VOA标准英语2009年-US Deploying New Armored Vehicle to Afghan

By Al Pessin
The Pentagon
02 November 2009
 

 
The M-ATV, or MRAP All-Terrain¹ Vehicle
The U.S. military has begun deploying² a new generation of relatively³ light-weight all-terrain armored vehicles to Afghanistan, which have enough armor to protect troops from deadly roadside bombs but are not too heavy for the country's relatively undeveloped road network.

This report is about the latest effort to reduce the record and rising casualty levels among U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as President Barack Obama considers sending tens of thousands more troops into harm's way. But it comes with a consumer advisory⁴ label: Warning, the following story unavoidably contains military acronyms⁶ and technical terminology⁷.

The story really begins in Iraq several years ago, when insurgents⁸ first began using home-made roadside bombs against the High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, or Humvee, the main vehicle the troops were using. 

 
An Afghan officer walks towards a US armored vehicle damaged after a suicide attack in Ningarhar province, east of Kabul (File)
The soldiers and marines quickly realized the light-weight Humvees did not have enough protection against the bombs, so they added some armor. That helped but not enough, and at the same time the bombs got bigger. So, the military created a new armored vehicle, a sort of cross between a Humvee and a tank, and called it the MRAP, the Mine-Resistant Ambush¹⁰ Protect vehicle. Officials say the vehicles have saved hundreds, maybe thousands, of lives along Iraq's well-developed road network.

"MRAPs are lifesavers," says Assistant Secretary of Defense¹¹ Ashton Carter. 

But, he explains, the MRAPs did not work so well in Afghanistan.

"The terrain in Afghanistan is different from Iraq, it's more uneven¹², the roads are less easy to traverse. And for that reason, we've had to create an all-terrain version of the MRAP," he said.

The challenge for designers was to create a vehicle with the protection provided by an MRAP but about 25 per cent lighter¹³. And so, an acronym⁵ within an acronym was born - the M-ATV, or MRAP All-Terrain Vehicle.

"This vehicle here will similarly be a lifesaver in Afghanistan," he added.

And the U.S. military needs a 'lifesaver' in Afghanistan. American casualties have jumped from fewer than 40 per month until June of this year, to 70 or more every month since then. Officials say like in Iraq, the main killers¹⁴ are roadside bombs. 

 
Assistant Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter
Standing¹⁵ outside the Pentagon Monday in front of one of the hulking desert sand colored new vehicles designed to protect against those bombs, Assistant Secretary Carter extolled¹⁶ the M-ATV's virtues¹⁷.

"It has a lot more survivability than other vehicles that are in Afghanistan right now, a great deal more. Believe it or not, it's very easy to drive. So it's a wonderful vehicle and it's going to be a lifesaver," he said.

Although smaller than the MRAP, the M-ATV is still an imposing¹⁸ vehicle, half-again as tall as the average person and weighing in at 18 metric tons. 

They look like an extra-large version of the World War Two jeep, but enclosed, with small blast-proof windows, a protected machine gun position on top and a variety of high-tech¹⁹ gear inside and out. The U.S. military is buying more than 6,000 of the M-ATVs, at a cost of nearly a million and a half dollars each, including all their equipment, spare parts and transportation to Afghanistan. U.S. officials say other countries with troops in Afghanistan want to buy some of the vehicles, too. 

 
MRAP, M-ATV project director, Marine⁹ Corps²⁰ Brigadier General Michael Brogan
The MRAP and M-ATV project director, Marine Corps Brigadier General Michael Brogan, says the new vehicles will protect troops on Afghanistan's roads, without destroying the roads or getting stuck on them. He says it will also enable the troops to be less predictable in their movements, and get away from areas where the bombs are planted.

"This is really designed to get us off the road network, to be able to go cross-country, to go the places that up-armored HUMVEEs go, not be stuck to the road network, which makes us predictable," he said.

General Brogan says because of some technical innovations M-ATVs are not nearly as cumbersome²¹ as MRAPs, but rather are almost as maneuverable as the much lighter and more lightly armored Humvees, even in the sands of Afghanistan.

"The tires are larger than you would find on a HUMVEE, so the ground pressure, which is really what matters, isn't all that much different from an up-armored HUMVEE," said Brogan. "The fact that this four-wheel independent suspension, the amount of horsepower in the engine, the tractive effort that's delivered to the drive train allows the vehicle to go off road in soil and terrain characteristics similar to what an up-armored HUMVEE can carry. So this is a very capable platform," he added.

For security reasons, officials will not say how large a bomb the M-ATVs can withstand. But they expect the arrival of hundreds, and eventually thousands, of the vehicles in Afghanistan will help reverse the trend of U.S. casualties, and will enable the troops to travel safely throughout the country.

1 terrain   

n.地面，地形，地图

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• He knows the terrain of this locality like the back of his hand.他对这一带的地形了如指掌。

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 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

5 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

6 acronyms   

n.首字母缩略词( acronym的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Scratch the subject of defence and acronyms, abbreviations, and buzzwords fly out. 话题触及国防，缩合字，缩写字和行话就满天飞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some acronyms as scientific terminology are used as a lexical item. 一些科学术语缩写用作词汇项目。 来自互联网

7 terminology   

n.术语；专有名词

参考例句：

• He particularly criticized the terminology in the document.他特别批评了文件中使用的术语。
• The article uses rather specialized musical terminology.这篇文章用了相当专业的音乐术语。

8 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

9 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

10 ambush   

n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击

参考例句：

• Our soldiers lay in ambush in the jungle for the enemy.我方战士埋伏在丛林中等待敌人。
• Four men led by a sergeant lay in ambush at the crossroads.由一名中士率领的四名士兵埋伏在十字路口。

11 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。

12 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

13 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

14 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

15 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。

16 extolled   

v.赞颂，赞扬，赞美( extol的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school. 他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Tessenow decried the metropolis and extolled the peasant virtues. 特森诺夫痛诋大都市，颂扬农民的美德。 来自辞典例句

17 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

18 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

19 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。

20 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

21 cumbersome   

adj.笨重的，不便携带的

参考例句：

• Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重，操作起来却很容易。
• The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨，搬起来很不方便。