纽约英语口语网新版
波斯湾战机F15 F117
第 11 课

By 1981, funds were allocated for an entire wing of F-117 s fifty-nine planes in all 1981年, 国会特别拨款 全力生产59架F117

A new facility was built specifically to keep the highly-classified project under wraps为维护此一生产计划的保密性并特别建造一座新的厂房
The Stealth base at Tonopah Test Range sits deep in the Nevada desert 位于托纳把试验场的隐密战机基地就在内华达沙漠地底之下
Tonopah is so remote that pilots 由于托纳巴地处偏远
and crew are flown in for week-Iong stays 飞行员和地勤人员往往得做一星期长的驻留

This secrecy was considered necessary because of the tension between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1980由于80年代美苏之间情势的紧张 而势必采取此一保密措施
The F-117 was a major leap forward in the evolution of fighter aircraft F一117是战斗机种 改良过程中一大跃进
The Air Force knew it 空军单位心知肚明
Even the shape of the plane was kept secret for years 即使飞机的造型也保密了 数年之久

The secrecy was eased somewhat after December, 1989 when the Nighthawk struck the first blow in Panama 1989年12月夜鹰号首度出击巴拿马之后它的机密性才逐渐揭露
Still, the only concrete details that emerged were about its cost 唯一一个具体的细节 是它的造价
fifty-two million dollars per plane 每架造价为5千2百万美元
eight-point-two billion for the total program 整个计划耗资82亿美元
Crashes during training caused skeptics to brand the plane the Wobbly Goblin 由于训练期间的坠机事件使怀疑派人士指责该机为浪费公帑

All the pilots who fly it really think that is a bogus rap 所有F117的飞行员都认为 它是唬人的
There was, ah, there was one that was crashed in testing ah, in the books called the Have Blue Program when this was started 测试期中有一架坠机也就是计划刚展开初期的有蓝计划
And we have lost two in... that were operational at, tonight我们在任务中损失了两架 F117
And it was probably, no one really knows why they crashed 或许是…其实没人知道坠机的肇因
It was probably due to spatial disorientation 可能是空中导向失误
Back to, it is a single-seat night airplane 当时是单座夜间航行机种
It is easy to, ah, you can lose your orientation, which way is up 很容易丧失上、下之间的方位感
which way is down, or be do working on a task and the airplane will do something and you may not notice it And it could have gone out of control 在执行任务中飞机或许会做出一些动作使人无法察觉,可能导致失控
It is all subjective You know, it is all, ah, speculation No one knows 这都很主观,一切都属臆测 没人知道实情
But the airplane is rock steady 不过飞机本身相当稳定
I do not know of any airplane that is as stable as this thing is 我没见过像它一样稳定的机种
Ah, it is easy to fly It is stable That name is totally bogus.容易驾驶,性能稳定那个名字还真能唬人

The F-117 is a comparable airplane in size to the F-15 F117与F15就尺寸而言可以相比
And as a matter of fact, we share a lot of the same components 事实上, 两者使用共同的元件
The landing gear on the F-15 and this airplane are the same Same tires. F15的降落轮和F117 类似轮胎一样
A lot of the same sub-systems, avionics systems hydraulics, ah, and pneudraulics pneumatic-type systems are all the same, too pneudrau!ics pneumatic很多子系统也一样 如航行系统、汽动系统型系统之类的
The cockpit is also about the same as an F-15.very roomy 驾驶舱也几乎与F15一样
For a single-seat fighter it is spacious 相当宽敝对单人座战斗机而言 算是宽敝的
Plenty of room to lay out stuff that we carry with us 有足够的空间安置我们 携带的物品