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One. More than a century before the Wright brothers' flights in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina,
在莱特兄弟在北卡罗莱纳州基蒂霍克飞行的一个多世纪前，
brothers Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier launched an unmanned 500-pound balloon over Annonay, France, that stayed aloft for about ten minutes.
在法国安诺内，约瑟夫·米歇尔和雅克·艾蒂安·蒙戈尔费埃兄弟向上空发射了一个500磅重的无人气球，气球在空中停留了大约10分钟。
The year was 1783, and King Louis XVI soon wanted a demonstration.
那是1783年，国王路易十六很快就想要一次示威游行。
So the Montgolfiers sent up a sheep, a duck, and a rooster as the king, the queen (Marie Antoinette),
于是，蒙戈尔费埃兄弟发射了一只羊、一只鸭子和代表国王和王后（玛丽·安托瓦内特）的一只公鸡。
and 130,000 other people witnessed the historic flight over Versailles. The animals landed safely.
还有13万人见证了这次历史性的凡尔赛上空热气球发射。最后动物们安全着陆。
Two. France became the epicenter of ballooning, and Americans in Paris, including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay, jumped on the bandwagon.
法国成为了热气球的中心，在巴黎的美国人，包括本杰明·富兰克林，约翰·亚当斯和约翰·杰伊，都紧跟潮流。
"Travelers may hereafter literally pass from country to country on the wings of the wind," wrote Jay,
杰伊写道，“今后，旅行者可以乘着风的翅膀从一个国家飞到另一个国家。”
who took time out from negotiating the Treaty of Paris to watch a flight.
他从《巴黎条约》的谈判中抽出时间来观看飞行。
Three. Ballooning is still a big spectator sport.
热气球运动仍是吸引观众的体育运动。
The largest event in the United States, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, attracted almost 900,000 people over nine days in 2018.
2018年，美国规模最大的热气球活动阿尔伯克基国际气球节在9天内吸引了近90万人。
A meteorological phenomenon known as the Albuquerque Box—predictable wind patterns that let pilots land close to where they launched—have made the area a ballooning hot spot.
一种被称为阿尔伯克基盒子的气象现象——可以预测的风的模式，让飞行员在接近他们发射地点的地方着陆——已经使该地区成为一个热气球的火热地区。
Four. Commonly made from heat-resistant nylon or polyester, the colorful, usually 80-foot-tall "balloon" part—called the envelope—
通常由耐热尼龙或聚酯制成，颜色鲜艳，通常有80英尺高的部分被称为“球囊”，
is laid out on the ground preflight to be partially filled with cold air.
它在飞行前被放置在地面上，使其部分充满冷空气。
Then, to create the lift required for takeoff, the air is heated by propane burners attached below the mouth of the envelope.
然后，为了创造起飞所需的升力，空气被附在球囊下方的丙烷燃烧器加热。
Five. The highest anyone has ever flown in a hotair balloon is 68,986 feet, nearly twice the cruising altitude of commercial airliners.
世界上乘坐热气球飞行的最高高度是68986英尺，接近商用客机的巡航高度的两倍。
At those heights, the people in the basket need to wear oxygen masks.
在那样的高度，热气球篮子里的人需要戴上氧气面罩。
six. Another record: On January 17, 1991, entrepreneur Richard Branson and Swedish engineer Per Lindstrand became the first "aeronauts" (that's the official term) to cross the Pacific Ocean.
另外一个记录：1991年1月17日，企业家理查德·布兰森和瑞典工程师佩尔·林德斯特兰德成为首位飞越太平洋的“气球驾驶员”(这是官方术语)。
They set off from Japan and traveled more than 4,700 miles in about 46 hours.
他们从日本出发，在大约46个小时的时间里飞行了超过4700英里。
There was no cheering crowd to greet them, however: The men landed on a frozen lake in the Yukon and had to be airlifted out.
然而，那时没有欢呼的人群迎接他们：他们降落在育空地区一个结冰的湖上，必须用飞机送出去。
