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Mechanic to hero
從技工到英雄
General Charles (Chuck) Yeager, test pilot and the first to break the sound barrier, died on December 7th, aged 97
第一個突破聲障的試飛員查爾斯·耶格爾將軍于12月7日逝世，享年97歲
If a flock of grouse flew across his path when he was out hunting, Chuck Yeager knew what would happen. He would get his slingshot, pick up some stones, and let fly. With his 20/10 vision in both eyes, he could see to infinity; in five minutes two or three grouse would be dead, hit square in the head. When challenged to target-shoot at a paper plate nailed to a tree, he could aim to hit the nail. He had practised those skills in the woods of West Virginia until they were second nature.
如果他出去打獵的時候有一群松雞從他的路上飛過，查克·耶格就知道會發生什么。他會拿起彈弓，撿起一些石頭，然后射出去。兩只眼睛都有20/10的視力，他能看到無窮大的東西；五分鐘后，兩三只松雞就會死了，擊中頭部。當被要求瞄準釘在樹上的紙片時，他可以瞄準釘子。他在西弗吉尼亞的樹林里練習這些技巧，直到它們成為第二天性。
In the second world war, flying over France in P-51s, he once more saw his prey from a long way off and stayed up-sun, so the Germans wouldn't spot him. Then he shifted to be down-sun, behind them. Once he picked off five Me109s in a day, getting into a big old hairy dogfight, buzzing, diving, shooting, lots of high-gs, becoming an ace right there. He knew how his plane should behave, how all the hardware worked, how the ejector seat and parachute would save him: knew it as a mechanic, which was his training. Armed with that knowledge, nothing much could surprise him. He was in firm control of what was right around him, and what he couldn't control, such as the enemy, or the outcome, or death, was not worth worrying about. He was too busy.
在第二次世界大戰中，他乘坐P-51戰機飛越法國上空，又一次從很遠的地方看到了獵物，待在天際之間，所以德國人不會發現他。然后他換成了背著太陽，在他們后面。有一次他在一天內干掉了5個ME109，參加一場又老又多毛的斗狗比賽，嗡嗡作響，跳水，射擊，還有很多高分，成為一名王牌選手。他知道他的飛機應該如何運行，所有的硬件如何工作，彈射座椅和降落傘將如何拯救他：作為一個機械師，他知道這是他的訓練。有了這些知識，他什么都不會感到驚訝。他牢牢控制著他周圍的一切，以及他無法控制的東西，比如敵人，或者結局，或者死亡，都不值得擔心。他太忙了。
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