Thebirth of the hot air balloon is largely contributed to the efforts of twoFrench brothers, Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, who employed the fact that hotair was lighter than cool air and using this, managed to lift a small silk balloon32 metres into the air. The brothers went on to elevate a balloon into the airten thousand metres before it started to descend and then exploded. Arguablylimited success, but their work came to the eye of the French Science Academyas the discovery of the properties of hot air balloons helped scientists tostudy weather patterns and the atmosphere.
It wasnot until some considerable time later that a balloon was launched that wascapable of carrying passengers. Initial flights were trialled by animals, butafter the success of these voyages, two passengers, Jean Francois Pilatre andFrancois Laurent d’Arlendes, were sent up in aballoon which travelled across Paris for 29 minutes. The men fuelled the firein the centre of their wicker basket to keep the balloon elevated and the tripacross Paris was a great success.
Thediscovery of hydrogen-fuelled flights led to the death in 1785 of Pilatre, atragedy which caused a downfall in the popularity of hot air ballooning but anincrease in the popularity of hydrogen. Hot air ballooning lost further groundwhen alternate modes of air travel were introduced» but in the 1950s,ballooning experienced something of a revival as a leisure activity and sport.Today there are balloons of all shapes and sizes, with many unique designs.
In 1987,British entrepreneur Richard Branson crossed the Atlantic in a balloon namedVirgin Atlantic Flyer. At the time, this balloon was the largest everconstructed at 65 thousand cubic metres, but four years later, he and Per Lindstrandfrom Sweden flew nearly 8000 kilometres from Japan to Northern Canada in theirballoon the Virgin Pacific Flyer, which was nearly 10 thousand cubic metresbigger and was the longest flight in a hot air balloon ever made. The PacificFlyer was designed to fly in the trans-oceanic jet streams and recorded thehighest ground speed for a manned balloon at 394 kilometres per hour.
Thereare now a wide variety of designs and equipment available, from baskets withroom for two people right up to 35 or more, separated compartments andspecially designed flame resistant fabrics, but the basic parts of the balloonhave remained relatively unchanged. There is a basket, commonly made of wicker,inside which are stored the propane fuel tanks. Immediately above the basketand partly wrapped around by the skirt are the burners, attached on suspensionwires. The balloon itself is made of strips of fabric called gores which runfrom the skirt to the top of the balloon; they are further broken intoindividual panels. This section of the craft is referred to as the envelope. Atthe top of the envelope is a self closing flap that allows hot air to escape ata controlled rate to slow ascents or cause the balloon to descend descents.This is named the parachute valve, and is controlled by the vent line – the cable that runs the length of the envelope and hangs just above thebasket so the pilot can open and close the parachute valve.
At themercy of prevailing wind currents, piloting a balloon takes a huge amount ofskill but the controls used are fairly straight forward. To lift a balloon thepilot moves the control which releases propane. The pilot can control the speedof the balloon by increasing or decreasing the flow of propane gas, but theycannot control horizontal direction. As a result, balloons are often followedby ground crew, who may have to pick up the pilot, passengers and balloon fromany number of landing sites. A pilot who wants to fly a hot air balloon musthave his commercial pilot’s license to fly and must have atleast 35 hours of flight instruction. There are no official safety requirementsfor passengers onboard, but they should know whom they’re flying with and what qualifications they may have. For safety reasons,hot air balloons don’t fly in the rain because theheat in the balloon can cause water to boil on top of the balloon and destroythe fabric.
One ofthe largest hot air balloon organisations is the Balloon Federation of America.Founded in 1961, membership in the BFA attracts those with a fascination withballooning (or ‘Lighter Than Air’ flight). With an active discussion forum, meetings and displays all aroundthe USA and beyond, the BFA runs on a number of guiding principles, primarilythat the future of ballooning is directly related to the safety of enthusiasts.They run a number of training courses, from a novice who is interested ingetting a basic licence to pilot achievement courses. They even boast of aballoon simulator, which although will not directly lead to a pilot’s license, it can give participants a degree of the sensation enjoyed byprofessional balloon pilots.
Questions 1–4
Do the following statements agree with the given in the reading passage?
In boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet write
| TRUE | if the statement agrees with the information |
| if the statement contradicts the information |
| If there is no information on this |
1 _________________ The Montgolfier brothers were the first people to flyin a hot air balloon.
2 _________________ Hot air ballooning became less popular in the lateeighteenth century.
3 _________________ The largest hot air balloon had a capacity of over75000 cubic metres.
4 _________________ Membership of the BFA is only open to people inAmerica.
Questions 5–7
Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER fromthe passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 5- 7 on your answer sheet.
Who accompanied the entrepreneur on the longest balloon flight?
5 _________________
Who follows a hot air balloon’s flight to retrieve the craftwhen it lands?
6 _________________
What can give newcomers to the sport some idea of the feeling of flying aballoon?
7 _________________
Questions 8–11
Label the diagram below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passagefor each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8- 11 on your answer sheet.
题型：判断+填空
（1-4 判断）
1. False
2. True
3. False
4. Not Given
（5-11 填空）
5. Per Lindstrand
6. Ground crew
7. Balloons simulator
8. Parachute valve
9. Envelope
10. Panels
11. Gores
Passage 2 主题：昆虫与决策
Passage 3 主题：什么是历史
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