不但在中国，就是在西洋，他们原来也有一句俗谚，遇着你说出不可能的事情，往往揶揄地说道："你不如尝试去飞上天吧。""You might just as well try to fly." 可见他们原来也是把"飞"视为不可能的事情。
In the West, people would say mockingly to anyone attempting the impossible, "You might just as well try to fly." Evidently, they also disbelieved that man was capable of "flying".
我们试一考这件由不可能而变为可能的事情所经过的大略情形，便觉得很饶趣味。
It is very interesting to make a brief study of how man changed the impossible into the possible in the matter of flying.
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Westerners began to make aviation experiments as early as 120 years ago.
在西洋一百二十年前已经有人在那里实验这件"瞎三话四"的事情，他们看见鸟有翼膀能飞，所以实验的时候，总在那里用尽心力于构造人工的翼膀。
Ascribing a bird's flight to its wings, they concentrated their efforts on making artificial wings for man.
最初不但在实验方面屡次失败，而且被人笑为发痴，这是所谓"意中事"。
But they failed again and again in the attempt and, as was to be expected, ended up as targets of public ridicule.
这几个"痴子〞里面有一位叫做凯雷(George Cayley)，在一八〇九年做一篇文章登在一家杂志上，大发挥他的精密的"痴想"。
Among them was a man named George Cayley, who in 1809 published an article in a journal a to enlarge on his dream, reportedly foreseeing a modern aircraft in terms of its mechanism and theories.
，据说现在飞机里的许多机件和原理，没有一件不被他猜着的，所以现在说起飞机的发明家，有许多人推他做"鼻祖"。
He is. therefore. today popularly known as the father of aviation.
他原是英国一位有名的哲学家，不知怎地会跳出哲学的范围，想起什么飞上天的把戏来。
Originally a famous a philosopher in England, he later suddenly quit his special field to pursue his dream of flight.
他不但实行"痴想"，而且就在发表该文的第二年，竟造了一个飞机实验起来，起先上面没有什么原动机(Motor)，后来竟给他配上了一个原动机。
A year afterwards, he went so far as to build a craft a for experiment, which he later fitted with a motor.
但是他发明的飞机在实验的时候，非但飞不起来，而且炸毁得一塌糊涂，算是失败了。
Unfortunately, instead of rising into the air, it was completely wrecked by explosion.
但是从此以后，便唤起若干人的注意，有的研究机件，有的研究机身，慢慢地比以前较有端倪，不可能的程度已渐渐减少。
Nevertheless, his failed venture attracted the attention of some followers.
不过这还是极少数"痴子"的信心，一般人还是嗤之以鼻。
They started researches on the working parts of an aircraft and its fuselage, indicating man's slow but steady progress towards making the impossible possible.
许多"痴子〞虽仍在那里继续的研究来，研究去，但是总飞不起来，一点距离都未曾飞过，一直到了，一八九六年，有位美国物理学家叫蓝格雷(Samuel Pierpont Langley)造了一个飞机，才算第一次有些效验，不过这个飞机还不能在空中飞，不过在波陀马克河(Potomac River)旁，沿着地飞了半英里左右的距离。
Yet the handful of "dreamers" of those days were subjected to jeers and laughter.
同时有一位由学徒出身的在美国的英国发明家，叫做麦克沁(Hiram Maxim)，和还有一位发明家叫做爱德(N. C. Ader)，也在那里"痴干"，改良了许多地方，旧弄来弄去，还是飞不起来。
Many "dreamers" persisted in the flight research without getting their flying machines off the ground.
后来爱德也在一八九六年总算造成一个飞机，能稍微离开地面飞过三百五十码的距离。
It was not until 1896 that a little relevant progress was made for the first time in history by an American physicist named Samuel Pierpont Langley.
同时在德国柏林也有一位工程师名叫李令索(Otto Lilienthal) 对飞机的研究也有些成绩，他实验了二千次，最后一次由十七米之高跌下来，把头颈跌断，做了科学界的"烈士"。
However, instead of rising into the air, his flying model barely moved close to the ground along the Potomac River for only about half a mile.
以上所说的实验，都还不够真正说得上一个"飞"字，可是没有先锋队的牺牲，真正的"飞"当然也无从达到。
Meanwhile, an English apprentice- turned-inventor in the USA named Hiram Maxim and another inventor by the name of N.
到了一九〇三年的十二月十七日，美国有一位叫赖奥维(Orvile Wright)和他的弟弟赖威柏(Wilbur Wrigho)，他们不过受过中等教育，后来做机匠，不过做做寻常的脚踏车，竟对于飞机大饶兴趣，尽心研究，一跃而为发明家，根据他们研究所得，算是第一次乘着飞机飞了起来，但是只飞了二百六十米的距离。
Ader were also obsessed with aerial experimentation and made quite a few relevant modifications.
一九二七年美国人林德白(Charles A. Lindbergh)第一次一口气从美国纽约飞越大西洋而达法国巴黎，三十二小时飞过三千六百三十三哩（即一万余中国里)，距今不到两年。
But, in spite of their repeated tries, they never got their models to take off.
赖奥维一九〇三年的飞机也还不是一蹴而成的，他们弟兄在一九〇〇年最初制成的飞机格式，原是想照放纸鸢办法，上面本预备坐一个人，但因为气力不足，只得让飞机独自飞翔，他们弟兄在一九〇一年实验用的第二个飞机，要载人上飞还是不行，若在地上沿地拖着飞，可以一口气飞二十七哩，在水面可一口气驶三百呎，他们弟兄在一九三午，替航空事业开新纪元用的飞机，上面装有汽油原动机，其构造比之现在的飞机当然粗率得很，在当时则已经是空前的完备(该机现在英国伦敦科学博物院陈列）。
However, Ader finally built in 1896 a craft that was capable of flying at a low altitude over a distance of 350 meters.
赖威柏已于一九一二年逝世，赖奥维尚健在，已经五十八岁了。
Then, in Berlin, Germany, an engineer named Otto Lilienthal also got some good results in aviation research.
自他成功以后，从前似乎不可能的"飞"，已成为无疑的可能的事情了。
He made as many as 2,000 experiments, but, unfortunately, he died later when he fell from a height of 17 meters, breaking his spine.
天下事只要人努力去干，什么事不可能？
Without the above-mentioned early trailblazers, there would be no human flight to speak of today.
但是我们对此问题至少还有下列两个更为明确的要点。
At the turn of the century, an American named Orville Wright and his brother Wilbur, enamored of the flying machine, made a name for themselves overnight as aviation inventors.