VOA慢速英语 2007 0528b

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Memorial Day two thousand seven is our subject this week.

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VOICE ONE:

Personal sacrifice and service to a nation might seem like the last things Memorial Day is about.

For lucky workers, the holiday means the freedom of a three-day weekend, the traditional start of the summer travel season. For many businesses, the Memorial Day weekend means a time to lower prices to get more people to come in.

 
Cameron Dostie of Fort Campbell Kentucky places memorial stones on the grave of his father at Arlington National Cemetery¹. Sergeant² First Class Shawn Dostie was killed in Iraq in 2005. 
Yet, across America, Memorial Day still holds meaning as a day to remember the men and women who have died in military service.

This is the fifth Memorial Day since the start of the Iraq war. More than three thousand four hundred American troops have died in Iraq since March of two thousand three. About four hundred have died in Afghanistan since military operations began there in October of two thousand one.

VOICE TWO:

Cities and towns across the United States hold Memorial Day events. And while the holiday has a serious meaning, the observances often include family entertainment in addition to events like military parades. 

In Fayetteville, North Carolina, the Glory Days celebration includes a bicycle race, an apple-pie eating competition and music. Fayetteville has a strong connection with the military. The city is neighbors with the Army base at Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base.

VOICE ONE:      

Ann Zetterstrom is a retired³ Army captain. Her plans for Memorial Day include attending a ceremony at Freedom Memorial Park in Fayetteville. She says she has been very much looking forward to this holiday with her family.

Her husband, Erik, is a lieutenant⁴ colonel in the Army. This will be the first Memorial Day that he spends with their two-year-old daughter, Britta. He returned home in February after twenty-two months in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ann Zetterstrom says it is a great relief to have her husband home safely. She thinks it is easier to be the one deployed⁵, even in harm's way, than to be the one waiting and worrying, she says. But she knew what she was signing up for when she married another soldier.

Being the mother of a soldier, however, is a different story. Her son, Brian, is a lieutenant in the Army. He is currently stationed in Germany. But he is preparing for deployment⁶ to Iraq in the fall.

His mom supported his interest in military service. But, she says, "I just got one man home safe and, now, here goes the other one."

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A Navy officer visits a grave at Arlington National Cemetery. Flags are placed on the graves in honor of Memorial Day.
VOICE TWO:

On May twentieth, a ceremony called a "Time of Remembrance" took place on the grounds of the Washington Monument. The event brought together more than three thousand family members and friends of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The children of those service members received a Gold Medal of Remembrance. The event also recognized families of those killed in military service throughout American history.

This was the second year that the ceremony has been held. It was established by the White House Commission on Remembrance.

VOICE ONE:

In the year two thousand Congress passed a law to establish a National Moment of Remembrance on Memorial Day. The law asks Americans wherever they are to stop for one minute at three o'clock in the afternoon in an act of national unity⁷.      

Yet Congress created some disunity when it moved Memorial Day to the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend. That happened under a nineteen seventy-one law, the National Holiday Act. Some people support a campaign to return Memorial Day to its traditional day of observance -- May thirtieth.

Memorial Day began as a way to remember soldiers killed in the Civil War. On May thirtieth, eighteen sixty-eight, flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The war to prevent the Confederate states of the South from leaving the Union was fought from eighteen sixty-one to eighteen sixty-five.

VOICE TWO:

Arlington National Cemetery is a military burial ground but also a final resting place for people of national and historical importance. Each year more than four million people visit the cemetery. It is located in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington. Next to the cemetery is the Pentagon, the Defense⁸ Department headquarters.

Part of the tradition of an American military funeral is the playing of a bugle⁹ call known as taps. Taps is also played at Arlington and other burial grounds during ceremonies on Memorial Day.

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VOICE ONE:      

The Washington capital area has a number of military memorials.

At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, people look for the names of family members or friends. The memorial lists the names of more than fifty-eight thousand Americans who were killed or declared missing-in-action.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, known as the Wall, opened in nineteen eighty-two. Two black, shiny stone walls, each about seventy-six meters long, are set into the earth. They meet to form a wide V.

Many visitors leave flowers or personal remembrances. To copy a name, they rub a pencil on paper over the letters cut into the stone.

Nearby is a statue of three soldiers. They are looking toward the names. Another statue honors the service of women in the war.

The Vietnam War ended in nineteen seventy-five. Many soldiers coming home faced the anger of Americans who opposed the war. So a Vietnam veteran named Jan Scruggs organized an effort to remember those who never returned. The result is the Wall. 

VOICE TWO:

Near the Vietnam memorial is the Korean War Veterans Memorial. It opened in nineteen ninety-five.

The Korean War lasted from nineteen fifty to nineteen fifty-three. The memorial honors those who died and those who survived. "Freedom Is Not Free" is the message cut into the wall above a Pool of Remembrance. There are listings of the numbers of American and United Nations forces killed, wounded, captured or missing, more than two million in all.

 
Boy Scout¹⁰ Ricky Bischoff places flags for Memorial Day at Long Island National Cemetery in New York
On one side of the Korean War Veterans Memorial is a stone walkway. It lists the names of the twenty-two countries that sent troops to Korea under United Nations command. On the other side is a shiny stone wall. Sandblasted into the wall are images from photographs of more than two thousand five hundred support troops.

There are statues of nineteen soldiers who look like they are moving across a battlefield. The statues are gray and lifelike, although a little bigger than life size. Artist Frank Gaylord made them out of stainless¹¹ steel. They capture the eye and the imagination. 

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VOICE ONE:

The newest of the major memorials in Washington is the National World War Two Memorial. It opened in two thousand four between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument on the National Mall.

The memorial is a large, open area built of bronze and granite¹². In the center, at ground level, is a round pool. Water shoots from a circle of fountains in the middle.

Around the pool are fifty-six stone pillars. They represent each of the American states and territories at the time of the war, plus the District of Columbia.

On two tall arches are the names of where the fighting took place. One says Atlantic; the other says Pacific. The United States entered the war after Japan bombed the naval¹³ base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December seventh, ninety forty-one.

Sixteen million men and women served in the American military between nineteen forty-one and nineteen forty-five. More than four hundred thousand of them never came home.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Caty Weaver¹⁴ and produced by Mario Ritter. Internet users can find archives of transcripts¹⁵ and audio files of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. We hope you can join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

2 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？

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

5 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

6 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。

7 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

8 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。

9 bugle   

n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集

参考例句：

• When he heard the bugle call, he caught up his gun and dashed out.他一听到军号声就抓起枪冲了出去。
• As the bugle sounded we ran to the sports ground and fell in.军号一响，我们就跑到运动场集合站队。

10 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

11 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

12 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

13 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

14 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

15 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句