When Narayanswami was invited to a dinner by a friend who worked at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she was excited. Many of the guests flew planes. “I must have expressed some yearning(渴望),”she says, because someone told her “You should join the flying club!” The next day Narayanswami, who was 57 at the time, arranged to meet an instructor. “I said ‘Aren’t I too old?” He said “We’ve got students in their 80s.”
Narayanswami grew up in Southwest London, and at grammar school suffered horrific racist bullying. The library provided shelter. But, as she reached her late teens, she feel family pressure for an arranged marriage; “I really protested,” she says. “But I want to be an astronaut! My mother made a promise. As long as you are getting an education we will not look for a husband for you.”
Narayanswami studied biology at Leicester University, then did a PhD at St Andrew, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of California. “Every time you move you get further away,” her dad remarked on the phone. “I didn’t feel I would be able to escape unless I did that,” she says.
In 2020, aged 64, Narayanswami finished 423 flight hours she needed to earn her pilot's license. Then she applied to Nasa’s astronaut corps, but received a very appreciative rejection. Even now, at 66, she says “I haven't been able to figure out how to deal with it. It doesn’t go away.” The racist bullying she received as a child has cast a very long shadow.
Flying has helped. It is a workout: she has to tow the plane out to the taxiway. And it offers a different perspective. “I can see eagles, bears, mountain lions, birds of prey. I love the beauty of the clouds. They are like hills. Vaster than our hills,” she says.
New possibilities have arisen—Narayanswami chairs the board of the General Aviation Awards in the US—but she finds relaxing difficult. In flight, she is part of a huge network of people who are communicating by radio frequency. There is no sense of skin colour. We are all tied together by our voices.
【小题1】How did the instructor’s words sound to Narayanswami?| A．Disappointing. | B．Embarrassing. |
| C．Annoying. | D．Encouraging. |
| A．Accepting an aged marriage. | B．Receiving an education. |
| C．Keeping a distance. | D．Making a promise: |
| A．It indicates prejudice against her. | B．It ruins her childhood memory. |
| C．It raises concern for her age. | D．It leaves room for negotiation. |
| A．A good way of relaxation. | B．A different dimension of life. |
| C．A rich knowledge of wildlife. | D．A full exhibition of leadership. |
