A Century of Memories(1940-1949)

A Century of Memories(1940-1949)

On the first Sunday in December 1941, Americans were doing what Americans did on any normal Sunday.

"My father and I were in the living room listening to the Giant’s football game. My father was sitting next to me, suddenly when they announced that Pearl Harbor was attacked."

Broadcast: We interrupt this program to bring you a special news 1)bulletin: The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor by air.

President Truman: Yesterday, December 7th,1941, a date which will live in 2)infamy 1, the United States of America was suddenly and 3)deliberately 2 attacked. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this 4)premeditated invasion, the American people in their 5)righteous mind will win through to absolute victory.

"Oh, boy, when he came on the radio, you listened whether you liked him or not. And we needed a leader both in the Depression and during the war."

The 6)departure of so many men changed the normal 7)rhythms and patterns of American social life. For teenage girls, those changes often meant growing up very quickly.

"Teenage girls were more 8)precociously 3 sexual in some ways in the ‘40s than they’d been in the ‘30s, in part because their young boyfriends were going off to the war and they might never see them again.”

For young boys on the 9)home front, all the heroes were in uniform.

"I remember being jealous that I didn’t have an older brother. I remember seeing these kids come to school with 10)patches on their jackets that their brothers had sent them, and 11)souvenirs that they had sent from overseas. And I thought God... I felt 12)deprived because I didn’t have an older brother who would send me patches and send me souvenirs and send me a German 13)helmet.”

“Japan knew Japan was defeated and we knew that Japan was defeated. The question was, would they 14)surrender? And the Japanese did not surrender. And the closer we got to the mainland islands of Japan..."

"I remember hearing on the radio that an 15)atom bomb had been dropped, and in my head I spelled it ‘A-d-a-m’ and wondered what is this ‘Adam’ bomb and, you know, why is it so powerful."

The world had never seen anything like it: a single bomb that could 16)level an entire city. Three days later, a second atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

光阴的故事(1940-1949)

■ 20世纪40年代，全球笼罩在二战的阴云中，生活秩序与模式亦随战争的影响而起了变化。

1941年12月的第一个礼拜天，美国人做着寻常礼拜天的事务。

“爸爸和我在客厅里收听巨人队足球赛，爸爸坐在我旁边，突然广播宣布珍珠港被袭击。”

广播：节目中断，播报新闻：日本空袭了珍珠港。

杜鲁门总统：昨天，也就是1941年12月7日，这是耻辱的一天，美利坚合众国受到突然的蓄意袭击。无论对抗这次蓄意侵略要多旷日持久，正义的美国人必将取得最后的胜利。

“噢，天啊，听着他在广播中说话，你喜欢他也好，不喜欢也好，在战争年代和经济大萧条时期，我们需要一个领导者。”

众多离别改变了美国社会生活的正常节奏和模式。这种改变让女孩子快速成长起来。

“从某方面来看，四十年代的女孩子比三十年代的更性早熟些，部分原因是因为她们的年轻男友即将离家奔赴战场，或许他们再无相见之日了。”

而后方的男孩子则把军人视为偶像。

“我还记得，我很嫉妒那些有兄长的人。我记得这些孩子上学时，衣服上钉着布军章，那是他们的兄长寄回来给他们的。还有那些纪念品是从海外寄回来的。这些都让我称羡不已……没有人给我寄布军章，没有纪念品，没有德国钢盔，我感到很失意。”

“日本知道自己战败了，我们也知道日本战败了，问题是他们会不会投降，结果日本人并不投降。我们离日本本岛越近……”

“我还记得听到收音机说投放了原子弹时，我在脑子里拼写出“A-d-a-m（亚当）”，我奇怪极了，不知道这“亚当弹”是什么，怎么有那么大的威力。”

全世界都没见过这样的东西。一颗原子弹就夷平一座城市。三天后，第二颗原子弹投放到长崎。

注释:

1) bulletin [5bulitin] n. 公告，报告

2) infamy [5infEmi] n. 丑行，丑名

3) deliberately [dI5lIbErEtli] adv. 故意地

4) premeditated [pri5mediteitid] a. 有预谋的

5) righteous [5raitFEs] a. 正直的

6) departure [di5pB:tFE] n. 出发，离开

7) rhythm [5riTEm] n. 节奏，韵律

8) precociously [pri5kEuFEsli] adv. 早熟地，早慧地

9) home front 后方

10) patch [pAtF] n. 补缀，碎片

11) souvenir [5su:vEniE] n. 纪念品

12) deprived [di5praivd] a. 缺乏的

13) helmet [5helmit] n. 头盔，钢盔

14) surrender [sE5rendE] v. 投降

15) atom [5AtEm] n. 原子

16) level [5lev(E)l] v. 夷平