrong direction because the sun was bright and it was hard to see. Perhaps she and Noonan got lost somewhere over the Pacific; soon after, her plane ran out of gas, and she crashed into the sea. Another idea is that Earhart might have landed on a nearby, uninhabited island called Nikumaroro, where she later died. Researchers recently brought bone-sniffing dogs to the island, though, and no human bones were found. However, the dogs did detect the smell of bones that decomposed long ago— these bones could have been Earhart's. A more extreme theory is that Earhart flew the plane to the Japanese-controlled Marshall Islands, a thousand kilometers to the north, and later secretly returned to the United States under a new name. The first theory seems most likely. However, none of these ideas has been proven. Today, people are still investigating Earhart's and Noonan's disappearance. Whatever happened, Earhart probably died as she wished. "When I go," she once said, "I'd like best to go in my plane."

失踪的飞行员 1937年7月2日， 阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特和弗雷德·努南离开新几内亚的莱城，前往太平洋的豪兰岛。 毫无疑问，这是他们环游世界之旅中最长、最危险的部分。 埃尔哈特在起飞后不久就遇到了麻烦。 天气暴风雨，所以她不得不在大约3000米的高空飞行。 飞机飞得这么高，很快就用完了汽油。 大约20小时后，埃尔哈特和努南接近豪兰岛。 此时，该岛距离此处仅约一百公里， 但明亮的阳光照在他们的脸上，所以他们看不见。 在Howland附近，一艘名为Itasca的船正在等待。 埃尔哈特联系了这艘船：“汽油不足，”她说。 伊塔斯卡试图与她保持联系，但没有得到回应。 最后，伊塔斯卡呼吁帮助。 人们搜寻埃尔哈特和努南好几天了。 尽管付出了巨大的努力，他们还是一无所获。 一个谜的答案？ 阿米莉亚·埃尔哈特怎么了？ 没有人确切知道。 在飞行过程中，她可能朝着错误的方向前进，因为太阳很亮，很难看到。 也许她和努南在太平洋的某个地方迷路了； 不久之后，她的飞机没油了，她坠入大海。 另一个想法是，埃尔哈特可能降落在附近一个名为尼库马罗罗罗的无人岛上，后来她在那里去世了。 不过，研究人员最近将嗅骨犬带到了该岛，但没有发现人类骨骼。 然而，狗确实闻到了很久以前腐烂的骨头的味道-- 这些骨头可能是埃尔哈特的。 一个更极端的理论是，埃尔哈特驾驶飞机前往日本控制的马绍尔群岛， 向北一千公里，后来以新名字秘密返回美国。 第一种理论似乎最有可能。 然而，这些想法都没有得到证实。 今天，人们仍在调查埃尔哈特和努南的失踪事件。 无论发生什么，埃尔哈特可能都如她所愿地去世了。 “我去的时候，”她曾经说过，“我最好坐飞机去。”

♪