来自《耶鲁大学开放课程：资本主义：成功、危机与改革第4集第4集》

a bright guy,

一个非常聪明的人
and a not very good airframe engineer.

也是一个很一般的机体工程师
He was a second-class designer of the details

他曾是麦道公司的
of airplanes for McDonnell Douglas Corporation,

二流飞机零件设计师
and he was an avid skier,

同时他也是个狂热的滑雪运动者
and an avid, but very untalented, tennis player.

一个狂热但没有天分的网球运动员
As he tells the story, there was a night on a bus,

按照他讲的故事有一天晚上的公交上
a motor coach to use his words,

用他的话说就是长途公共汽车
bringing him back to New York from Vermont, from Stowe,

把他从佛蒙特州的滑雪胜地斯托带回纽约
and he'd had a rough weekend of skiing and he said,

他这个星期的滑雪并不顺利于是他说
"What would happen if we took the aluminum wafer

"如果我们把制造飞机用的铝片
with which we're building airplanes, and made a ski from it?"

用来制造滑雪板会发生什么呢"