Wilbur and Orville Wright are the American inventors who made a small engine-powered flying machine .
威尔伯·莱特和奥维尔·莱特是制造出一台小型发动机驱动飞行器的美国发明家。
They proved that flight without the aid of gas-filled balloons was possible .
他们证明了不借助充气气球也可以飞行。
Wilbur Wright was born in 1867 near Melville , Indiana .
威尔伯·莱特1867年出生于印第安纳州梅尔维尔附近。
His brother Orville was born four years later in Dayton , Ohio .
他的弟弟奥维尔四年后出生于俄亥俄州代顿。
As they grew up , the Wright brothers experimented with mechanical things .
莱特兄弟在成长过程中常常摆弄各种机械。
Later , the Wright brothers began to design their own flying machine .
后来，莱特兄弟开始设计他们自己的飞行器。
They used ideas they had developed from earlier experiments with a toy helicopter , kites , the printing machine and bicycles .
他们运用了早先在玩具直升机、风筝、印刷机和自行车实验中形成的想法。
Soon , they needed a place to test their ideas about flight .
不久，他们需要一个地方来检验自己关于飞行的想法。
The Wright brothers did many tests with gliders at Kitty Hawk .
莱特兄弟在基蒂霍克用滑翔机做了许多试验。
With these tests , they learned how to solve many problems .
通过这些试验，他们学会了如何解决许多问题。
By the autumn of 1903 , Wilbur and Orville had designed and built an airplane powered by a gasoline engine .
到1903年秋天，威尔伯和奥维尔已经设计并制造出一架由汽油发动机驱动的飞机。
The plane had wings 12 meters across .
这架飞机的翼展为12米。
It weighed about 340 kilograms , including the pilot .
连同飞行员在内，它重约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，他们驾驶一台比空气重、由发动机驱动的机器完成了世界上第一次飞行。
Orville flew the plane 36 meters .
奥维尔驾驶飞机飞行了36米。
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 .
兄弟俩那天又飞了三次。
Four other men watched the Wright brothers ' first flights .
另有四名男子观看了莱特兄弟的首次飞行。
One of the men took pictures .
其中一人拍了照片。
Few newspapers , however , noted the event .
然而，很少有报纸报道这件事。
It was almost five years before the Wright brothers became famous .
将近五年后，莱特兄弟才出名。
In 1908 , Wilbur went to France .
1908年，威尔伯前往法国。
He gave demonstration flights at heights of 90 meters .
他在90米的高度进行了飞行表演。
A French company agreed to begin making the Wright brothers ' flying machine .
一家法国公司同意开始制造莱特兄弟的飞行器。
Orville made successful flights in the United States at the time Wilbur was in France .
威尔伯在法国期间，奥维尔在美国也成功完成了飞行。
The United States War Department agreed to buy a Wright brothers ' plane .
美国陆军部同意购买一架莱特兄弟的飞机。
Wilbur and Orville suddenly became world heroes .
威尔伯和奥维尔一下子成了世界英雄。
But the brothers were not seeking fame .
但兄弟俩并不追求名声。
They returned to Dayton where they continued to improve their airplanes .
他们回到代顿，继续改进他们的飞机。
They taught many others how to fly .
他们教会了许多人飞行。
Wilbur Wright died of typhoid fever in 1912 .
威尔伯·莱特于1912年死于伤寒。
Orville Wright continued designing and inventing until he died many years later , in 1948 .
奥维尔·莱特一直坚持设计和发明，直到多年后的1948年去世。
Today , the Wright brothers ' first airplane is in the Air and Space Museum in Washington , D.C .
如今，莱特兄弟的第一架飞机陈列在华盛顿特区的航空航天博物馆。
Visitors to the museum can look at the Wright brothers ' small plane .
参观者可以看到莱特兄弟的这架小飞机。
Then they can walk to another area and see space vehicles and a rock collected from the moon .
然后，他们可以走到另一个展区，看到航天器和从月球采集的岩石。
The world has changed a lot since Wilbur and Orville Wright began the modern age of flight over one hundred years ago .
自从威尔伯和奥维尔·莱特在一百多年前开启现代航空时代以来，世界已经发生了巨大变化。