PDF《试卷代号 ：1351》

m joined by Bruce Holtz, who has been studying the story for many years. Bruce, can you tell us some of the theories about Amelia'

s tragic accident?

1156 Bruce: [West Coast US accent] Well , according to some theories Amelia didn'

t actually die. For many years some people believed that she survived and then worked for the Japanese during the war. Presenter: The Japanese? You have to remember that Japan was America'

s big enemy , even in the 1930s. Bruce: Yes , that'

s right. The story is that during the Second World War , the Japanese broadcast anti-US propaganda on the radio to America. This was read by someone who called herself Tokyo Rose , an American woman living in Japan. Some people thought that perhaps Tokyo Rose was Amelia Earhart. However , Amelia'

s husband listened to dozens of tapes of the broadcasts but he couldn'

t identify his wife'

s voice. So the theory seems unlikely. Presenter: Mmm. What other theories are there? Bruce: Wel1, another theory was that Amelia was actual1y a US spy and that she was caught and killed by the Japanese. ln

1937 a lS-year-old boy said he heard Amelia Earhart on his radio on

2 July , the day she disappeared. He said that he heard a scream and the wornan said Japanese soldiers had entered the plane. Presenter: WeU , that sounds quite convincing , doesn'

t it? Bruce: Er, yes and no. You have to remember that Americans were very worried about Japan back then. Any information from the Pacific region about what the Japanese were doing was very useful. Amelia could have tried to get information-like taking photos. But if she was a spy , there would definitely be files and documents about this in the FBI and governrnent records. The problem is that many researchers spent a long time searching these records in the 1990s and they didn'

t find any information at all about Amelia being a spy. Presenter: Which theories are more likely then? Bruce: Well , probably the simplest explanation is that Amelia sirnply ran out of gas and crashed into the ocean. ln fact , Amelia did definitely mention that she was starting to run out of gas in her last radio message. But there was no sign of panic and we have since calculated that she must have had enough fuel for at least four more hours when she disappeared. So , it'

s an easy explanation but it'

s also easy to prove that it'

s not true. Perhaps the most intriguing story comes from the island of Nikumaroro in the Pacific. Years after Amelia'

s disappearance, some researchers on the island noticed that the islanders were using metal plates. The metal looked like it could have come from an aeroplane.

1157 Presenter: So you'

re saying that Amelia tried to land her plane on another island. This Niko , er... Bruce: Nikumaroro , yes. Perhaps they decided to land there because they knew the fuel would run out. Presenter: Or perhaps they had made a mistake-they thought they had reached their destination-Howland Island. But it was the wrong island. Bruce: Of course , that is also a possibility. Remember-these islands are very small and Amelia'

s plane would have been very high up above the ocean. You can imagine how easy it is to choose the wrong island by mistake. But remember that Fred Noonan was a very experienced navigator , perhaps the best in the world at the time. Presenter: But

1 thought that the US Navy spent

16 days looking for the plane-and that ships and Navy planes explored all the islands in the area? Bruce: That is correct. The Navy claimed that they had searched the island in 1937. But who knows? The plane might have crashed into the sea as they were trying to land on the island and was never found. Presenter: OK. Now finally , something l'