PBS高端访谈:麦凯恩讲述美国战争中英雄的个人事迹

 　　GWEN IFILL: Now one of the nation's most famous veterans takes a look at American heroes from each of the nation's conflicts, most largely unknown, in a new book, "Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War." The authors are Sen. John McCain and his longtime collaborator¹ Mark Salter.

　　I sat down today with the Arizona Republican to talk about the book and also about what to expect from the new Republican Senate majority.

　　Sen. McCain, thank you for joining us.

　　In your latest book, you decided² to write about 13 soldiers, not yourself, and from the Revolutionary War to our latest enterprises in Afghanistan and Iraq. Is there a through-line of similarity between all of those?

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) Arizona: I think there is a similarity, in that, no matter where they came from or what their gender³ or race was, that they were dedicated⁴ to serving the country, sometimes with honor and integrity, and sometimes maybe not so much, but they — courage.

　　They served with courage, and I think they epitomized many aspects of that particular conflict. In other words, our first guy, Joseph Plumb⁵ Martin, who was in the Revolutionary War at 15, almost starved to death, literally⁶ almost starved to death.

　　GWEN IFILL: And died in poverty.

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Yes, and died in poverty without a pension. Well, actually, it took them 30 years before a pension.

　　But compare that with Mike Monsoor, who was a man who sacrificed his life for the lives of others. It wasn't a question or food. It wasn't a question of equipment. It was a dramatic change, but each of them served and sacrificed, and ordinary people who did extraordinary things.

　　GWEN IFILL: And Michael Monsoor, of course, threw himself on a grenade and got the Medal of Honor.

　　But you remember a time, as a Vietnam veteran, when veterans weren't treated with that kind of respect. Have you seen that evolve over time, or are we still, as Americans, basically stuck in a position where we say, thank you for your service, but don't know what else to do with that?

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: I think we have come a long way from Joseph Martin, when they literally were discharged and given pieces of paper that they could convert into money or services, to today, where we do a great deal.

　　But I think there's been ups and downs, Gwen. After the Vietnam War, unfortunately, as you know, many people blamed the veteran and the young 18-, 19-year-old draftee. I think it's really a shameful⁷ chapter.

　　But I also think we're trying to make up for that, and I think we are making up for it. I see companies and corporations stepping up. I'm proud of my home city of Phoenix⁸, Arizona, where there are no homeless veterans. They have provided lodging⁹ for every homeless veteran in our city.

　　GWEN IFILL: But there's patriotism¹⁰. There's practicality. There's certainly practicality in hiring veterans. And then there's the politics of this whole thing.

　　Do they contradict one another often when it comes to veterans?

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Oh, I think sometimes it's used for political gain.

　　But I am happy that we have had now in this last election some veterans, including Joni Ernst, Dan Sullivan, and Tom Cotton, that have served recent conflicts. You don't have to be a veteran to be a great senator and a great leader on military affairs, but it does help to have some veterans present, so that they can give us the perspective that only those with that kind of experience can provide.

　　GWEN IFILL: Well, so then tell me, if you had to recommend one of these stories in this book, which one would you recommend?

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: I think I might recommend Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

　　He came from the Boston Brahmin family. He joined the Harvard Regiment¹¹, which was a mixture of Harvard and Ivy¹² League, Harvard graduates and German-speaking Americans. He learned the lessons of war. He was changed by the war, but yet he went on to serve as a justice of the United States Supreme¹³ Court.

　　One little anecdote¹⁴. Every day at work, he had a tin ammunition¹⁵ box that he would bring his lunch to work with, because always reminding him of the conflict. And, of course, it was the bloodiest¹⁶, most fratricidal conflict by far we have ever been through, and it defined America.

　　GWEN IFILL: When Congress returns in January, you are going to be chairman of the Armed Services Committee. And you will have a different kind of platform. We see playing out even today the U.S. strategy on ISIS, another beheading of an American aid worker.

　　What, as the chairman of the committee and with this new platform, would you do that would be different than what's being done right now?

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: We are facing challenges unprecedented¹⁷ in my lifetime. We need to have hearings to start with from some of the wisest people in America.

　　I want to get Henry Kissinger and Zbig Brzezinski and George Shultz and Jim Baker¹⁸ and people — and I also want to get some proven military leaders, like General Petraeus and many others, to come down and talk directly to the members of our committee in Congress so they can tell us what our challenges are.

　　GWEN IFILL: What is the value in bringing people from past administrations to advise this administration? Because you don't trust this administration?

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: I think they have learned the lessons.

　　They have lived it from that side of the river and they know what their challenges are, but also they have a great grasp of the overall situation in the world. Many of these new members, particularly, have never been involved with the big-picture issues.

　　GWEN IFILL: I guess what I'm curious about, the pushback that the White House offers is, the Republicans are critical, but they don't have their own solution.

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: You know, that's interesting to hear, because everything that Lindsey Graham and I and Joe Lieberman said would happen would happen, we said long ago, we are going to need a lot more boots on the ground. Guess what? The president, just 1,500 more.

　　And I guarantee they will need more and they will need to arm the Free Syrian Army and they will have to ignore the boundaries between the two countries. What we're seeing is a gradual escalation¹⁹, which then the escalation loses much of its impact.

　　I mean, when we decided we were going to bomb ISIS, we gave them a week's warning. I mean, it's crazy. But everything that we have prescribed that needed to be done, if it had been done, we wouldn't be where we are today.

　　GWEN IFILL: Has the well truly been poisoned with the White House at this stage for the final two years of this presidency²⁰ because of executive action or threats of executive action?

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: I think it's hurt the environment and I think it should be challenged in court, because the president for months said that he didn't have that kind of authority.

　　And now he is exercising the kind of authority that he said he didn't have. And I think it's clearly unconstitutional. But, frankly²¹, shutting down the government is not the answer.

　　GWEN IFILL: But you are going to have to fight that government shutdown fight again, aren't you?

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Oh, I hope we will prevent it from happening. Both Sen. McConnell and Speaker Boehner have said that that is not the solution, so I hope we can prevail.

　　GWEN IFILL: Sen. McCain, thank you very much.

　　SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Thank you, Gwen.

　　GWEN IFILL: My conversation with Sen. McCain continues online, where we discuss the value of military, as well as civilian²² public service.

1 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 plumb   

adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深

参考例句：

• No one could plumb the mystery.没人能看破这秘密。
• It was unprofitable to plumb that sort of thing.这种事弄个水落石出没有什么好处。

6 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。

7 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

8 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

9 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

10 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

11 regiment   

n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制

参考例句：

• As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活，所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
• They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。

12 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

14 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

15 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

16 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

17 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

18 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

19 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

20 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

21 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

22 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。