2015年CRI 澳大利亚回顾中国在二战中的重要作用

 

When addressing the Australia-China Business Week in Sydney this week, Mr. Turnbull said at the very beginning of his speech that it is important not to forget that in Australia's battle for survival against Japan their longest ally was China.

On February 19th, 1942, 242 Japanese aircraft bombed Darwin, Northern Australia.

They attacked ships in Darwin's harbour and struck the town's two airfields¹ in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases.

The town was only lightly defended and the Japanese inflicted² heavy losses upon the Allied³ forces at little cost to themselves.

The urban areas of Darwin also suffered severe damage from the raids and 243 civilians⁴ were killed.

The attacks were among almost 100 air raids against Australia in 1942 and '43.

The Minister said "in our darkest hour, when our foes⁵ were literally⁶ on our doorstep, when our cities were under direct military attack, then, at that tipping point in our history, China was our staunch, indefatigable⁷ ally."

China had been invaded by Japan in 1937 and fought alone until Japan's attack on the US base at Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Mr. Turnbull said that without China's endurance and courage in the face of Japan, Australia's war history may have ended very differently indeed.

He said Australian people cannot imagine modern Australia without China's contribution to their people, culture, and prosperity.

For CRI, I'm Wang Xiao from Sydney.

1 airfields   

n.（较小的无建筑的）飞机场( airfield的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For several days traffic fromthe Naples airfields was partially interrupted. 那不勒斯机场的对外交通部分地停顿了数天。 来自辞典例句
• We have achieved a great amount of destruction at airfields and air bases. 我们已把机场和空军基地大加破坏。 来自辞典例句

2 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

3 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

4 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

5 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

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 indefatigable   

adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的

参考例句：

• His indefatigable spirit helped him to cope with his illness.他不屈不挠的精神帮助他对抗病魔。
• He was indefatigable in his lectures on the aesthetics of love.在讲授关于爱情的美学时，他是不知疲倦的。