A growing number of countries around the world are grounding a popular type of passenger plane and that's the first story we're explaining.On Sunday, an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed shortly after takeoff in the capital of Ethiopia. All 157 people aboard were killed.It happened less than six months after an incident on October 29th,when a Lion air flight crashed shortly after takeoff in the capital of Indonesia.All 189 people aboard that flight were killed.The one thing these two flights have in common is that they were aboard new models of the same airplane, a Boeing 737 Max 8.It was introduced two years ago. It's a very technologically advanced jet.And it might be that technology that's causing its problems.Boeing bills its 737 Max as the fastest selling airplane in the company's history.A high tech, single-aisle jet, there are more than 5,000 on order for 100 airlines world wide.Many of them are in China and India.The 737 has a long history.Since the first twin jet Baby Boeing was introduced in 1967, it's grown into the best selling line of commercial jets in history.The Max 8 variant, launched in 2017, seats up to 200 passengers.It was designed to offer airlines greater range, better fuel efficiency than the models that came before.
全世界有越来越多的国家停飞一个备受欢迎型号的客机，这是我们今天的首条新闻。周日，埃塞俄比亚一架航班从埃塞俄比亚首都起飞后不久坠毁。机上157人全部遇难。而不到六个月之前，10月29日那天，狮航一架客机从印度尼西亚首都起飞后不久坠毁。机上189人全部罹难。这两架飞机的其中一个共同点是，它们属于同一型号――波音737 Max 8。该型号在两年前推出。这是一款技术极为先进的喷气式飞机。而引发事故的可能就是这种先进技术。波音公司称737 Max是该公司史上销售速度最快的机型。737 Max是应用高科技的单通道喷气式飞机，全球100家航空公司订购了5000余架该款飞机。其中多数订单来自来自中国和印度的航空公司。737系列飞机历史悠久。自1967年发布首款双引擎喷气式飞机Baby波音以来，737系列已经成为商用喷气式飞机史上最畅销的型号。Max 8飞机在2017年发布，最大载客量可达200人。这一机型旨在为航空公司提供更大的选择空间，与此前发布的型号相比，燃油效率更加优化。
