The great racing driver, Sir Malcolm Campbell, was the first man to drive at over 300 miles per hour. He set up a new world record in September 1935 at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Bluebird, the car he was driving, had been specially built for him. It was over 30 feet in length and had a 2,500-horsepower engine. Although Campbell reached a speed of over 304 miles per hour, he had great difficulty in controlling the car because a tyre burst during the first run. After his attempt, Campbell was disappointed to learn that his average speed had been 299 miles per hour. However, a few days later, he was told that a mistake had been made. His average speed had been 301 miles per hour. Since that time, racing drivers have reached speeds over 600 miles an hour. Following in his fathers footsteps many years later, Sir Malcolms son, Donald, also set up a world record. Like his father, he was driving a car called Bluebird.
New words and expressions 生詞和短語
racing n. 競賽
per prep. 每
Utah n. 猶他(美國州名)
horsepower n. 馬力
burst v. 爆裂
average adj. 平均的
footstep n. 足跡
杰出的賽車選手馬爾科姆.坎貝爾爵士是第一個以每小時超過300英里的速度駕車的人。他于1935年9月在猶他州的邦納維爾鹽灘創(chuàng)造了一項(xiàng)新的世界紀(jì)錄。他駕駛的“藍(lán)鳥”牌汽車是專門為他制造的。它的車身長30英尺,有一個2,500 馬力的發(fā)動機(jī)。盡管坎貝爾達(dá)到了每小時超過304英里的速度,但他很難把汽車控制住,因?yàn)樵陂_始的行程中爆了一只輪胎。比賽結(jié)束后,坎貝爾非常失望地得知他的平均時速是299英里。然而,幾天之后,有人告訴他說弄錯了。他的平均時速實(shí)際是301英里。從那時以來,賽車選手已達(dá)到每小時600英里的速度。很多年之后,馬爾科姆爵士的兒子唐納德踏著父親的足跡,也創(chuàng)造了一項(xiàng)世界紀(jì)錄。同他父親一樣,他也駕駛著一輛名叫“藍(lán)鳥”的汽車。