When George was thirty-five， he bought a small plane and learned to fly it. He soon became very good and made his plane do all kinds of tricks①.
George had a friend. His name was Mark. One day George offered to take Mark up in his plane. Mark thought， “I’ve traveled in a big plane several times， but I’ve never been in a small one， so I’ll go.”
They went up， and George flew around for half an hour and did all kinds of tricks in the air.
When they came down again， Mark was very glad to be back safely， and he said to his friend in a shaking voice， “Well， George， thank you very much for those two trips②in your plane.”
George was very surprised and said， “Two trips？”
“Yes， my first and my last.” answered Mark.
① trickn. 戏法，把戏，特技，妙计
② tripn. 旅行，航行，行程
第一次与最后一次
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。
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。”
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。
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。”
乔治非常吃惊地问：“两次飞行？”
“是的，我的第一次和最后一次。”马克答道。
