2-1

part 2 bloody, but unbowed

1.

Britain’s Ministry¹ of Defence told the world in February 2007 that I was deploying², that I wouldbe commanding a group of light tanks along the Iraqi border, near Basra. It was official. I was offto war.

Public reaction was peculiar³. Half of Britons were furious, calling it dreadful to risk the life ofthe Queen’s youngest grandson. Spare or not, they said, it’s unwise to send a royal into a warzone. (It was the first time in twenty-five years that such a thing had been done.)Half, however, said bravo. Why should Harry⁴ get special treatment? What a waste oftaxpayers’ money it would be to train the boy as a soldier and then not to use him.

If he dies, he dies, they said.

The enemy certainly felt that way. By all means, said the insurgents⁶, who were trying tofoment a civil war across Iraq, send us the boy.

One of the insurgent⁵ leaders extended a formal invitation worthy⁷ of high tea.

“We are awaiting the arrival of the young handsome spoiled prince with bated breath…”

There was a plan for me, the insurgent leader said. They were going to kidnap me, then decidewhat to do with me—torture, ransom⁸, kill.

In seeming direct contradiction of this plan, he concluded by promising⁹ that the handsomeprince would return to his grandmother “without ears.”

I remember hearing that and feeling the tips of my ears grow warm. I flashed back tochildhood, when a friend suggested my ears be surgically¹⁰ pinned back, to prevent or correct thefamily curse. I said, flatly, no.

Days later, another insurgent leader invoked¹¹ my mother. He said that I should learn from herexample, break away from my family. Rebel against the imperialists, Harry.

Or else, he warned, a prince’s “blood will flow into our desert.”

I would’ve worried about Chels hearing any of this, but since we’d begun dating she’d been soharassed by the press that she’d completely unplugged. The papers didn’t exist for her. Theinternet was off-limits.

The British military, however, was very plugged in. Two months after announcing mydeployment, the head of the Army, General Dannatt, abruptly¹⁴ called it off. Besides the publicthreats from insurgent leaders, British intelligence learned that my photo had been distributedamong a group of Iraqi snipers, with instructions that I was the “mother of all targets.” Thesesnipers were elite¹⁵: they’d recently cut down six British soldiers. So the mission had simplybecome too dangerous, for me, for anyone who might have the bad luck to be standing¹⁶ next to me.

I’d become, in the assessment¹⁷ of Dannatt and others, a “bullet magnet.” And the reason, he said,was the press. In his public statement canceling my deployment¹², he blasted journalists for theiroverwrought coverage¹⁸, their wild speculations¹⁹, which had “exacerbated” the threat level.

Pa’s staff also issued a public statement, saying I was “very disappointed,” which was untrue. Iwas crushed. When word first reached me I was at Windsor Barracks, sitting with my guys. I tooka moment to collect myself, then told them the bad news. Though we’d just spent monthstraveling, training together, during which we’d become brothers in arms, they were now on theirown.

It wasn’t simply that I felt sorry for myself. I worried about my team. Someone else wouldhave to do my job, and I’d have to live forever with the wondering, the guilt²⁰. What if they were nogood?

The following week, several papers reported that I was in deep depression. One or two,however, reported that the abrupt¹³ about-face in my deployment had been my own doing. Thecoward story, again. They said that, behind the scenes, I’d pressed my superiors to pull the plug.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

3 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

4 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

5 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

6 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

7 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

8 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

9 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

10 surgically   

adv. 外科手术上, 外科手术一般地

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• To bypass this impediment an almost mature egg cell is removed surgically. 为了克服这一障碍，通过手术，取出一个差不多成熟的卵细胞。

11 invoked   

v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求

参考例句：

• It is unlikely that libel laws will be invoked. 不大可能诉诸诽谤法。
• She had invoked the law in her own defence. 她援引法律为自己辩护。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

13 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

14 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

15 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

16 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

17 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

18 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

19 speculations   

n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断

参考例句：

• Your speculations were all quite close to the truth. 你的揣测都很接近于事实。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. 这种可能性引起了有趣的推测。 来自《用法词典》

20 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。