Make a flight with birds

江西 江海连

患有退行性眼病的娜萨莉·曼尼格利尔，有一个特殊的愿望：在失去视力之前，她想要与鸟同飞，以鸟的视角看世界。 她的愿望会实现吗？ 一起到文章中一探究竟吧！

Nathalie Maniglier suffers from a degenerative （退化的） eye condition and has a special wish:Before she loses her sight, she wants to experience a bird's eye view.

She achieved that ambition on Wednesday,when pilot Dominique Cruciani took her up in his microlight （微型飞机） over the French Alps, accompanied （陪伴） by a flock of geese trained to follow the aircraft through the skies.Back on the ground at the airfield on the southern shore of Lake Annecy, Maniglier was so moved by what she had seen that she hugged the family memberwho came with her, and sobbed onto her shoulder.

“It was magical. To see them flying in formation was really great. There's lots of emotion,”Maniglier said after her 30-minute flight. “I have a congenital （天生的） illness. I can only see in one eye. I'm making the most of it while I still can see. I think everyone should, at least once in their life,make a flight with birds,” said Maniglier.

Cruciani first flew alongside birds when he was hired as a pilot in a documentary film about bird migration. Last year, he decided to turn that experience into a commercial venture, which also brings people closer to nature.

His company, Delta Evasion, charges customers 450 euros ($526) for a flight in the passenger seat of his microlight, shadowed by geese. A colleague, Cassandre Schneider, is in charge of training the geese. She got them as hatchlings （雏鸟）, and spent hours in their company. They took her for their mother, and began following her everywhere. Once they grew flight feathers, she started going up in a microlight, first for a one-minute flight, then for twice that time the next day. The geese followed.When the geese reach about three years old, they will instinctively （本能地） want to join the migration routes, so the plan is to help them return to the wild eventually.

Looking ahead to the moment she has to part with her protégés, Schneider said, “It will be hard,no question, but it's for their well-being.”

Reading Check

1. How did Maniglier feel after her flight?

A. Blank. B. Touched.

C. Proud. D. Upset.

2. Who is responsible for training the geese?

A. Nathalie Maniglier.

B. Dominique Cruciani.

C. Delta Evasion.

D. Cassandre Schneider.

3. What's the final purpose of training the geese?

A. To lead directions for pilots.

B. To help geese return to the wild.

C. To give commercial performances.

D. To study geese further.

4. What does the underlined word “protégés” refer to in the last paragraph?

A. Pilots. B. Passengers.

C. Geese. D. Wild birds.

Language Study

Sentence for writing

Back on the ground at the airfield on the southern shore of Lake Annecy, Maniglier was so moved by what she had seen that she hugged the family member who came with her, and sobbed onto her shoulder. 回到安纳西湖南岸机场的地面上，曼尼格利尔被她所看到的景象所感动，她拥抱了和她一起的家人，靠在她的肩膀上抽泣。

【信息提取】so...that...意为“如此……以至于……”。

【句式仿写】她说话轻得我几乎听不见。