Wilbur and Orville Wright are the American inventors who made a small engine-powered flying machine.
威尔伯·莱特和奥维尔·莱特是美国发明家，他们制造了一种小型发动机驱动的飞行器。
They proved that flight without the aid of gas-filled balloons was possible.
他们证明了没有充气气球的帮助飞行是可能的。
Wilbur Wright was born in 1867 near Melville, Indiana.
威尔伯·赖特1867年出生于印第安纳州梅尔维尔附近。
His brother Orville was born four years later in Dayton, Ohio.
四年后，他的哥哥奥维尔出生在俄亥俄州的代顿。
As they grew up, the Wright brothers experimented with mechanical things.
长大后，莱特兄弟尝试机械的东西。
Later, the Wright brothers began to design their own flying machine.
后来，莱特兄弟开始设计自己的飞行器。
They used ideas they had developed from earlier experiments with a toy helicopter, kites, the printing machine, and bicycles.
他们使用了从玩具直升机、风筝、印刷机和自行车的早期实验中发展出来的想法。
Soon, they needed a place to test their ideas about flight.
很快，他们需要一个地方来测试他们关于飞行的想法。
The best place with the best wind conditions seemed to be a piece of sandy land in North Carolina along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
风力条件最好的地方似乎是北卡罗来纳州大西洋沿岸的一块沙地。
It was called Kill Devil Hill near the town of Kitty Hawk.
它被称为基蒂Hawk镇附近的杀死魔鬼山。
The Wright brothers did many tests with gliders at Kitty Hawk.
莱特兄弟在基蒂Hawk用滑翔机做了许多测试。
With these tests, they learned how to solve many problems.
通过这些测试，他们学会了如何解决许多问题。
By the autumn of 1903, Wilbur and Orville had designed and built an airplane powered by a gasoline engine.
到1903年秋天，威尔伯和奥维尔设计并制造了一架由汽油发动机驱动的飞机。
The plane had wings 12 meters across.
这架飞机的机翼宽12米。
It weighed about 340 kilograms, including the pilot.
包括飞行员在内，它重约340公斤。
On December 17, 1903, they made the world's first flight in a machine that was heavier than air and powered by an engine.
1903年12月17日，他们用一台比空气重、由发动机驱动的机器进行了世界上第一次飞行。
Orville flew the plane 36 meters.
奥维尔驾驶飞机飞行了36米。
He was in the air for 12 seconds.
他在空中飞行了12秒钟。
The two brothers made three more flights that day.
兄弟俩那天又飞了三趟。
Four other men watched the Wright brothers' first flights.
另外四人观看了莱特兄弟的首次飞行。
One of the men took pictures.
其中一个人拍了照片。
Few newspapers, however, noted the event.
然而，很少有报纸注意到这一事件。
It was almost five years before the Wright brothers became famous.
差不多过了五年，莱特兄弟才成名。
In 1908, Wilbur went to France.
1908年，威尔伯去了法国。
He gave demonstration flights at heights of 90 meters.
他演示了90米高空的飞行。
A French company agreed to begin making the Wright brothers' flying machine.
一家法国公司同意开始制造莱特兄弟的飞行器。
Orville made successful flights in the United States at the time Wilbur was in France.
威尔伯在法国时，奥维尔在美国成功飞行。
The United States War Department agreed to buy a Wright brothers' plane.
美国陆军部同意购买莱特兄弟的飞机。
Wilbur and Orville suddenly became world heroes.
威尔伯和奥维尔突然成了世界英雄。
But the brothers were not seeking fame.
但是兄弟俩并不是为了出名。
They returned to Dayton, where they continued to improve their airplanes.
他们回到代顿，继续改进他们的飞机。
They taught many others how to fly.
他们教会了许多其他人如何飞行。
Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912.
威尔伯·赖特于1912年死于伤寒。
Orville Wright continued designing and inventing until he died many years later, in 1948.
奥维尔·赖特继续设计和发明，直到多年后的1948年去世。
Today, the Wright brothers' first airplane is in the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
今天，莱特兄弟的第一架飞机陈列在华盛顿特区的航空航天博物馆。
Visitors to the museum can look at the Wright brothers' small plane.
参观博物馆的游客可以参观莱特兄弟的小型飞机。
Then they can walk to another area and see space vehicles and a rock collected from the moon.
然后他们可以走到另一个区域，看到太空飞行器和从月球收集的岩石。
The world has changed a lot since Wilbur and Orville Wright began the modern age of flight over 100 years ago.
自从威尔伯·莱特和奥维尔·莱特在100多年前开始现代飞行时代以来，世界发生了很大变化。
I'm John Russell.
我是约翰·罗素。