Gliders are light aircraft that fly with no engine. They are pulled by a powered plane into the sky and set free to fly on air currents. They soar on wind currents called "mountain waves." That is why their wings are longer than ordinary planes.
滑翔机是指不用发动机飞行的轻型飞机。它们被动力飞机拖曳到空中，然后释放到气流中飞行。它们凭借被称为“地形波”的气流飞翔，这就是它们的机翼比普通飞机长的原因。
The aerospace company Airbus Group recently completed the first flight of a glider it calls Perlan 2. The Perlan Project intends to use gliders to take measurements in the stratosphere. Scientists believe weather in the stratosphere affects the Earth's climate more than they thought before.
空客公司最近完成了“普兰2号”滑翔机的首次飞行。普兰项目拟利用滑翔机对平流层进行测定。科学家认为平流层的天气对地球气候的影响比他们原来想象的要大。
Airbus plans to send Perlan 2 to an altitude of 27 kilometers next year. That is higher than the records set by the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes.
空客公司计划明年将“普兰2号”送到27000米的高度，这比U-2和SR-71间谍飞机创造的记录还要高。
Jim Payne is the chief pilot of Perlan 2.
吉姆·佩恩（Jim Payne）是普兰2号的总飞行师。
"We're not a thousand percent sure that the mountain wave will go that high, but all the meteorologists tell us that it does, so we're going to go out and find out."
佩恩说，“我们没有十分确认地形波能够抵达这样的高度，但是所有的气象学家都这么跟我们说，所以我们要去试一试。”
Ed Warnock is the chief executive officer of the Perlan Project.
埃德·沃诺克（Ed Warnock）是普兰项目的首席执行官。
He says the project intends to discover how fast moving winds at altitudes between 10 and 50 kilometers influence the earth's climate.
他说，该项目旨在探索1万米到5万米高空中的强烈气流对地球气候的影响。
"It turns out some of the biggest waves in the world -- vertical movements -- exist in the stratosphere. We're going to go and study those waves. Those waves change weather and they change climate, and we are going to study how do they do that."
沃诺克说，“结果表明平流层存在着一些做垂直运动的强气流。我们打算研究这些气流。这些气流改变了天气和气候，我们打算找出它们如何做到这点。”
Stratospheric winds may also influence commercial air traffic. Many airplanes fly at high altitudes to reduce fuel consumption.
同温层气流也会影响商业航班。许多科技在高空飞行以降低油耗。
The air density, or thickness, at those altitudes is similar to the atmosphere on the planet Mars. This may lead to future aircraft designs that could someday fly through the skies of the Red Planet.
这种高度的空气密度同火星的大气类似。这可能会帮助设计出未来的飞行器，有一天它能飞越火星的天空。
I'm Jonathan Evans.
我是乔纳森·埃文斯（Jonathan Evans）。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)