Who Was Neil Armstrong - 尼尔·阿姆斯特朗 Chapter 4 Test Pilot

Neil had been younger than nearly all the other students when he first enrolled¹ at Purdue. But he’d been away for three years. When he returned in September of 1952, he was twenty-two and older than most students. He was more mature. He was ready to study harder. During his last two years at Purdue, his grades improved greatly. He also joined a fraternity and—for the very first time—fell in love.
Her name was Janet Shearon. Everyone called her Jan. She was an eighteen-year-old freshman² at Purdue. Whereas³ Neil was quiet, Jan was outgoing. She loved being around people. She and Neil were married in 1956, several months after his graduation. Neil’s hope was to become an experimental⁴ test pilot. Not only would he get to fly new types of aircraft, but he would help figure out ways to build better planes.
At Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of California, the newest planes were first tried out. Naturally, Neil wanted to work there.
So he and Jan moved to California. This meant Jan had to leave Purdue without finishing her degree. But Neil’s career came first.
At Edwards Air Force Base, one of the planes Neil flew was called the X-15. It was rocket propelled⁵. Instead of taking off from an airstrip, it had to be launched⁶ from another plane already in flight. The X-15 could go nearly 4,000 miles an hour and reach an altitude of 207,500 feet. (Today, regular passenger jets⁷ travel at about six hundred miles an hour, at an altitude of about 40,000 feet.)
The X-15 was flying fifty miles above the Earth. That altitude is considered the start of outer space. So flying the X-15 was an early test for flying into space.
Neil said, “We were using airplanes as tools to gather all kinds of information, just as an astronomer⁸ uses a telescope as a tool. We didn’t fly often, but when we did, it was unbelievably exciting.”
Even when Neil was on the ground, he lived high up in the San Gabriel Mountains. He and Jan bought a little cabin⁹, far from town. It didn’t even have hot water. Sometimes Neil would fly by in a small plane and Jan would wave out the window.
Jan, who was an expert swimmer, taught lifesaving classes to children. She and Neil also wanted to have a family of their own. In 1957, their first child, Eric, was born. His parents called him Rick. Two years later, in 1959, the Armstrongs had a little girl. Her name was Karen. But Neil gave her a nickname¹⁰, too. It was Muffie. Neil was especially close to his little daughter, who was a sweet and happy child.
Then in the summer of 1961, two-year-old Muffie fell and hit her head on a sidewalk. It wasn’t a bad accident. Yet, afterward¹¹, her eyes became crossed. She started to run fevers. She tripped all the time. Her parents took her to a doctor right away. The news was terrible—Muffie had cancer. There was a tumor¹² deep inside her brain.
Today there are so many medicines to treat cancer; unfortunately many of them were not discovered until after Muffie became sick. Doctors did everything they could to make her well. She lived through Christmas but died at home with her family on a Sunday morning in January of 1962.
People who knew the Armstrongs said they seemed to age overnight¹³. How could something so terrible have happened?
For some people, talking about a tragedy helps them bear the pain. But not for Neil Armstrong. He kept the sadness to himself. He never spoke¹⁴ about Muffie’s death then or ever. New friends often didn’t realize that Neil Armstrong once had a daughter.
A week after Muffie died, Neil went back to work flying test planes. And a few months later, he made a big decision. The decision changed the rest of his life. He applied¹⁵ to become an astronaut.

1 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 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。

3 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

4 experimental   

adj.实验的，用作实验的，根据实验的

参考例句：

• This trip will be only experimental.这次旅行只是试验性的。
• The experimental farm is near the waterpower station.实验农场靠近水电站。

5 propelled   

推进( propel的过去式和过去分词 )； 推动； 驱动； 驱使

参考例句：

• A volcano erupted and propelled rocks high into the sky. 火山爆发，把无数的石块抛向天空。
• His addiction to drugs propelled him towards a life of crime. 他吸毒成瘾使他走上犯罪的道路。

6 launched   

v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 )；[计算机]开始（应用程序）；发动；开展（活动、计划等）

参考例句：

• He launched a bitter diatribe against the younger generation. 他对年轻一代发起了猛烈的抨击。
• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide. 这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。

7 jets   

n.喷嘴( jet的名词复数 )；喷气式飞机；喷射流；煤玉

参考例句：

• The firemen directed jets of water at the burning building. 消防队员把水柱喷向燃烧着的楼房。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 astronomer   

n.天文学家

参考例句：

• A new star attracted the notice of the astronomer.新发现的一颗星引起了那位天文学家的注意。
• He is reputed to have been a good astronomer.他以一个优秀的天文学者闻名于世。

9 cabin   

n.(结构简单的)小木屋；船舱，机舱

参考例句：

• They threw up a new cabin in a couple of hours.在几小时之内他们就建起了一座新的小屋。
• It's very hot in the cabin;let's go on deck.舱室内很热，我们到甲板上去吧。

10 nickname   

n.绰号，昵称；v.给...取绰号，叫错名字

参考例句：

• She called me by my nickname.她叫我的外号。
• Why do you fasten such a nickname on her?你为什么给她取这样一个绰号？

11 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

12 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

13 overnight   

ad.前一天晚上，一夜间 a.前一天晚上的

参考例句：

• She stayed overnight in the hotel. 她在旅馆过了一夜。
• Our success is not won overnight. 我们的成功不是一夜之间得来的。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。