玩命大冒險 他不帶降落傘從7620米高空跳下

If you think skydiving is scary, try doing it from twice the usual height and without a parachute. After two minutes of free-fall, you must position yourself to land on a net less than half the size of a football field, spread out 200 feet above the earth.

如果你覺得跳傘很恐怖的話，試想一下，從一般跳傘的兩倍高度進行這項活動並且不帶降落傘又會如何。在自由下墜兩分鐘後，你得把自己定位好，以便落到從地面架高200英尺（約合61米）的網子上，它的面積不到半個足球場大。

On Saturday, Luke Aikins took that challenge. He was the first person ever to attempt a skydive with neither a parachute nor a wingsuit — and, in a feat broadcast live on Fox, the first ever to complete one.

盧克‧艾金斯(Luke Aikins)在上週六接受了這項挑戰。當天在福斯電視網(Fox)現場直播中，他成爲史上首位嘗試不帶降落傘或穿滑翔衣跳傘並獲得成功的人。

Mr. Aikins began his dive at an altitude of 25,000 feet, just 4,000 feet short of the summit of Mount Everest. Viewers watched him plummet, legs and arms spread, stomach down. Around 18,000 feet, he removed his oxygen mask and passed it to one of the three parachuted assistants diving with him. He aimed for the center of the net, guided by GPS and lights. Seconds before impact, he flipped onto his back and landed safely in the California desert.

艾金斯是從2萬5千英尺（7620米）高處往下跳的，只比珠穆朗瑪峯(Mount Everest)峯頂低了4千英尺（1219米）。觀衆看着艾金斯下墜，他的四肢張開、腹部朝下。高度達到約1萬8千英尺（5486米）的時候，他取下氧氣面罩，遞給穿戴降落傘陪他一同行動的三名助手之一。在GPS裝置與光線信號的引導下，他瞄準了安全網中心點。撞上安全網幾秒前，他翻身讓背部朝下，最終在加利福尼亞的沙漠裏安全降落。

He lay cocooned in the net for a few moments, hands over his face. Then he clambered out, into the arms of his wife, Monica, with whom he has a 4-year-old son.

艾金斯被裹在安全網裏躺了一陣子，雙手掩面。 然後他爬了出來，投入妻子莫妮卡(Monica)的懷抱裏；他們育有一個4歲兒子。

“We did and cannot thank everyone enough for the support,” Mr. Aikins wrote on Facebook shortly after the jump. “My vision was always proper preparation and that if you train right you can make anything happen. Thank you!!!!”

“我們不知道該如何感謝大家的支持纔好，”艾金斯在完成跳傘不久後在Facebook上寫道。“我認爲永遠都要妥善準備，而且只要訓練得當，任何事都有可能成功。謝謝你們！！！！”

The stunt, planned for two years, almost did not happen. At first, Mr. Aikins, 42, who has skydived 18,000 times since he was 12 years old, felt the idea was a bit much even for him.

這次特技跳傘已經準備了兩年時間，計劃還幾乎泡湯。42歲的艾金斯從12歲就開始跳傘，有18000次跳傘紀錄。起初，他覺得這個想法就算對他來說都有些太過火了。

“Like any normal, sane person, I said: ‘Thank you, but no thank you. I have a wife and a son, and I’ve got a life to live,’” he told People magazine. “Then, two weeks went by and I kept waking up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘If somebody said you had to do this, how could it be done?’”

“就像任何一個神智正常的普通人一樣，我說：‘謝謝你的提議，不過還是免了吧。我家有妻小，還想繼續過我的人生。’” 艾金斯告訴《人物》雜誌(People)。“接下來兩週時間裏，我老是在半夜醒來，想着：‘如果有人說你非這麼做不可，又該怎麼去完成它呢？’”

Then, just two days ago, SAG-Aftra, the screen actors’ union, issued a “do not work” order barring its members from taking part in the production unless Mr. Aikins agreed to wear a parachute — something that, Mr. Aikins said in the live broadcast, would actually make the jump more dangerous by adding weight to his body, thus increasing the force of the impact.

然後，在僅僅兩天前，美國演員工會及美國電視與廣播演員聯合會(SAG-Aftra)發出了“禁演令”，要求會員不得參與制作這項計劃，除非艾金斯同意帶降落傘。艾金斯則在現場直播中表示，降落傘其實會讓這次跳傘更危險，因爲這會增加他的重量，從而加強撞擊力道。

As Mr. Aikins’s plane approached the start point of his dive, 25,000 feet above Simi Valley, Calif., he strapped on the parachute but told viewers he would not open it. At the last minute, the union dropped its objection, and Mr. Aikins removed the parachute before jumping from the plane.

艾金斯搭乘的飛機飛到近加州西米谷(Simi Valley)上方、2萬5千英尺（7620米）高的起跳點的時候，他還是繫上了降落傘裝備，同時告訴觀衆他不會打開它。不過SAG-Aftra工會在最後一刻解除了禁令，於是艾金斯在跳出機身前脫下了降落傘。

Mr. Aikins’s publicist, Peter Moran, did not respond to an emailed request for an interview with his client on Saturday evening. But speaking to reporters at the scene, Mr. Aikins was euphoric.

艾金斯的公關人員彼得‧莫蘭(Peter Moran)未迴應本報在週六傍晚用電郵發出的訪問請求，不過艾金斯在現場接受記者採訪的時候顯得神采飛揚。

“I’m almost levitating — it’s incredible, this thing that just happened,” he told reporters after climbing out of the net, according to E! Online. “The words I want to say, I can’t even get out of my mouth.”

“我幾乎都要浮起來了── 剛剛發生的事情令人難以置信。”根據E! Online網站的報道，艾金斯爬出安全網後這麼告訴記者。“我簡直不知道該說什麼纔好。”