In 1963 a Lancaster bomber crashed on Wallis Island, a remote place in the South Pacific, a long way west of Samoa. The plane wasnt too badly damaged, but over the years, the crash was forgotten and the wreck remained undisturbed. Then in 1989, twenty-six years after the crash, the plane was accidentally rediscovered in an aerial survey of the island. By this time, a Lancaster bomber in reasonable condition was rare and worth rescuing. The French authorities had the plane packaged and moved in parts back to France. Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. It has four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, but the group will need to have only three of them rebuilt. Imagine their surprise and delight when they broke open the packing cases and found that the fourth engine was sweet as honey -- still in perfect condition. A colony of bees had turned the engine into a hive and it was totally preserved in beeswax!
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
Lancaster n. 蘭開斯特
bomber n. 轟炸機
remote adj. 偏僻的
Pacific n. 太平洋
damage v. 毀壞
wreck n. 殘骸
rediscover v. 重新發(fā)現(xiàn)
aerial adj. 航空的
survey n. 調(diào)查
rescue v. 營救
package v. 把......打包
enthusiast n. 熱心人
restore v. 修復
imagine v. 想像
packing case 包裝箱
colony n. 群
bee n. 蜂
hive n. 蜂房
preserve v. 保護
beeswax n. 蜂蠟
1963年,一架蘭開斯特轟炸機在瓦立斯島毀。那是南太洋中一個很偏僻的小島,位于薩摩亞群島以西,距離群島還有很長一段距離。飛機損壞的程度并不嚴重,但是,多年來這起飛機失事已被遺忘,飛機殘骸也沒受到破壞。于是,到了1989年,飛機失事26年后,在對小島的一次航空勘查中那架飛機被意外地發(fā)現(xiàn)了。到了那個時候,狀況良好的蘭開斯特轟炸機實屬罕見,值得搶救。法國政府讓人把飛機包裝起來,一部分一部分地搬回法國。一群熱心人計劃修復這架飛機。該飛機裝裝配有4臺羅爾斯-羅伊斯的默林發(fā)動機,但是他們只需要修復其中的3臺。想一想他們所感受到的驚奇和興奮 —— 當他們拆開包裝箱時,他們發(fā)現(xiàn)第4臺發(fā)動機就像蜂蜜一樣甜 —— 發(fā)動機完好無損。一群蜜蜂把發(fā)動機當作了蜂房,發(fā)動機在蜂蠟中被完整地保存了下來。