When George was thirty-five, he bought a small plane and learned¹ to fly it. He soon became² very good and made⁴ his plane do all kinds of tricks⁵.

乔治35岁时买了架小型飞机，并开始学习驾驶。不久，他就能很娴熟地驾机做各种各样的特技飞行了。

George had⁶ a friend. His name was Mark⁷. One day George offered⁸ to take Mark up in his plane. Mark thought⁹, "I've travelled¹⁰ in a big plane several¹¹ times, but I've never been in a small one, so I'll go." 乔治有个朋友名叫马克。一天，乔治主动邀请马克乘他的飞机上天兜一圈。马克心想，“我乘大客机飞行过好几次，还从来没有乘过小飞机，我不妨试一试。”

They went up, and George flew¹² around for half an hour and did¹³ all kinds of tricks in the air.

升空后，乔治飞了有半个小时，在空中做了各种各样的飞行特技。

When they came³ down again, Mark was very glad to be back safely¹⁴, and he said¹⁵ to his friend in a shaking¹⁶ voice¹⁷, "Well, George, thank you very much for those two trips in your plane." 后来他们着陆了。马克很高兴能够安全返回地面。他用颤抖的声音对他的朋友说：“乔治，非常感谢你让我乘小飞机做了两次飞行。”

Gerogy was very surprised¹⁸ and said, "Two trips?"乔治非常吃惊地问：“两次飞行？”

"Yes, my first and my last," answered Mark.

“是的，我的第一次和最后一次。”马克答道。