时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(五月)


英语课

By Jim Malone
Washington
25 May 2006



A boy scavenges for saleable items at Red Beach dump, on Tarawa, Kiribati   
  
Monday is Memorial Day in the United States, a holiday set aside to honor the nation's war dead.  VOA national correspondent Jim Malone has the story of one man's effort to honor his fallen comrades from World War II.


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In November of 1943, U.S. forces invaded the small atoll of Tarawa in the South Pacific.


It was the first time that Americans in the Pacific faced serious Japanese opposition 1 to an amphibious landing.


U.S. Navy veteran Leon Cooper remembers.  He was piloting one of the landing craft that took Marines to the beaches of what Americans came to call 'Bloody 2 Tarawa'.


"As I say, it was a nightmare and repeated many times in dreams that I have had for some years afterwards of watching guys literally 3 being torn to pieces by Japanese gunfire and watching mortars 4 land in the areas where the boats were coming in, fortunately not mine, landing in the boats and killing 5 everybody in the boats.  And I could see body parts flying everywhere," he recalled.


During the three-day battle, nearly 1,000 Americans were killed and more than 2,000 wounded.  Only 17 of the 2,600 Japanese troops who defended the island survived.


Leon Cooper went on to take part in other amphibious landings during World War II, but he never forgot the vicious fighting at Tarawa.


"I had a number of invasions afterwards, winding 6 up with Iwo Jima, but Tarawa will stand in my mind as the worst experience in my life, young or old," he noted 7.  "These kids were dying in my boat, some in my arms, as I was trying to comfort them and their wounds."


Cooper is 86 now, but the memories of his fallen comrades remain vivid and in order to pay tribute to them, he has a new crusade.


In recent years, the beach at Tarawa has become fouled 8 by garbage and trash.


Tarawa is part of the island nation of Kiribati.  Cooper has pressed the government to clean up the beach out of respect for the men who died there.  He also wants a battle monument to those who died at Tarawa moved closer to the beach where the fighting occurred.


"At the very least, remove the garbage from the area where the landings have taken place and install at that location a decent memorial to the guys who fought and died there," he said.


Cooper has also appealed to Congress and the Bush administration, asking the United States to help clean up the beach at Tarawa.  So far, he has gotten little response, except for one congressman 9 from his home state of California.


Leon Cooper says the response is frustrating 10, but he is not giving up.


"That is what Memorial Day is really all about, to recall what so many guys, 18 million plus, who were involved in the war that literally saved our civilization," he said.


Navy veteran Leon Cooper has also written a book about his wartime experiences called 90 Day Wonder - Darkness Remembered.



n.反对,敌对
  • The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
  • The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染
  • He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
  • He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 );砂浆;房产;研钵
  • They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗? 来自教父部分
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈
  • A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
  • The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
v.使污秽( foul的过去式和过去分词 );弄脏;击球出界;(通常用废物)弄脏
  • Blue suit and reddish-brown socks!He had fouled up again. 蓝衣服和红褐色短袜!他又搞错了。
  • The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories. 整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
n.(美)国会议员
  • He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
  • The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。
adj.产生挫折的,使人沮丧的,令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
  • It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间,真令人懊恼。
  • It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
a matter of congratulation
a ramallosa
abstract algebra manifold
accurred
aft antenna
Alois
ARMELLINI
ASLAP
Atlantic Coast Conference
biceps curl
bicks
blomstrand
brachylogy
cabline patchouli
cane-cuttings
cant body
caprizant
casseia
cervical air sac
chartleys
chest pulley weight
ciliary glands
concurrent control count
copy quantity key
countershaft bearing cover
cranial limb of intestinal loop
Dell Inc.
desertin'
dysgranulopoiesis
dysphoric manic episode
echinostelium paucifilum
Ekonal
encephalic poliomyelitis
eoliths
finitists
flynet
gamma-ray shield
general mechanics
grievesome
guffey
Helles, Cape
herbalogy
hot-air damper
ideal productivity index
jurish
kello
leadagetest
lowest common ancestor
maintenance free
Markscheidewesen
martinis
mineral micrology
monochoriate
murreie
myxosomiasis
nephritogenic strains
non-absorbing state
nonsingular network
overbeetling
padded out
petroleur
pintle plate
Plateosaurus
politization
post-puller
preconceived opinions
prejudice against
primitive adjoint
principle of belongingness
psub
qualification of name
Rayleigh criterion
reactive compensation equipment
resistance training
robust performance
rvw
s catarrh Bostock
salted salmon belly
selfproclaimed
side arch
single-end break
sliding shoe
smoker's
standard measuring instrument
Stiper quartzite
submerged intake
swing hammer
synfuel
ta mien
take him
take mercy on
tecophilaea cyanocrocus leyb.
thaumastocheles japonicus
the world is your oyster
threshold immunity
to fan the air
tympanic bone
unurn
velamentous
wave energy transmission
weapon of offense
weighting bottle