Lesson 79
By air
乘飞机

First listen and then answer the question.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。
Why did the plane turn back?

I used to travel by air a great deal when I was a boy. My parents used to live in South America and I used to fly there from Europe in the holidays. A flight attendant would take charge of me and I never had an unpleasant experience. I am used to traveling by air and only on one occasion have I ever felt frightened. After taking off, we were flying low over the city and slowly gaining height, when the plane suddenly turned round and flew back to the airport. While we were waiting to land, a flight attendant told us to keep calm and to get off the plane quietly as soon as it had touched down. Everybody on board was worried and we were curious to find out what had happened. Later we learnt that there was a very important person on board. The police had been told that a bomb had been planted on the plane. After we had landed, the plane was searched thoroughly. Fortunately, nothing was found and five hours later we were able to take off again.

New words and expressions 生词和短语

parent n. 父（母）亲
flight attendant 空中乘务员
frightened adj. 害怕，担惊
curious adj. 急于了解，好奇的
bomb n. 炸弹
plant v. 安放

参考译文

我在幼年的时候，曾多次乘飞机旅行。我的父母曾经住在南美洲，所以假期里我常从欧洲乘飞机到他们那里。我总是由一位空中乘务员照管，从未遇到过不愉快的经历。我习惯了乘飞机旅行，只是有一次把我吓坏了。起飞之后，我们在城市上空低低地飞行，然后慢慢爬高。这时飞机突然调转头来，飞回了机场。在我们等待降落时，一位空中乘务员告诉我们要保持镇静，待飞机一着陆，就马上不声不响地离开飞机。飞机上的人都很着急，大家都急于想知道究竟出了什么事。后来我们才得知，飞机上坐了一位非常重要的人物。有人报告警察，说飞机上安放了一枚炸弹。我们降落之后，飞机被彻底搜查了一遍。幸运的是，什么也没有找到。5个小时后，我们又起飞了。