When she was told she had to do something, Wally Funk often refused. She wouldn’t wear a seat belt, and had perfected(完善，练就) a neat trick of clicking it in and then sitting on it instead. She wouldn’t study home economics, as girls at her school were supposed to, because she wanted to do car mechanics, and left school rather than comply(而不是服从). Told later to learn cookery, she filled her oven with pans instead. Expected to wear a dress, paint her nails and be generally frou-frou(花里胡哨的), she made no effort at all.
当被告知必须做某事时，沃利·芬克常常拒绝。她不系安全带，还练就了一手绝活：把安全带扣好，然后坐在上面。她不愿学习家政课——那是学校里女生该学的——因为她想学汽车机械，于是宁可辍学也不服从。后来有人让她学烹饪，她却在烤箱里塞满了平底锅。别人期望她穿裙子、涂指甲、做个花里胡哨的女人，她对此完全不屑一顾。
Equally, when she wanted to do something, she just did it. If she suddenly needed when driving to fetch a thing from the back, she steered with her knees. If she wanted a tree house or even a real house, she built it herself. Because, at the age of five, she wanted to fly, she put on her Superman cape and jumped off the barn. Atta girl(好姑娘！真棒！)! From then, it was all aviation. She got her pilot’s licence at 17, won races, excelled at manoeuvres(特技飞行，机动动作) and determined to fly for a living. Like the dozens of balsa-wood(轻木的) planes she had made as a child, she would glide(滑翔，自由飞行) free in the marvellous air.
同样，当她想做什么事时，她就直接去做。如果开车时突然需要从后座拿东西，她就用膝盖控制方向盘。如果她想要一个树屋，甚至一栋真正的房子，她就自己动手建造。因为五岁时想飞，她就披上超人斗篷从谷仓跳下。好姑娘！从那时起，她的人生就全是航空。她17岁拿到飞行员执照，赢得比赛，擅长特技飞行，并决心以飞行为生。就像她小时候做的几十架轻木飞机一样，她将在美妙的天空中自由翱翔。
When astronauts appeared, her longing turned to space. Absolutely she had to go. Men might say no, but she could beat them at anything(在任何事情上打败他们). Besides, in 1960 Dr William Randolph Lovelace had set up a private programme to test whether women were suited(适合的) for spaceflight. Swiftly, although she was under-age(未达到法定年龄的), at 21 she applied to be a member of Mercury 13(水星13号：女性宇航员选拔项目), the group of women who hoped to go into space just like the seven Mercury men.
当宇航员出现时，她的渴望转向了太空。她绝对要去。男人可能会说不，但她能在任何事情上打败他们。此外，1960年，威廉·伦道夫·洛夫莱斯博士启动了一个私人项目，测试女性是否适合太空飞行。尽管年龄不够，21岁的她迅速申请加入“水星13号”——这个由女性组成的团体，希望像七名水星男宇航员一样进入太空。