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October 19
David Blaine looked thin and was clearly emotional as he left the box
2003: David Blaine ends glass box stunt
England have
The American illusionist David Blaine has his feet back on solid ground
after ending 44 days suspended in a glass box by the River Thames in London
without food.
The feat of endurance has attracted huge crowds over the last six weeks,
and an estimated 10,000 people were there to see him come out.
There was little sign of the "Blaine-baiters" who have dogged the
entertainer for the duration of his stunt, jeering, throwing eggs and cutting
his water supply.
At 2200 BST the crane which has held the perspex box above the river since
5 September slowly lowered it to the waiting fans, and it was tipped up gently
to help him get out.
Despite apparently going without any food for so long, 30-year-old David
Blaine was able to walk from the box, supported by helpers.
He looked thin and was clearly emotional.
He broke down in tears as he told the waiting crowd, "This has been one of
the most important experiences in my life."
The magician has described suffering severe heart palpitations , blurred
vision and breathing difficulties as his fast neared its end.
He was put on a stretcher by paramedics and taken to a private hospital,
where a team of doctors will assess whether he has done lasting damage to his
heart or other organs.
His spokesman said he would now gradually build up his strength with
mineral supplements.
It is thought it could take as long as six months for Mr Blaine to recover
and return to normal fitness.
His stunt has attracted praise and contempt in equal measures.
Christine Hunt, 44, who travelled from Doncaster in Yorkshire, said, "We"ve
already been down once to see him and I think it"s brilliant, what he"s
doing."
But others have taunted him relentlessly, even sending a burger up to the
box on a remote-controlled helicopter.
Mr Blaine"s team has dismissed suggestions that he has kept himself alive
by having dissolved nutrients such as glucose added to his water supply.
The stunt is the latest in a series of bizarre challenges the magician has
set himself.
Previous stunts include standing on a 100ft pole for 35 hours, living for a
week buried six feet down in a glass tank, and encasing himself in a six-tonne
block of ice for more than 60 hours.
Two crashes within five months of each other have grounded all Comet
jets
1954: "Metal fatigue" caused Comet crashes
Artificially 1969: FilmTheTheAA The public inquiry into the Comet airliner
disasters has heard that metal fatigue was the most likely cause of two recent
crashes.
The first crash happened in January, when 29 passengers and a crew of six
lost their lives off the Italian island of Elba.
The Comet"s certificate of airworthiness was withdrawn after the second
crash, just three months later. Fourteen passengers and seven crew died when the
plane went down off the coast near Naples.
The Attorney General, Sir Lionel Heald QC, told the first day of the
inquiry that initial suspicions of sabotage were unfounded.
He said the painstaking analysis of thousands of fragments of the Comet
involved in the Elba crash had revealed that the damage was caused by a fault in
the plane itself.
In what Sir Lionel called "one of the most remarkable pieces of scientific
detective work ever done", a team led by Sir Arnold Hall, director of the Royal
Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, subjected models, full-size aircraft and
replicas to the most elaborate and searching tests ever carried out on an
airliner.
One fragment collected from the scene of the crash showed that a crack had
developed due to metal fatigue near the radio direction finding aerial window,
situated in the front of the cabin roof.
The investigators found that a small weakness such as this would quickly
deteriorate under pressure, and would rapidly lead to a sudden and general
break-up of the fuselage.
In tests on another Comet aircraft, Sir Lionel added, the investigators had
found that up to 70% of the aircraft"s ultimate stress under pressure was
concentrated on the corners of the aircraft"s windows.
Sir Lionel said the findings of the investigation would lead to a general
improvement in the safety of passenger air travel.
"It will perhaps be some consolation to the relatives of those who lost
their lives to feel that good may come out of evil in this way," he added.
Vocabulary:
perspex: a transparent thermoplastic acrylic resin(塑胶玻璃)
palpitation: a rapid and irregular heart beat(心悸)
sabotage: destroy property or hinder normal operations(阴谋破坏) |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:18:45