Who Was Neil Armstrong - 尼尔·阿姆斯特朗 Chapter 2 Real Planes

Neil was determined¹ to fly. Port Koneta airfield² was nearby. (Today it’s the Wapakoneta Neil Armstrong Airport.) As a teenager Neil took part-time jobs to pay for flying lessons.
He mowed³ the lawn at a cemetery⁴. He helped bake doughnuts at a doughnut company—more than 1,300 a night. He got the job at the doughnut company because he was small enough to climb inside the dough⁵ mixer and clean it! All this extra money went to flying lessons. By the time Neil was fifteen, he had earned his pilot’s license⁶. Now he knew how to fly a plane, but he was still too young to drive!
At Blume High School, only six blocks from his home, Neil wasn’t a top student. But he was better than average. Like his mother, he was musical. He played baritone horn in a jazz band called the Mississippi Moonshiners.
From the time he learned to read, he loved books. In his first year of elementary school he read more than a hundred! In high school, his favorite subjects were science and math. He wanted to go on to college; he wanted to learn more about planes and how they flew.
The Armstrongs were not poor. They owned their home; they had a car; there was always enough food. But money was still tight. And a college education was very expensive. Neil, however, was able to attend Purdue University in Indiana on a Navy scholarship. He wanted to study aeronautic⁷ engineering—how planes are built and what makes them fly. In return for the scholarship money, Neil had to serve in the U.S. Navy.
This arrangement was fine with Neil. In the Navy, he could fly planes!

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 airfield   

n.飞机场

参考例句：

• The foreign guests were motored from the airfield to the hotel.用车把外宾从机场送到旅馆。
• The airfield was seized by enemy troops.机场被敌军占领。

3 mowed   

v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The enemy were mowed down with machine-gun fire. 敌人被机枪的火力扫倒。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Men mowed the wide lawns and seeded them. 人们割了大片草地的草，然后在上面播种。 来自辞典例句

4 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

5 dough   

n.生面团；钱，现款

参考例句：

• She formed the dough into squares.她把生面团捏成四方块。
• The baker is kneading dough.那位面包师在揉面。

6 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

7 aeronautic   

adj.航空（学）的

参考例句：

• Something akin to panic swept the National Aeronautic and Space Agency. 一种近乎恐慌的心情席卷了国家宇航局。 来自辞典例句
• They are widely used in electronic instruments aeronautic instruments etc. 此类轴承在各类电子仪器中得以广泛运用。 来自互联网