佚名/Anonymous
Larry Walters is among the relatively few who have actually turned their dreams into reality. His story is true, even though you may find it hard to believe.
Larry was a truck driver, but his lifelong dream was to fly. When he graduated from high school, he joined the Air Force in hopes of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately, poor eyesight disqualified him. So, when he finally left the service, he had to satisfy himself with watching others fly the fighter jets that crisscrossed the skies over his backyard. As he sat there in his lawn chair, he dreamed about the magic of flying.
Then one day, Larry Walters got an idea. He went down to the local Army-Navy surplus store and bought a tank of helium and forty-five weather balloons. These were not your brightly colored party balloons, these were heavy-duty spheres measuring more than four feet across when fully inflated. Back in his yard, Larry used straps to attach the balloons to his lawn chair, the kind you might have in your own back yard.
He anchored the chair to the bumper of his jeep and inflated the balloons with helium. Then he packed some sandwiches and drinks and loaded a BB gun, figuring he could pop a few of those balloons when it was time to return to earth.
His preparations completed, Larry Walters sat in his chair and cut the anchoring cord. His plan was to lazily float up away, and then lazily back down to terra firma. But, things didn't quite work out that way.
When Larry cut the cord, he didn't float lazily up—he shot up as if fired from a cannon! Nor did he go up a couple hundreds feet. He climbed and climbed, until he finally leveled off at eleven thousand feet! At that height, he could hardly risk deflating any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load and really experience flying! So, he stayed up there, sailing around for fourteen hours, totally at a loss as to how to get down. Eventually, Larry drifted into the approach corridor for Los Angeles International Airport. A Pan Am pilot radioed the tower about passing a guy on a lawn chair at eleven thousand feet... with a gun on his lap.
LAX is fight on the ocean, and you may know that at nightfall, the winds on the coast begin to change. So, as dusk fell, Larry began drifting out to sea.
At that point, the Navy dispatched a helicopter to rescue him. But, the rescue team had a hard time getting to him, because the draft from their propeller kept pushing his home-made contraption farther and farther away. Eventually, they were able to hover over him and drop a rescue line with which they gradually hauled him back to earth.
As soon as Larry hit the ground, he was arrested.
But as he was being led away in handcuffs, a television reporter called out to ask, "Mr Waiters, why did you do it?"
Larry stopped, eyed the man for a moment and replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."
能够将梦想变为现实的人绝对是凤毛麟角，而拉里·沃尔特斯正是其中之一。他的故事是真实的，尽管你可能觉得有些不切实际。
拉里是卡车司机，然而他毕生的梦想却是飞行。高中毕业后，梦想成为飞行员的拉里决定参加美国空军。不幸的是，糟糕的视力没能让他如愿。所以，直到最后退役，拉里也只能在后院里看着喷气式战斗机在空中往来穿梭，得到一丝安慰。每当拉里坐在草坪椅上，便会想象着飞翔的美妙。
一天，拉里·沃尔特斯想到了一个主意。他去了当地海军剩余物资供应处，买了1罐氦气和45只皮气球。这些气球可不是派对上五彩缤纷的气球，而是载重气球，充足气后可以达到4英尺多宽。回到院子后，拉里用绳子将气球系在草坪椅上。这种椅子在你们自家后院里或许就能找到。
拉里将椅子固定在吉普车的保险杆上，然后给气球注入氦气，随后准备好三明治、饮料，以及装满子弹的BB猎枪，打算到时候打爆几个气球就可以返回地面了。
万事俱备后，拉里·沃尔特斯便坐到椅子上，割断了固定绳索。他原本计划慢悠悠地飘上一阵子，然后再慢悠悠地返回地面。然而，情况并不是那么简单。
当拉里割断绳索时，他并没有慢悠悠地飘上去，反而像大炮里射出的炮弹一样射向了天空，而且也不仅仅升到几百英尺的高空。他不断攀升，最终居然升到了11000英尺的高空！在这样的高度，拉里可不敢放掉任何气球的氦气，要是失去平衡，就真的要在空中飞了！所以，他老老实实地待在那里，整整飘了14个小时，根本不知道该如何着陆。最终，他飘到了洛杉矶国际机场的航道上。一名泛美航空公司的飞行员向控制台报告：有名男子坐在11000英尺高空中的一个草坪椅上……腿上还放着一把枪。
洛杉矶国际机场靠近海洋。你知道，一到黄昏时分，海岸上的风向会变。因此，随着夜幕慢慢降临，拉里便开始向海的方向飘去。
这时，海军派遣一架直升飞机前来营救。然而，救援队很难接近拉里，因为螺旋桨的气流总是将他自制的装置推得更远。最终，他们盘旋在拉里的上方，抛下营救绳索，才将他慢慢拖回到地面。
拉里的脚刚一着地就被逮捕了。
然而，当拉里带着手铐被带走时，一名电视台记者大声喊道：“沃尔特斯先生，你为什么要这样做？”
拉里止住脚步，看了看这个人，若无其事地说：“是个男人，就不能只是坐着。”
What makes life dreary is the want of motive.
—George Eliot
没有了目的，生活便郁闷无光。
——乔治·埃略特
surplus[?s?:pl?s]adj.多余的；过剩的
They sold the surplus goods.
他们把剩余商品卖掉。
inflate[in?fleit]v.使膨胀；使得意；使通货膨胀
The buyers bid against each other and often inflate the prices they pay.
买主们竞相投标往往人为地提高价钱。
anchor[???k?]v.停泊；抛锚；用锚系住
Several boats lay at anchor in the harbour.
港湾里停泊着几只船。
nonchalantly[?n?n??l?ntli]adv.不激动地；冷淡地
She answered nonchalantly, "Because I only like the jam on top."
她冷淡地说：“因为我只爱吃上面的酱啊。”
他原本计划慢悠悠地飘上一阵子，然后再慢悠悠地返回地面。
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在这样的高度，拉里可不敢放掉任何气球的氦气，要是失去平衡，就真的要在空中飞了！
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最终，他们盘旋在拉里的上方，抛下营救绳索，才将他慢慢拖回到地面。
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Larry Walters is among the relatively few who have actually turned their dreams into reality.
turn into：变成
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But, things didn't quite work out that way.
work out：设计出；做出；实行；实现
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