NPR 09-17:In a Dream, Soldier Says Goodbye在梦中，我们以我俩独有的方式道别

For Vietnam veteran Brian Delate, saying goodbye to a wartime friend came after the fighting had ceased.

We turn now to a US soldier from another war, Brian Delate fought in Vietnam. When his teenage daughter had some questions about his service during that war, his answers were recorded by StoryCorps. This project has been recording¹ everyday Americans' talking about their lives. Brian Delate spoke² with his daughter Tirsa in New York.

Remember when you were asking me, hey, dad, were you in a war?

Yeah.

I was in the war in Vietnam in 1969, and it was very hard as either bored or terrified when I was over there. But I feel very fortunate I had some of the best friends ever. And my friend Don, he and I went to high school together. We both were getting drafted at the same time. We went in the same day. And we went through basic training together. Guess I was gung-ho kind of. But Don was sort of a hippy with a short haircut. And when we were in basic training, he just wanted to get through it. And one drill sergeant³ was really mean and he used to get in our faces and he say, ''Hey man, don't you mess with me.'' or words of that effect. And if I was getting really serious, Don would come up to me and he elbowed me a little bit and go: ''Hey man, don't you mess with me.'' You know, until I would start laughing and then I'd say, don't you mess with me, and we laugh and we laugh.

When you got out of war how did it change you?

When I came back, I was really, I think very angry and my friend Don he was very depressed⁴. I went to college and I talked him into going too. And he went for a couple of weeks, and he just couldn't do it. Not long after that, he had a job driving a forklift and he got killed driving the forklift. A few months after that, I had a dream that I was floating in space and I could see my friend Don. He was floating in space too. As we got closer he started laughing at me and he said, "Hey man, don't mess with me.''

Hehe...

I said, ''No man, don't you mess with me.'' And we laughed and we laughed and then I said to him, ''Are you ok? '' And he said, ''yeah, I am good.'' And then he said to me, he said, ''How are you? '' I said, ''I am ok.'' And we smiled then he went off and I went off and I think that was our way of saying goodbye in a dream. He was a special guy, a good friend.

Brian Delate and his daughter Tirsa, at StoryCorps in New York City, all of these interviews are archived at the Library of Congress, you can subscribe⁵ to the StoryCorps podcast at npr.org.

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

4 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

5 subscribe   

vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助

参考例句：

• I heartily subscribe to that sentiment.我十分赞同那个观点。
• The magazine is trying to get more readers to subscribe.该杂志正大力发展新订户。