Read two texts connected with the history of ballooning. Do tasks 4.1.–4.8.

Text 1

ON THE WINGS OF FORTUNE

My Dear Sister,

I know that ever since my earliest practice of the art of aerostation* you have worried about my safety. When I married Pierre, when he first taught me to fly, when he understood that the public, thrilled by our great balloonists, would be even more enraptured by a female aéronaute – so many times you have written of your fears. Indeed, there have been days that I have wondered if I should give up and join you in your simple country life of animals and children and bedsheets flapping in the yard. But something has driven me skyward; it feels as if each choice I made was not my own but was guided by that steady hand called Fate. Even my baptismal name has felt like some hint of destiny. Then just know this: your Céleste is well and in health. Indeed I might call myself the luckiest woman in the skies. 

I believe it was last February that we corresponded? Your letter arrived shortly before my eighth flight, in March. By then, the controversy that had attended my first ascents had almost vanished. Certainly, there were those still grumbling that with all the brave men taking balloons into the sky, there was no need to expose the more delicate organs of the fairer sex to the dangers of speed and changing air pressure. But there were few in Paris who had not been charmed by my remarkable skill! And how the dull costumes of others paled in comparison with my silks! You have read of the tens of thousands of spectators that greet me before each flight. 

The eighth flight promised to be no different. We had launched from the Champ de Mars, before crowds so great that some spectators were knocked into the Seine. My ascent was flawless, the winds brisk, and after circling the city, I was being carried toward the north when I found myself approaching heavy clouds. Dropping ballast so as to rise inside them, I was instantly struck by the quality of the mist, so thick I might have carved a piece out of it. I became worried that the balloon would collect too much water, but when I tossed out a fistful of feathers, they showed me to be rising, and at last I broke above the clouds and emerged beneath a great expanse of dazzling sky. It was, I realized with a glance at my instruments, higher than anyone had flown before. Higher then! I thought, and released the last bag of sand. And then I was swiftly swept away. Alarmed, I pulled the valve on the balloon, too fast, and the balloon started to drop. 

It was a long way down, and when I emerged again from the heavy clouds, I found myself
over unfamiliar fields. I passed farmhouses, stone walls and streams. Faster now. A forest loomed before me; I had to bring myself to earth before I crashed into trees. Swiftly I released the gas valve. The ground rushed up to me; I hurled my instruments out of the basket, the balloon rose suddenly, then fell, shredding a path through a sloping field of barley. I threw my anchor – it caught – I lurched back – the basket struck. 

What a sight I must have been for the villagers who found me! My pink gown torn and muddied, my limbs tangled in the riggings, my great aerostat stretched out across their fields like some stranded giant sea creature, expiring its last breath. My strangeness was probably all that saved me from bloody revenge for the devastation I’d caused to their barley. There were still some who might have murdered me, had not, to my good fortune, a schoolteacher, an aerostation enthusiast himself, arrived. I had crashed some twenty leagues northwest of Paris. A cart was summoned. Balloon and balloonist were gathered up, taken to a nearby town and after a night in the schoolteacher’s home, I was taken in a cart to Paris. There, after two days’ journey, I was greeted with jubilation, news of my arrival having been sent on ahead by the teacher as soon as we reached his town after the accident.

Adapted from: Daniel Mason, A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth, New York, 2021.

Aerostation – the art or science of operating a lighter-than-air craft.

 

For questions 4.1.–4.4., choose the answer that best matches the text and circle the appropriate letter (A, B, C or D).

4.1. From the first paragraph, we learn that Céleste
A. feels that she has misunderstood the call of destiny.
B. doubts whether the general public will embrace a female balloonist.
C. has experienced feelings of uncertainty about her chosen path of life.
D. is convinced that her husband fails to appreciate the sacrifice she has made.

4.2. When Céleste comments on the public’s response to her flights, she points out that
A. there is no way of stopping people who ridicule her efforts.
B. reservations concerning her flights have subsided over time.
C. she had a number of heated arguments about her hazardous ascents.
D. her impressive attire distracts spectators’ attention from her flying abilities.

4.3. On her eighth flight, Céleste first started feeling anxious
A. after she ascended higher than anyone else.
B. just before she dropped the last sand bag.
C. once the balloon emerged from the heavy clouds.
D. when she realized how dense the mist she was enveloped in was.

4.4. Which of the following happened last after the crash?
A. Céleste stayed the night in a nearby town.
B. Céleste faced hostility from some villagers.
C. Céleste’s aerostatic equipment was collected from the field.
D. The news about Céleste’s abrupt landing was sent to Paris.

 

Text 2

THE TRUE STORY OF THE AERONAUTS

Considering the extent to which women were tethered to their husbands and homes in centuries past, it is exhilarating to watch Amelia Wren (portrayed by Felicity Jones) soar above it all in The Aeronauts, a film released in 2019 and directed by Tom Harper. Felicity Jones is accompanied in the film by Eddie Redmayne playing the real-life British meteorologist James Glaisher, who thinks he can advance his research into weather by going up in a hot-air balloon. 

You might think that Amelia piloting hot-air balloons through English skies in the 1860s must have been a wonderful inspiration for women! Except for the fact that Amelia Wren is a figment of the imagination of the screenwriter, Jack Thorne. In fact, Amelia Wren is a stand-in for Henry Coxwell, Glaisher’s co-aeronaut, who rose above London in 1862 and flew up to 37,000 feet. The gender swap has led to accusations of Hollywood being overly politically correct.

Harper’s team did invent Amelia Wren completely but her character is inspired by some real women who flew balloons decades before Glaisher and Coxwell’s flight, and in particular by Sophie Blanchard, who was a French aeronaut.

Hot-air balloons became quite the rage in the 1780s. According to Atlas Obcura, the first woman to make a flight in an untethered balloon was an opera singer, Elisabeth Thible. She flew with a Monsieur Fleurant on board a hot-air balloon christened La Gustave. She was the replacement for a count who’d backed out of the flight at the last minute in Lyon in 1784. Later, in 1798, also in France, Jeanne Garnerin made the first solo ascent and became an example which other women followed. Her compatriot, Jean-Pierre Blanchard, was one of the first men to cross the English Channel in a balloon. In order to entertain the crowds, he liked to make his flights more thrilling, for example by launching fireworks from his balloons. In 1804, mainly for publicity, he invited his wife Sophie onto his balloon and though she was a very cautious person on the ground, she immediately fell in love with this potentially hazardous activity. When Jean-Pierre suffered a heart attack and died, she did not give up ballooning. Sophie Blanchard pushed many boundaries during her career. Once, she flew to such altitudes that she passed out. On another occasion, she almost froze.

The thrill of The Aeronauts undoubtedly lies in the death-defying feats it depicts. The film is also visually stunning thanks to its computer-generated effects and the artistry of the cinematographer, George Steel, and the production designers. In a startling sequence in which Amelia climbs to the top of her balloon to unscrew a frozen valve and release air so that the balloon could descend, her bleeding, frostbitten hands speak of the enormity of the task itself. Yet, The Aeronauts stumbles time and again because of its attempt to add the juice of fiction to the original story. Regrettably, the truth, in Hollywood terms, is never enough.

Adapted from: www.refinery29.com; www.rollingstone.com; www.time.com

 

Based on the text, complete sentences 4.5.–4.8.

 

4.5. The film The Aeronauts has been criticized for _________________________________
_________________________________________________ instead of Henry Coxwell.

4.6. According to Atlas Obscura, Jeanne Garnerin was the first woman _________________
_____________________________________________________________________.

4.7. Sophie Blanchard _______________________________________________________
__________________________________________ in the air than in her everyday life.

4.8. In the last paragraph, the author expresses the view that _________________________
_______________________________________________________ was unnecessary.