Amelia Earhart—gone with the wind阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特——随风而逝

孙启禄

阿梅莉亚·埃尔哈特是一位著名的美国女性飞行员和女权运动者。阿梅莉亚是第一位获得“十字飞行荣誉勋章”的女飞行员，也是第一位独自飞越大西洋的女飞行员。她还创造了许多其他飞行纪录。她将她的飞行经历写成了一本书。1937年，当她尝试全球首次环球飞行时，在飞越太平洋期间神秘失踪。

Amelia Earhart is one of the world's most celebrated aviators（飞行员）. Amelia remains a symbol of the power and perseverance of American women， and the adventurous spirit so essential to the American persona（形象）.

Amelia was born on July 24， 1897， in Atchison， Kansas. She was the elder of Edwin Stanton and Amy Otis Earhart's two daughters. Childhood was not happy for the two bright sisters. Their father was an alcoholic and lost jobs often. The family traveled a great deal.

The girls often recited poetry while doing their chores（家务） but also loved sports， including basketball and tennis. Their parents encouraged them to try new things.

During the war Amelia worked as a military nurse in Canada and later she became a social worker and taught English to immigrant children. Besides work， Amelia had one hobby： She enjoyed watching airplane stunt shows， which were popular in the 1920s. Then one day she took a 10？鄄minute plane ride and knew what her vocation（職业） would be.

After 10 hours of instruction and several crashes， Amelia was ready to fly. She made her first solo flight in 1921. The flight went well. Till 1928， flying was only her hobby. This changed when Amelia received a call from Captain Hilton H. Railey. He asked her to join pilots Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon on a flight from the United States to England. Though Amelia was just a passenger， she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic. After this， Amelia got tremendous publicity. In May 1932， she crossed the Atlantic alone and set a new transatlantic crossing record of 13 hours， 30 minutes. She received a medal from American President Herbert Hoover for this.

Amelia's last flight began in June 1937. She and navigator（领航员） Fred Noonan set out to fly around the world. The two of them took off from Miami in America to South America. Then they crossed the South Atlantic Ocean to Dakar in Africa. From there to Thailand to Australia. However， after they left Lae in New Guinea for Howland Island， the American coast guard lost contact with the plane. Despite an extensive search， the United States Navy never found a trace of either the plane or the aviators. Their disappearance is still a mystery.

1.Why didn't Amelia have a happy childhood？

A.The family traveled a great deal.

B.Her father was an alcoholic and lost jobs often.

C.She had to do some housework.

D.She had to recite many poems.

2. From the text we can infer that  _________  .

A.Amelia had many kinds of interests

B.Amelia's parents wanted her to be a poet

C.Amelia's parents didn't let her do any housework

D.Amelia's wish was to become a nurse

Ⅰ.Important vocabulary

1.perseverance   n.毅力

2.essential   adj.必不可少的

3.military   adj.軍事的

4.stunt   n.特技表演

5.tremendous   adj.巨大的

6.transatlantic   adj.横渡大西洋的

7.extensive   adj.广泛的

Ⅱ.Sentences for writing

1.时间状语从句中主语和be的省略

女孩们经常在做家务时朗诵诗，但也喜欢运动，包括篮球和网球。

The girls often recited poetry  _________

their chores but also loved sports， including basketball and tennis.

2.the/序数词/last + 名词+ to do...

虽然阿梅莉亚只是个乘客，但是她成为第一位飞越大西洋的女士。

Though Amelia was just a passenger， she became the first woman   _________ the Atlantic.