Jingjing: Hey Mark, did you hear about the plane that almost crashed?

京晶：马克，听说那个飞机差点坠毁的事件了吗？

Mark: Which one? You mean the flight in China that was saved by the captain?

马克：哪一个？你指发生在中国的那个被机长救回来的航班？

Jingjing: Yeah, Captain Liu. He's a hero. Last week, it was all over the media.

京晶：是的，刘机长。他是一个英雄。上周，全国媒体都在报道此事。

Mark: It's a good thing he had his seatbelt on.

马克：幸好他系好了安全带。

Jingjing: It sure is. I read that the flight had reached a cruising altitude, and they were already starting meal service in the cabin.

京晶：的确。我了解到飞机那时已经到达巡航高度，机舱里已经开始在准备供应早餐了。

Mark: Wow, it's pretty rare for things to go wrong at that time in a flight. Luckily, the captain responded quickly and landed the plane safely.

马克：天哪，在飞行中的那个时段发生事故挺罕见的。幸运的是，机长迅速反应，让飞机安全着陆。

Jingjing: He had to land the plane manually. The plane was headed for Lhasa. But they had to do an emergency landing in Chengdu.

京晶：他必须得手动操作降落。飞机是飞往拉萨去的，但必须在成都紧急迫降。

Mark: The flight was out of Chongqing, wasn't it?

马克：飞机是从重庆起飞的吧？

Jingjing: That's right. So, they didn't get very far.

京晶：是的。所以，还飞得不太远。

Mark: I read another story last month about a Southwest Airlines flight that had a similar problem. Someone got sucked halfway out of the plane.

马克：我上个月还读到西南航空的一架飞机遇到类似问题。有人在途中被吸出飞机窗外。

Jingjing: Was it a passenger? Were they okay?

京晶：是乘客吗？他们一切顺利吗？

Mark: He was injured in the flight, and died later. But, you know, it's not like in the movies. It just takes a few seconds for the air pressure to equalize; and there's usually not enough force to propel a person very far.

马克：他在机上受伤了，之后不治身亡。但你知道，不像在电影里演的，其实几秒钟气压就可以恢复平衡，通常也没有那么大的力度把人推出那么远。

Jingjing: That's a relief. Whenever I hear a loud noise on a flight—usually just the landing gear or something—I worry that a hole is going to appear near my seat and take a bunch of people out.

京晶：那真是舒了一口气。只要我听到飞机上有很大声的噪音—通常是起落架或者别的，我都担心我的座位会出现一个洞，然后把一些人吸出去。

Mark: Well, that's not very likely. But every time something goes seriously wrong on a flight, it's a frightening reminder for everyone who travels by air.

马克：这是不太可能的。但每次飞机上出了什么严重状况，都会给坐飞机出行的人留下阴影。

Jingjing: I'm going to look up some facts on the Web about that stuff. See you later this afternoon.

京晶：我这就去网上查下这方面的资料。一会儿下午见。

New words: 习语短语

cruising altitude 飞机的巡航高度

the distance above sea level ideal for long-range flight (~35,000 feet)

cabin 机舱

the part of a plane for passengers and crew

manually (adverb) 手动操作地

controlled by a human, rather than automated

landing gear 起落架

the wheels, etc, of a plane

Dialogue 2

Mark: Well, Jingjing, did you spend all afternoon researching plane crashes?

马克：那，京晶，你整个下午都在搜关于坠机的东西吗？

Jingjing: Naw, I just spent a few minutes before buckling down to work. But I did get some fun facts.

京晶：没有呢。开始工作前就花了几分钟看了看。确实找到了些有趣的事实。

Mark: Oh yeah, what'd you find out?

马克：找到了些什么呢？

Jingjing: The odds of a flight crashing are 1 in 270,417.

京晶：坠机的几率是1/270417

Mark: Really, that doesn't sound so bad.

马克：是吗，听上去不那么糟。

Jingjing: Someone has to take 187,438 flights in order for their odds to reach 50%.

京晶：一个人必须要乘坐187438次飞机来次几率提升到50%。

Mark: I'll trust your math on that. Just for comparison, did you look up auto fatalities?

马克：那我就相信你的数学了。只是比较一下，你查过车祸死亡率吗？

Jingjing: I did. 88 people die in car accidents for every one person who dies in a commercial flight.

京晶：查过。88人死于车祸才有一人死于空难。（车祸死亡率是空难的88倍）

Mark: Yikes, now I'll be more careful than ever crossing the street.

马克：我的天哪，以后我过马路可得更加小心了。

Jingjing: Yeah, and buckle up when you ride in a car. Hey, back to the topic of air travel: did you see the movie Sully?

京晶：驾车时一定系好安全带。说回飞行这个话题，你看过电影《萨利机长》吗？

Mark: Yeah, I loved that movie! I saw it the day it opened in theaters, September 9 last year, and again on the internet when I found the video.

马克：看过，我太喜欢了，上映那天我就在影院里看了，去年的九月九号，在网上找到视频后我又看了一遍。

Jingjing: I thought that was a very well-made movie. Clint Eastwood directed it.

京晶：我认为这是一部拍得很好的片子。克林特·伊斯特伍德执导的。

Mark: Yeah, I'm a fan of all of his work. It was great to see Tom Hanks and Aaron Eckhart.

马克：他导的所有片子我都爱看。还能看见汤姆·汉克斯和阿伦·艾克哈特太棒了！

Jingjing: Maybe they'll make a movie about Captain Liu.

京晶：也许他们要给刘机长拍部电影。

Mark: I'd see that. We need more stories to be told about real heroes.

马克：我相信。我们需要更多的真英雄的故事。

New words: 习语短语

buckling down to work 开始专注工作

focusing, going to work for several hours uninterrupted

auto fatalities 车祸致死率

deaths caused by cars (including passengers and pedestrians killed)

commercial flight 非军用或体育类普通飞行，民用飞行

regular air travel (not military or sports)

buckle up 系好安全带

wear a seat belt