张恒

Once upon a time there was a funny guy named Lenny. Lenny was an inventor. He invented all kinds of contraptions2. His house looked like a mess3， but he had some really cool things.

从前有一个有趣的家伙叫莱尼。莱尼是个发明家，他发明了各种各样的小玩意儿。他的房子看起来一团糟，但他也有很酷的玩意儿。

One day Lenny wanted to fly.

有一天，莱尼想飞翔。

“I am going to make some wings4 and fly，” Lenny told his friend Rudy.

“我要做出翅膀飞起来。”莱尼告诉他的朋友鲁迪。

“Now I really know youre crazy. You wont even get off the ground，” said Rudy.

“现在我真的知道你疯了。你甚至都离不开地面。”鲁迪说。

“Youll see，” said Lenny.

“你等着瞧。”莱尼说。

So he went down to his workshop5 and started working. Day and night， he worked. No one saw Lenny for weeks. Then one day he came out of his workshop with a great big smile on his face.

于是他去工作室开始工作。他日夜都在工作，好几个星期没人见到他了。一天，他从工作室出来，脸上挂着灿烂的笑容。

He called Rudy on the phone. “Rudy， tomorrow I will fly， but I need your help，” said Lenny.

他给鲁迪打电话。“鲁迪，明天我会试飞，但我需要你帮忙。”莱尼说。

“Did you really build some wings？” asked Rudy.

“你真的造出了翅膀嗎？”鲁迪问。

“Yeah and they are really beautiful，” said Lenny. “Theyre a little heavy though. I need you to help me take them to the top of Kill Devil Hill.”

“是啊，它们真的很漂亮。”莱尼说，“不过有点重。我需要你帮我把它们带到屠魔山的山顶上去。”

“What did you make them out of？” asked Rudy.

“你用什么做的？”鲁迪问。

“I made them out of some scrap metal6 from when I built my plane last year，” said Lenny.

“我用去年造飞机时剩下来的一些废金属做的。”莱尼说。

“Metal！Dont you think that will be too heavy to use for wings？” asked Rudy.

“金属！你不觉得用它做翅膀太重了吗？”鲁迪问。

“No， I did all the work. I will be like a human airplane，” said Lenny.

“不重啊，所有的工作都做好了。我会像一架人形飞机那样飞起来。”莱尼说。

Rudy just rolled7 his eyes. “OK， I will be over first thing in the morning and well try them out，” said Rudy.

鲁迪只是翻了个白眼。他说：“好吧，我明天一早就做完最重要的事，然后我们来试试看。”

“See you then，” said Lenny.

“到时候见。”莱尼说。

The next morning they took the wings up to the top of Kill Devil Hill and Lenny strapped8 them on.

第二天早上，他们把翅膀带到了屠魔山的山顶，莱尼把翅膀绑到身上。

“Are you sure those are not too heavy？” asked Rudy again.

“你确定它们不太重吗？”鲁迪又问。

“No， the faster I run， the lighter they will get. The wind will lift me up and I will be flying，” said Lenny， quite confidently9.

“不重，我跑得越快，它们就越轻。风会把我带起来，我会飞起来的。”莱尼非常自信地说。

“All right， I am going to get a running start and take off，” said Lenny. So， Lenny backed up about fifty feet and started running. As he ran， the weight of the wings started to wear out his legs and he got lower and lower to the ground. Just as he got to the top of the hill， his legs gave out and he skidded10 across the ground on his face.

“好啦，我要开始跑了，然后再起飞。”莱尼说。所以，莱尼后退了大约50英尺后开始跑起来。当他奔跑的时候，翅膀的重量开始磨损他的双腿，导致他离地面越来越近。就在他到达山顶时，他的双腿精疲力竭，整个人从地面上滑了过去，脸朝下。……