VOA慢速英语2014 冷战时核导弹基地变成旅游景点

 

Nuclear Missile Site Turns Tourist Site 冷战时核导弹基地变成旅游景点

The Cold War is long over. But there is still some clean-up to do, including cleaning up nuclear missiles. 

The U.S. plans to reduce the total number of land-based nuclear missiles by 2018.  This will satisfy terms of an arms treaty the U.S. signed with Russia in 2011. 

The northern U.S. state of North Dakota has been a traditional home to many of those land-based missiles.  It is a part of the state’s Cold War history that officials, residents, and visitors, enjoy.

North Dakota -- An Out-of-the-way State.

Far from densely¹ populated cities on the most northern edge of the United States, was one of the most secretive and dangerous places on the planet for many years.  The state is called North Dakota.  

North Dakota’s distance from urban centers made it the perfect choice for a nuclear land-based missile site during the Cold War.  The lives of millions depended on what happened with the deadly weapons stored there.

The Cold War was the name often used for the severe tensions between the United States and the former Soviet² Union.  And during that Cold War period, the name for this missile site was November-33.  It was home to a long-distance missile with a nuclear warhead. 

Alvin Jaeger is secretary of state in North Dakota. 

“I think there was kind of a standing³ joke that North Dakota was actually the third largest power in the world in terms of the nuclear capacity that we had here.”

Mr. Jaeger grew up there in the 1950s.  And he remembers the Cold War fears of a nuclear attack that would destroy everything.  

Mr. Jaeger says there was reason to worry.  More than 1,000 such missiles were deployed⁴ around the state.  The people in North Dakota knew the missiles made them a good target.

“We all realized that we would have been a big target, but we just kept on.”

The Cold War is over.  The nuclear threat is gone.  But the keys are still by the starter control of the Oscar Zero Launch facility outside Cooperstown, North Dakota. 

The U.S. Air Force retired⁵ Oscar Zero in 1998.  This was part of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty 2 - or what is known as START 2.  Now the Oscar Zero launch center is called the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site.  It is a place where you can bring your family on vacation.  

Gwen Hinman is supervisor⁶ at the Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile Site. Ms. Hinman shows tourists around in the area below the surface.  She takes them into the heart of the front line of the Cold War.

"The threat was high enough that they had their keys in the consoles."

Ms. Hinman shows visitors where a small crew would wait behind thick steel blast doors and reinforced concrete.  They would wait for the decision to launch their nuclear missiles.

About 150 active missile centers remain in North Dakota, although Jaeger says few people know about them.

“Within 100 miles there is an active operating nuclear field that exists, and, again, people just go about their daily lives.”

The areas that are active facilities are closed to the public.  But Gwen Hinman says they are not too different from Oscar Zero.  She explains that they are off-line, meaning not connected to any computers. 

This is a really good thing.  It prevents hackers⁷ from launching a nuclear attack.

“It’s all offline so it prevents hackers from hacking⁸ the system and potentially sending a missile.”

Four-hundred-and-50 land-based nuclear missiles currently are spread across the United States.  Earlier this year, the Pentagon approved a plan to remove 50 of those missiles from storage.  This will bring the total down to 400.  And that will be the lowest number since the height of the Cold War in the 1960s.

1 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

7 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

8 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。