VOA慢速英语2009-THIS IS AMERICA - On Memorial Day, Honoring Mili

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. The last Monday in May is a national holiday. Memorial Day honors those who died in military service.

VOICE ONE:

But any time of year, visitors to the nation's capital can see a number of memorials that honor members of the armed forces.

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VOICE TWO:
　
A bugler² at Arlington National Cemetery³

Part of the tradition of an American military funeral is the playing of a bugle¹ call known as taps. Taps is also played at military burial grounds during Memorial Day ceremonies.

Another traditional honor in many communities is a Memorial Day parade. And new for two thousand six was a ceremony held on the grounds of the Washington Monument. The event, called "A Time of Remembrance," was described as the first of its kind.

Organizers invited family members who lost relatives in every conflict since the Revolutionary War. Children of service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan received special gold medals.

Memorial Day honors all of those who have died in America's wars. But the holiday 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.

VOICE ONE:

Today, more than two hundred sixty thousand people are buried there. Lines of simple white headstones mark the graves. The eighty-hectare cemetery also serves as a burial place for people of national and historical importance.

The cemetery is in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington. Next to the burial ground is the Defense⁴ Department headquarters at the Pentagon.

VOICE TWO:

A funeral with full military honors traditionally includes a caisson to transport the body. A caisson is a wagon⁵ pulled by horses. At Arlington, six black or gray horses pull caissons made in nineteen eighteen. A seventh horse carries the leader of the procession.

Sometimes a horse without a rider also takes part in a funeral. The best known riderless horse was Black Jack⁶. He took part in the funerals of presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. The horse was named after a famous general known as "Black Jack" Pershing.

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VOICE ONE:
　
Children examine names of the dead at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Each year about one and one-half million people visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It is one of the most-visited places in Washington.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the idea of a former soldier named Jan Scruggs. He fought in the Vietnam War. The war ended in nineteen seventy-five. Many soldiers came home only to face the anger of Americans who opposed the war.

Jan Scruggs organized an effort to remember those who never returned.

In nineteen eighty, a group of former soldiers announced a competition to design a memorial. The winner, Maya Lin, was twenty-one years old. She was studying architecture at Yale University in New Haven⁷, Connecticut. Maya Lin designed a memorial formed by two walls of black stone.

VOICE TWO:

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial opened in nineteen eighty-two.

The walls are about seventy-six meters long. They are set into the earth. They meet to form a wide V. The names of more than fifty-eight thousand Americans killed or declared missing-in-action are cut into the stone.

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

Almost any time of day, you can see people looking for the name of a family member or friend who died in the war. Once they find the name, many rub a pencil on paper over the letters to copy it.

Many people leave remembrances at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. One day, as crowds passed by, two young men left notes. A woman in her late seventies or eighties left a handful of red roses.

VOICE ONE:
　
Korean War Veterans Memorial

After the success of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Congress approved a memorial to Korean War veterans. The Korean War Veterans Memorial opened in July of nineteen ninety-five. It is near the Vietnam memorial.

The Korean War lasted from nineteen fifty to nineteen fifty-three. The memorial honors those who died. It also honors those who survived.

The Korean War has been called the last foot soldier's war. The memorial includes a group of nineteen statues of soldiers. The soldiers appear to be walking up a hill, toward an American flag.

Artist Frank Gaylord made the statues from steel. Each is more than two meters tall. People who drive along a road near the memorial sometimes think the statues are real soldiers.

VOICE TWO:

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.

A Pool of Remembrance shows the numbers of American and United Nations forces killed, wounded, captured or missing. The total is more than two million. Cut into the wall above the pool is a message: "Freedom is Not Free."

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VOICE ONE:

One of the lesser⁸ known memorials on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is often called "the temple." The round stone structure honors people from the District of Columbia who died in World War One.

The war was fought from nineteen fourteen to nineteen eighteen. The memorial was completed in nineteen thirty-one. It is the only District of Columbia memorial on the National Mall.

VOICE TWO:
　
The Women in Military Service for America Memorial

In nineteen eighty-six, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to honor women in the military. The Women in Military Service for America Memorial opened in nineteen ninety-seven.

The memorial is near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. It recognizes the service of all the women who have taken part in the nation's wars. About two million women have served or currently serve in the armed forces.

Michael Manfredi and Marion Gail Weiss designed a place of glass, water and light. The memorial has a large wall shaped in a half-circle. In front, two hundred jets of water meet in a pool.

Inside the memorial, the stories of women in wartime are cut into glass panels. Computer records contain the names, pictures, service records and personal statements of about two hundred fifty thousand military women.

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VOICE ONE:

The World War Two Memorial is the newest of the major memorials in Washington. It rises between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument on the National Mall. America entered the war after Japan bombed the Navy 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 died.

VOICE TWO:

The World War Two Memorial stands in the open air. It is built of bronze and granite⁹. In the center, at ground level, is a round pool of water. Except in very cold weather, water shoots from a circle of fountains in the middle.

When the sun is just right, rainbows of color dance in the air. Fifty-six stone pillars rise around the pool. These represent each of the American states and territories, plus the District of Columbia, at the time of the war. On two tall arches appear the names of where the fighting took place. One says Atlantic; the other says Pacific.

Many visitors to the memorial served during the war. One visitor, a former Navy man, once said: "The only good thing about my fighting in the war was that I was too young to be terrified."

VOICE ONE:

A federal law passed in two thousand calls on Americans to stop for one minute at three o'clock local time on Memorial Day. The National Moment of Remembrance honors the members of the armed forces and others who have died in service to America.

(MUSIC: "Commando March")

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁰. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. And join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 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。

2 bugler   

喇叭手； 号兵； 吹鼓手； 司号员

参考例句：

• The general ordered the bugler to sound the retreat. 将军命令号手吹号收兵。
• There was nothing faded about the bugler under the cap. 帽子下面那个号手可一点也不是褪色的。

3 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。

4 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。

5 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

8 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

9 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。

10 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。