国家地理:Wings Over The Gulf 波湾战机 - 6

F15-E. They started to come out only at night. They started to take advantage of environmental conditions which made it difficult for us to see them. And they began to move their operations' areas farther north.

The intense air attacks on Scud¹ sites did seem to have an impact. In the first five days of the war, Iraq fired an average of five Scuds² per day. In the month that followed, the average went down to one per day. Although Scud hunts became their priority, F15-E pilots were also sent against many other important, hard-to-hit targets, such as radar³ sites and airfields⁴. During the Gulf⁵ War, the 48 F15-Es sent to Saudi Arabia flew over 2,200 sorties. They dropped more than 11 million pounds of bombs. By all accounts, the new airplane and its pilots performed superbly in combat. But flying 300 feet above the ground at night in heavily defended territory will always be extremely dangerous, no matter how good the pilot or how advanced the aircraft. Two F15-Es were lost in the first week of the war.

The F15-Es had a tough job to do. They were flying at night, and they were the key to our Scud hunting events over Western Iraq. Unfortunately, we lost two of them during the war. One of them, we will probably never know what happened. It could have been shot down, or it could have flown into the ground. Another one, it was shot down probably by a surface-to-air missile over Western Iraq while hunting Scuds.

I don't know of any military man that really enjoys combat; it is something you learn to hate. You hate it because it's wasteful⁶, because of the loss of life. And you actually feel a sense of immorality⁷ in the taking of life. Nonetheless, in this case, it had to be done. But I lost friends over there. My former exec was one of the guys, who was lost in F15, and I'll tell you it hurts deeply.

This is the F-117 Nighthawk, better known as the Stealth Fighter. Until recently, the sight of this plane at an air show would have been unthinkable. For years, the F-117 was one of the air force's most closely guarded secrets. But in 1991, this mysterious plane was the cornerstone of the strategic air campaign waged against Iraq. And literally⁸ overnight, the F-117 underwent a drastic change of image. Prior to January 16th, it was a symbol of wasteful defense⁹ spending. The day after, it represented the high-tech¹⁰ military juggernaut that crushed Iraq.


juggernaut: An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path 骇人的(毁灭)力量

1 scud   

n.疾行；v.疾行

参考例句：

• The helpers came in a scud.救援者飞奔而来。
• Rabbits scud across the turf.兔子飞快地穿过草地。

2 scuds   

v.（尤指船、舰或云彩）笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Of scuds metals conduct heat most quickly. They are the best heat conductors. 在所有的固体中金属传热最快，它们是最好的导热体。 来自互联网
• Launch Scuds – Fires many, inaccurate Scud missiles at the target (costs per use) 射飞毛腿：朝目标射很多打不准的飞毛腿（使用要钱） 来自互联网

3 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

4 airfields   

n.（较小的无建筑的）飞机场( airfield的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For several days traffic fromthe Naples airfields was partially interrupted. 那不勒斯机场的对外交通部分地停顿了数天。 来自辞典例句
• We have achieved a great amount of destruction at airfields and air bases. 我们已把机场和空军基地大加破坏。 来自辞典例句

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

7 immorality   

n. 不道德, 无道义

参考例句：

• All the churchmen have preached against immorality. 所有牧师都讲道反对不道德的行为。
• Where the European sees immorality and lawlessness, strict law rules in reality. 在欧洲人视为不道德和无规则的地方，事实上都盛行着一种严格的规则。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• 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。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。