Piccard和Jones乘坐热气球飞行一路顺利吗？他们途中都遇到了哪些困难呢？他们最后成功了吗？
The Breitling attempt didn't get off to a GREat start. On the day of the launch, March 1st, the winds at the launch site at Chateau D'Oex were very high, causing the balloon to bump against the ground on take-off, damaging its video communications link with the ground crew. Once in the air, Piccard and Jones had to go west for three days before finding a wind that would carry them east on their route.
The flight, too, was not without crises. Piccard and Jones ran out of fresh supplies after five days and had to eat rehydrated food instead; by this time they were also dirty, smelly and exhausted. But the most dangerous part of the journey was the six days Piccard and Jones spent over the Pacific,where the size of the ocean meant they could not be rescued in the case of a forced landing. They also lost communications with their mission control for four days during this crucial period. When contact was eventually resumed they were sailing very close to the equator, where the winds were poor and their speed had slackened off considerably. The two pilots began to worry. The team's meteorologists told them to descend to catch the jet stream and, although a little nervous, they did as they were advised, and their speed started to increase.
The Orbiter 3 actually crossed the finishing line in the early hours on Saturday March 20th, but mission control wished to avoid a potentially dangerous night-time landing in the Mauritanian desert. Piccard and Jones were therefore instructed to head for Egypt. ‘When we landed we were totally alone,’says Jones. ‘After deflating the balloon we went to sleep in the gondola for two hours.’ Eight hours after landing they were picked up by a military helicopter and taken to a small town called Mut.
The balloon was‘a bit of a mess’, but the two men had finished a journey which, as the rules dictated, covered at least two thirds of the Earth's actual circumference, a distance of roughly 16,600 miles.
1. Orbiter 3 took off _________ .
A. three days later than expected
B. in strong westerly winds
C. in difficult weather conditions
D. without important communications equipment
2. Why did Piccard and Jones become anxious over the Pacific?
A. They had lost contact with mission control.
B. They were flying very high.
C. They had slowed down.
D. No one came to rescue them.
3. Why did the balloon land in Egypt?
A. The pilots wanted to be alone for the landing.
B. It was safer to land in daylight.
C. It would have been difficult to find them in the desert.
D. There was no one to meet them in Mauritania.
参考答案：1.C 2.C 3.B
