《老太太飞了》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

Russ Healy always insisted that the old girl understood. But Russ was that rare sort of creature—a flyer who was sentimental. Of course, on the face of things, it was sheer rot. A plane is an inanimate object, theoretically—and therefore incapable of understanding. But Russ didn’t look at it that way. There was no doubt about the fact that he loved the Jenny.

拉斯·希利总说那架老姑娘懂他的心思。可拉斯是那种稀罕人物：一个多愁善感的飞行员。当然，从表面上看，这纯属胡说八道。飞机在理论上是一件没有生命的物体，因此不可能懂得什么。但拉斯不这么看。毫无疑问，他爱那架珍妮。

He’d picked her up right after the war, on a government sale. She hadn’t been flown at all, and Russ had worked with her ever since that time. He’d joy-hopped her, taken a chance on air advertising, smoke writing, stunting. He’d even done some air surveying with her, and I think he chased boll weevils, down South, at one time—spraying from the Jenny.

战后不久，他在一次政府拍卖会上把她买了下来。她压根没被人飞过，从那以后，拉斯就一直和她搭伴。他带她做游乐飞行，冒险搞空中广告、烟写字、特技表演。他甚至用她做过航空测绘，我记得有一阵子他还在南方追过棉铃象鼻虫，用珍妮往下喷药。

She’d cracked up with him more than once, but Russ would just patch her up—and patch himself up. She wasn’t a pretty sight. She was dirty—oil-stained, her wing fabric of varied colors, her struts lacking varnish. She sagged a bit on her under carriage. But her flying wires were right; she was rigged properly for the air. She was slow, of course—powered by an old Hall-Scott engine, and sluggish on the controls, compared to the new ships. Just an old lady, that was all she was—an old lady, still turning a prop and taking the air, but pretty far out of date.

她跟他一起摔过不止一次，可拉斯总是把她修补好，再把自己修补好。她算不上好看。她脏兮兮的，满是油污，机翼蒙皮颜色杂七杂八，支柱上没了清漆。起落架有点往下塌。可她的飞行张线没问题，装配得合乎飞行要求。她当然慢，装的是一台老式霍尔-斯科特发动机，操纵起来跟新飞机比显得迟钝。就是个老姑娘，她不过如此，一个老姑娘，还在转着螺旋桨上天，可已经相当过时了。

We had eight ships in the circus, and five pilots. That is, we had five fliers who could do more than get off and land. A couple of the grease monkeys could qualify—indeed, had qualified—for a license, but that doesn’t make a flyer—not by about a thousand air hours and considerable natural ability. However, when we made the jump from the outskirts of one town to the outskirts of another, the two mechanics each flew a ship, and Bob Brooks, who ran the Brooks’ Flying Circus, flew the other. That got the eight ships around, and made a nice showing in the sky.

我们的飞行团里有八架飞机，五名飞行员。就是说，我们有五个人能做的远不止起飞和降落。有两个机修工也够格，其实已经拿到了执照，可那并不等于就是飞行员，差着大约一千个飞行小时和相当的天赋呢。不过，当我们从一个镇的郊外转到另一个镇的郊外时，两个机械师各飞一架，经营布鲁克斯飞行团的鲍勃·布鲁克斯飞另一架。这样八架飞机就都挪过去了，在天上也显得挺气派。

It was Bob Brooks’ wife who started the thing. She was a peach, and Bob was crazy about her. I didn’t blame him.

这事是鲍勃·布鲁克斯的妻子挑起来的。她是个美人，鲍勃为她着迷。我不怪他。

We ran into a streak of tough luck. Charlie Ryan crashed on a landing, and both he and his mechanic, riding in the rear cockpit, were badly smashed up. Then Duke Conroy got in a spin, out of a side-slip—and we had to leave him at the hospital pretty badly hurt.

我们碰上了一连串倒霉事。查理·瑞安着陆时摔了机，他和坐在后舱的机械师都伤得很重。接着杜克·康罗伊从侧滑进入螺旋，我们只好把他留在医院，伤得相当厉害。

It was then that Bob’s wife had her little say. It was, in effect, that her good-looking husband keep both feet on the ground.

就在那时，鲍勃的妻子说了她那一小番话。大意是，她那个英俊的丈夫得两只脚都踩在地上。

We stayed around Los Angeles, picking up a few movie jobs, and looking at the mountains and the Pacific from the air until the boys came out of the hospital. We lost a little money.

我们在洛杉矶一带待着，接了点电影方面的活儿，从空中看看群山和太平洋，直到小伙子们出院。我们赔了点钱。

Then Bob Brooks called us into the big tent we slung up on the field in which we were parking, and gave us a little talk. “I’m giving the air the air,” he said. “I never did do much but ferry. I’ve got too much brain.” He grinned, and so did we. “And now I’m not even ferrying. So we’ve got to cut down a bit. We’ll drop two ships. Vance Bailey has bought that Standard. Now, about the other——”

后来鲍勃·布鲁克斯把我们叫进搭在停机坪上的大帐篷里，我们就在那片场地上停飞机。他跟我们讲了几句。「我不上天了，」他说。「我除了转场也没干过什么。我脑子太多了。」他咧嘴一笑，我们也笑了。「现在连转场都不干了。所以咱们得缩减一点。我们要减掉两架飞机。万斯·贝利已经买下那架标准型。至于另一架……」

Brooks’ eyes went to those of Russ Healy, and we knew right away what was coming. It gave me a jolt, because I knew Russ—and I knew the way he felt. And I guess it gave the others a jolt, too.

布鲁克斯的目光转向拉斯·希利，我们立刻就知道要说什么了。我心里一沉，因为我了解拉斯，也知道他心里怎么想。我猜别人心里也一沉。

“About the other,” Bob repeated uncomfortably, “I guess we’ll have to let the ‘Old Lady’ go, Russ.”

「至于另一架，」鲍勃不自在地重复道，「我看我们只好让『老姑娘』走了，拉斯。」