Who Was Neil Armstrong - 尼尔·阿姆斯特朗 Chapter 3 The Wider World

When Neil started college, he had just turned seventeen. For the first time he was living away from his family. He got decent grades, as he had in high school. But he wasn’t focused on his studies, and the science classes were hard. He described his freshman¹ year as “kind of a whirl.”
After two years at Purdue came three years in the Navy. This was when Neil Armstrong became an airman. He was stationed in Pensacola, Florida, where he learned to fly small, single-engine fighter planes.

At Pensacola the training began with twenty short flights called “hops.” The instructor³ sat up front. Neil sat behind and had to pilot the plane even though it was harder to see from the back. Neil was graded on every hop². After that Neil went on to fly solo. He also took courses in aeronautic⁴ engineering as he had at Purdue.
He graduated and earned his “wings” pin from flight training school in August of 1950. Now he was a licensed⁵ Navy aviator⁶, and he was only twenty years old. He still had two years left at Purdue. However, Neil did not return to college as planned.
Why?
War had broken out—the Korean War, a war that lasted three years. The war sent Neil Armstrong halfway⁷ across the globe.

In Korea, Neil Armstrong belonged to Fighter Squadron 51. He was one of the very youngest pilots. The squadron flew small jets off a giant aircraft carrier called the USS Essex. Neil’s job was to bomb enemy bridges and railroad lines or scout⁸ areas where other planes would attack later on. To do this, Neil’s plane had to fly very low and close to the ground. During the Korean War, Neil flew on seventy-eight missions. It was a dangerous and stressful job. But Neil Armstrong never lost his cool.
On one mission, Neil was in his Panther jet plane making a low bombing run in a hilly area of Korea. Suddenly his plane was hit by enemy gunfire. Neil lost control as the craft took a nosedive, hurtling toward the ground. At five hundred feet, part of the right wing was sheared⁹ off by a cable strung across the valley as a booby trap. Luckily, Neil regained¹⁰ control of the plane again and flew back to friendly territory. But the plane was too badly damaged to land. Neil had to bail¹¹ out of the plane. His silk parachute billowed out, and he landed safely in a rice paddy. Two days later he was back aboard the aircraft carrier. Except for a cracked tailbone, Neil was unhurt.
Almost 34,000 Americans were killed in the Korean War, but Neil Armstrong returned home with many medals. Now it was time to finish up college and receive his diploma.

1 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

2 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

3 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

4 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

5 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

6 aviator   

n.飞行家，飞行员

参考例句：

• The young aviator bragged of his exploits in the sky.那名年轻的飞行员吹嘘他在空中飞行的英勇事迹。
• Hundreds of admirers besieged the famous aviator.数百名爱慕者围困那个著名飞行员。

7 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

8 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

9 sheared   

v.剪羊毛( shear的过去式和过去分词 )；切断；剪切

参考例句：

• A jet plane sheared the blue sky. 一架喷气式飞机划破蓝空。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The pedal had sheared off at the pivot. 踏板在枢轴处断裂了。 来自辞典例句

10 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

11 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。