Wilbur and Orville Wright are the American inventors who made a small engine-powered flying machine .
威爾伯·萊特和奧維爾·萊特是製造出一台小型引擎驅動飛行器的美國發明家。
They proved that flight without the aid of gas-filled balloons was possible .
他們證明了不借助充氣氣球也可以飛行。
Wilbur Wright was born in 1867 near Melville , Indiana .
威爾伯·萊特1867年出生於印第安納州梅爾維爾附近。
His brother Orville was born four years later in Dayton , Ohio .
他的弟弟奧維爾四年後出生於俄亥俄州代頓。
As they grew up , the Wright brothers experimented with mechanical things .
萊特兄弟在成長過程中常常擺弄各種機械。
Later , the Wright brothers began to design their own flying machine .
後來，萊特兄弟開始設計他們自己的飛行器。
They used ideas they had developed from earlier experiments with a toy helicopter , kites , the printing machine and bicycles .
他們運用了早先在玩具直升機、風箏、印刷機和腳踏車實驗中形成的想法。
Soon , they needed a place to test their ideas about flight .
不久，他們需要一個地方來檢驗自己關於飛行的想法。
The Wright brothers did many tests with gliders at Kitty Hawk .
萊特兄弟在小鷹鎮用滑翔機做了許多試驗。
With these tests , they learned how to solve many problems .
透過這些試驗，他們學會了如何解決許多問題。
By the autumn of 1903 , Wilbur and Orville had designed and built an airplane powered by a gasoline engine .
到1903年秋天，威爾伯和奧維爾已經設計並製造出一架由汽油引擎驅動的飛機。
The plane had wings 12 meters across .
這架飛機的翼展為12公尺。
It weighed about 340 kilograms , including the pilot .
連同飛行員在內，它重約340公斤。
On December 17th , 1903 , they made the world's first flight in a machine that was heavier than air and powered by an engine .
1903年12月17日，他們駕駛一台比空氣重、由引擎驅動的機器完成了世界上第一次飛行。
Orville flew the plane 36 meters .
奧維爾駕駛飛機飛行了36公尺。
He was in the air for 12 seconds .
他在空中停留了12秒。
The two brothers made three more flights that day .
兄弟倆那天又飛了三次。
Four other men watched the Wright brothers ' first flights .
另有四名男子觀看了萊特兄弟的首次飛行。
One of the men took pictures .
其中一人拍了照片。
Few newspapers , however , noted the event .
然而，很少有報紙報導這件事。
It was almost five years before the Wright brothers became famous .
將近五年後，萊特兄弟才出名。
In 1908 , Wilbur went to France .
1908年，威爾伯前往法國。
He gave demonstration flights at heights of 90 meters .
他在90公尺的高度進行了飛行表演。
A French company agreed to begin making the Wright brothers ' flying machine .
一家法國公司同意開始製造萊特兄弟的飛行器。
Orville made successful flights in the United States at the time Wilbur was in France .
威爾伯在法國期間，奧維爾在美國也成功完成了飛行。
The United States War Department agreed to buy a Wright brothers ' plane .
美國陸軍部同意購買一架萊特兄弟的飛機。
Wilbur and Orville suddenly became world heroes .
威爾伯和奧維爾一下子成了世界英雄。
But the brothers were not seeking fame .
但兄弟倆並不追求名聲。
They returned to Dayton where they continued to improve their airplanes .
他們回到代頓，繼續改進他們的飛機。
They taught many others how to fly .
他們教會了許多人飛行。
Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912 .
威爾伯·萊特於1912年死於傷寒。
Orville Wright continued designing and inventing until he died many years later , in 1948 .
奧維爾·萊特一直堅持設計和發明，直到多年後的1948年去世。
Today , the Wright brothers ' first airplane is in the Air and Space Museum in Washington , D.C .
如今，萊特兄弟的第一架飛機陳列在華盛頓特區的航空太空博物館。
Visitors to the museum can look at the Wright brothers ' small plane .
參觀者可以看到萊特兄弟的這架小飛機。
Then they can walk to another area and see space vehicles and a rock collected from the moon .
然後，他們可以走到另一個展區，看到太空載具和從月球採集的岩石。
The world has changed a lot since Wilbur and Orville Wright began the modern age of flight over one hundred years ago .
自從威爾伯和奧維爾·萊特在一百多年前開啟現代航空時代以來，世界已經發生了巨大變化。