首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
I was only 8 years old on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old commander of Apollo 11, descended the cramped lunar mo
I was only 8 years old on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old commander of Apollo 11, descended the cramped lunar mo
admin
2015-05-24
88
问题
I was only 8 years old on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old commander of Apollo 11, descended the cramped lunar module Eagle’s ladder to become the first human on the moon. I didn’t miss a moment of the long, nerve-wracking chain of events that led to the Eagle creating the lunar base Tranquility(named in advance by Armstrong). It was stunning that this local kid who grew up on a farm with no electricity was leading America into the brave new world of lunar exploration. When Armstrong said, " That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," we were incommensurably awed at the greatness of it all. Not Armstrong. "Pilots take no particular joy in walking," he once said in full buzzkill mode. "Pilots like flying. "
For years I longed to hear Armstrong describe what it was like to contemplate Earth from 238,900 miles away. Former Space Center director George Abbey once told me that many NASA astronauts felt that looking at Earth was akin to a religious experience. Did Armstrong agree? What did it feel like—emotionally, spiritually—to stand on the surface of the moon? Could I get him to open up about the experience?
I originally wrote Armstrong in the early 1990s to request an interview about his Korean War service. He had flown 78 combat missions—was even hit with antiaircraft fire over enemy territory—and I wanted to write a book about it, A Band of Brothers about the flyboys of "the Forgotten War" who were assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Essex. I got a polite postcard rejection: "No thanks, but I’ll keep you in mind. "
It wasn’t until several years later that NASA asked me to conduct its official oral history of the "First Man. " I was surprised and honored to get a chance to interview him—and thrilled when the date was set for Sept. 19, 2001. Then I saw the horrifying collapse of the World Trade Center towers on TV. Like everyone else, I was grief-stricken. And I was also sure my Armstrong interview would get nixed. But it didn’t play out that way. To my utter astonishment, a NASA director telephoned me that Armstrong, no matter what, never missed a scheduled rendezvous. He was going to travel from Cincinnati to Houston to do the oral history in spite of the post-terrorist-attack airport madness. Armstrong journeying to Texas days after 9. 11 certainly wasn’t the phoenix-like Chuck Yeager, emerging from the pages of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuf in a glorious dust cloud of triumph. But his effort was impressive. The post-9. 11 skies were largely shut to commercial aircraft, but Armstrong, whose own boyhood hero was aviator Charles Lindbergh, stubbornly refused to cancel an appointment that he dreaded. It was a matter of honor.
The interview started out well, with a question about Lindbergh. He raved about the famed pilot of the Spirit of St. Louis. He told me about his personal correspondence with Lucky Lindy(a trove that is still off-limits to scholars). It dawned on me that perhaps the fear of the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Syndrome had driven Armstrong underground, had turned him into a quasi-recluse. As an impermeable skeptic, he trusted neither celebrity nor crass capitalism. But the oral history was tracking. And when I turned to the Korean War, mentioning novelist James Michener’s book The Bridges at Toko-Ri, he became surprisingly effusive. "Michener was on our ship," he said. "I think he went on three tours, two or three tours, you know, at four or five weeks at a crack, and would just sit around the wardroom in the evening or in the ready room in the daytime and listen to guys tell the actual stories. "
What I was most curious about was why Armstrong, a top U. S. Navy test pilot, flying the most advanced aircraft in the world, would want to join the astronaut corps in 1962, which included chimpanzees and monkeys. "It wasn’t an easy decision," he said. "I was flying the X-15 and I had the understanding or belief that if I continued, I would be the chief pilot of that project... Then there was this other project down at Houston, the Apollo program...I can’t tell you now just why in the end I made the decision I did, but I consider it as fortuitous that I happened to pick one that was a winning horse. "
According to the text, Neil Armstrong______.
选项
A、was awed by the author for his greatness
B、wrote the book entitled A Band of Brothers
C、enjoyed the experience of walking on the moon
D、was requested an interview about walking on the moon by the author in the 1990s
答案
A
解析
事实细节题。第一段第一句提到,Armstrong登月时,作者还处于孩童时期;由第二、三句可知,作者对他登月一事是无比崇拜的,并且很佩服这个在艰苦条件下长大的孩子会有这样的成就,故选[A]。第三段第二句中的I wanted to…carrier USS Essex.说明A Band of Brothers一书是写the flyboys of “the ForgottenWar”的,即“被遗忘的战争中的飞行员”,这本书是写Armstrong等人的,而不是Armstrong所写,故排除[B];由第一段末句可知,对Armstrong来说,月球行走并没有特别的乐趣,故排除[C];第三段首句提到20世纪90年代作者要就朝鲜战争的服役经历来采访Armstrong,而非登月经历,故排除[D]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/vJOO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、isspelleddifferentlyinBritishandAmericanEnglishB、ispronounceddifferentlyinBritishandAmericanEnglishC、ispronou
WhichofthefollowingisillegalinCalifornia?
A、Theybecomecloggedbeforelosingeffectiveness.B、They’reequippedwithbuilt-inmeasuringdevices.C、Theirsafety,limitsar
TheAmericanWay:FreedomTheheartoftheAmericancalendarisJuly4Americanshavecelebrat-ed-thisdateas"Independence
SimonFanshawepresentsdifferentpeople’sopinionsonBritishmannersbecause______.
AbreakthroughintheprovisionofenergyfromthesunfortheEuropeanEconomicCommunity(EEC)couldbebroughtforwardbyup
There’sadirtylittleSecretinmanyAmericanhomes--couplesfightaboutthehousework.It’sNo.1issuemyhusbandandIargue
TheimmigrantscomingtoBritainaremainlyfrom______.
TheScarletLetterbyHawthorneismainlyconcernedwith______.
随机试题
中年男性,37岁,胆囊切除术后4天,出现体温升高39℃,脉搏98次/分,血压120/90mmHg,轻度呼吸困难,听诊肺部呼吸音减弱,两肺底有湿性罗音应考虑病人出现了()
阅读《论毅力》中的一段文字,然后回答下列问题。盖人生历程,大抵逆境居十六七,顺境亦居十三四,而顺逆两境又常相间以迭乘。无论事之大小,必有数次乃至十数次之阻力,其阻力虽或大或小,而要之必无可逃避者也。其在志力薄弱之士,始固曰吾欲云云,吾欲云云,其意以为天下
碱性混浊尿加热加酸产生气泡可能是
患者,男性,20岁,头面部、颈部、双上肢深Ⅱ度烧伤,其烧伤面积约为
设图5-92(a)、(b)所示两根圆截面梁的直径分别为d和2d,许可荷载分别为[F]1和[F]2。若二梁的材料相同,则[F]2/[F]1等于()。
在融资租赁合同中,因出卖人不履行义务而产生索赔的权利,( )。
下列说法中不符合目光注视一般规律的是()。
根据《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010--2020年)》的规定,到2020年,基本普及学前()年教育。
“西部之光”是中组部、教育部、科技部等联合实施的一项西部地区人才培养计划,到2011年已经实施了()周年。
下列关于听觉的神经齐射理论,描述正确的有()
最新回复
(
0
)