Change altitude
Rebecca had decided that her best chance of getting hired by a company doing geological survey work in the Alaskan wilderness was to earn a private license to fly twin-engine① planes. A few days later she began taking lessons from a wise old bush pilot, highly respected throughout the region for his cool and collected ways of dealing with the worst possible situations.
After the mandatory② ground schooling, at which Rebecca excelled, and during her fourth lesson in the sky, the flight instructor gave her what she thought was a special treat: Taking his hands off the yoke③, he turned the flight controls over to her. There she was, just as she had dreamed, sitting tall in the copilot’s④ seat with the flight stick firmly in her hands.
Rebecca felt as though she was literally on “cloud” at least, until a scant moment later when she found herself rudely awakened from her dream. In the distance, through the windshield, right in the path of the plane, and seeming to have appeared out of nowhere, a huge snow-capped mountain lay dead ahead. Transfixed⑤ by its sheer mass, Rebecca found herself as frozen at the stick as were the iced and craggy⑥ peaks stretched out before her.
She was headed straight for them!
All along the wise old instructor was watching her closely, studying her reactions. In fact, he had turned the controls over to her for just this test now taking place. He waited until the last moment he could, and was just about to take over again, when Rebecca snapped out of her fear-induced trance⑦.
“Sir,” said a voice so trembling and timid that it even scared her, “please take over the controls. I’m afraid we are about to crash!” His reply stunned⑧ her. “No,” he spoke quietly, “I don’t think I will. After all, it’s your flight.”
“Then what should I do? Please, tell me what to do!” Rebecca said with a struggling to control her voice.
She managed to look over at her instructor, and was surprised to see virtually no worry at all upon his face. His calm demeanor helped to steady her nerves. She took a deep breath and relaxed her hands that had just about choked the life out of the control yoke. The next moment he gave her a short three-word instruction, and she knew everything would soon be all right. He simply said, “Change your altitude.”
“Of course,” her own mind echoed back to his command, and a split second later she pulled firmly back on the yoke; the craft responded by rising, and mere moments later the icy peak passed beneath her and out of sight.
As Rebecca sat there, relieved by the results of her actions, she was struck by two things at once: How could she have forgotten that the controls were in her hands, and at least as important, why had she been unable to remember this on her own?
She could choose her own altitude.
① twin-engine a. 雙發(fā)的,有雙發(fā)動機(jī)的(飛機(jī))
② mandatory a. 指示的,命令的
③ yoke n. 操縱桿,方向桿
④ copilot n. 副駕駛員
⑤ transfix v. 使呆住,刺穿
⑥ craggy a. 陡峭的,粗壯的
⑦ trance n. 恍惚,出神
⑧ stun v. 使震驚,使目瞪口呆
改變高度
麗貝卡覺得,要想進(jìn)入在阿拉斯加荒原做地質(zhì)研究的公司,最好的方式就是擁有操縱雙引擎飛機(jī)的私家執(zhí)照。幾天后她便從師于一位年長而智慧的叢林飛行員。這位叢林飛行員一向以冷靜和善于處理極端事件而在這一地區(qū)聞名。
麗貝卡在地面控制訓(xùn)練方面做得十分出色。之后,在她第四堂空中飛行課上,飛行指揮員給了她一次她所認(rèn)為的特殊待遇:他將全部飛行指揮權(quán)交給了她。于是,如同麗貝卡所夢寐以求的那樣,她高高地坐在副駕駛的位置上,雙手緊緊握著操縱桿。
麗貝卡覺得自己至少已經(jīng)升上云端了,但緊接著她便從夢幻中驚醒了。她從擋風(fēng)玻璃里看見,就在飛機(jī)的航線里,遠(yuǎn)處一座白雪覆蓋的大山不偏不倚地出現(xiàn)在正前方。麗貝卡完全被這座大山驚呆了,她感覺自己怔怔看著陡峭的冰山在眼前鋪開,身體僵在操縱桿前動彈不得。
她正向群峰沖去!
整個過程中,那位年長睿智的駕駛員一直在仔細(xì)觀察她的反應(yīng),事實上,他讓她操作駕駛,正是為了用眼前這一幕來進(jìn)行測試。他盡己所能地等待著,就在他準(zhǔn)備重新掌控飛行時,麗貝卡結(jié)束了她那恐懼所致的精神恍惚。
“先生,”她的聲音顫抖著,幾乎連她自己都嚇到了。她囁嚅著說:“還是您來駕駛吧,我怕我們快要撞上了!”他的回答則令她震驚。“不,” 他十分平靜,“我不這么覺得。不管怎樣,這是你的飛行。”
“那我應(yīng)該怎樣做?求求你,告訴我該怎么辦!”麗貝卡盡力克制著自己的聲音。
她專注地看著她的教練,十分驚異地發(fā)現(xiàn)他臉上居然沒有半點焦慮恐慌。他的鎮(zhèn)定讓她也平靜了下來。她深吸一口氣,那雙關(guān)乎生命存亡的雙手終于松了下來。這時,他給了她一句簡短的指令,然后她便知道一切都會好起來的。他只是簡單說了句:“改變你的高度。”
“當(dāng)然了,”她在意識里回應(yīng)著他的指令,幾秒鐘之后她便牢牢拉回了操縱桿,飛機(jī)隨之上攀,一會兒便飛過了冰雪覆蓋的峰頂。
麗貝卡坐了下來,她用自己的行為改變了結(jié)果,因而感到如釋重負(fù)。這時,她意識到了兩件事:第一,怎么能忘記控制權(quán)是在自己手中呢?第二點同樣重要,為什么自己就想不起來這一點呢?
她可以決定自己的高度。
高處有無限的風(fēng)光,不過高處也會給人“不勝寒”的感覺。高度,取決于自己。