France Prepares to Host Celebrations for D-Day's 60th Annive

 

Lisa Bryant

In just over a week, more than a dozen world leaders and thousands of World War II veterans will pack the beaches and villages of northwestern France to commemorate¹ the 60th anniversary of D-Day. On that 1944 day, allied² troops landed in Normandy and launched the campaign that led to the end of the war in Europe.

Sixty years ago a 17-year-old boy named Eugène Jouan watched American paratroopers march down a dark, country road, leaving a dewy field sprinkled with parachutes that town residents would later sew into clothes. The soldiers had landed in Mr. Jouan's hometown of Sainte-Mère-Eglise in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, as part of an Allied campaign that would forever be remembered as "D-Day."

Today, Mr. Jouan is a retired³, 77-year-old farmer with powerful forearms and a big stomach. He sits at his kitchen table in this small Normandy town recounting his personal tale of what happened on June 6, 1944. The long and bloody⁴ campaign that followed led to the liberation of France from Nazi⁵ occupation and ultimately the end of the war in Europe some eleven weeks later.

The soldiers who parachuted into Sainte-Mère-Eglise early that June morning were the first Americans Mr. Jouan had ever seen. Sainte-Mère-Eglise's residents, he said, were expecting the British to free them from German occupation. Instead, it was the Americans who came.

Mr. Jouan's memories, and those of many other French World War II survivors⁶, are again being dusted off as France prepares to host massive celebrations to commemorate D-Day's 60th anniversary. The barbecues, parachute drops, and nostalgic speeches planned for the June 6 event recall a different time in U.S.-French relations when American military action was welcomed.

Across Normandy's wide beaches and quaint⁷ villages, world leaders are expected to issue messages of peace and transatlantic cooperation, aimed, in part, at healing bitter differences over Iraq.

But in Normandy, U.S. flags still fly proudly alongside French, British, and Canadian ones over World War II cemeteries⁸ and memorials. And war survivors like Raymond Paris remember American soldiers as heroes.
 
Mr. Paris said he was a young notary⁹ clerk at the time of the allied invasion. On the night of June 5, he switched on his radio to listen to the nightly radio program by the French resistance, broadcast from England. He heard the sound of dice¹⁰ being tossed - the signal, he said, for the invasion. The Americans arrived just a few hours later - paratroopers dropping through the sky from low-flying planes.

German soldiers, who had occupied Sainte-Mère-Eglise since 1940, traded fire with the U.S. paratroopers. But by dawn on June 6 the Germans had fled the village, an American flag was fluttering over the town hall and Sainte-Mère-Eglise became the first French town liberated¹¹ on D-Day.

The French will never forget, Mr. Paris said, that the Americans gave them their freedom from Nazi occupation.

Howard Manoian was one of those American paratroopers. Forty years after World War II - and after a career as a police officer in the United States - Mr. Manoian returned to live in Normandy. Today, sitting in his home, just four kilometers from Sainte-Mère-Eglise, he recalls watching the last German soldiers flee town.

"I whispered to my guys. I says, 'Get ready. There are Germans coming down the road. They are on bicycles,'" he recalls. "Then I realize that they do not know we're there. So I whispered to my men, 'Do not start shooting at them unless they shoot first. They are leaving town. Let them go.'"

It took Howard Manoian two days, ducking gunfire from reassembled German forces, to get to the bridge he had been ordered to hold. His platoon kept moving, following the retreating Germans into Belgium and then on to Germany. In April 1945, Mr. Manoian was sent home. A few weeks later, the war in Europe was over.

But 60-years later, the scraps¹² of D-Day memories remain, tucked into every corner of Sainte-Mère-Eglise. Small anecdotes¹³ have been left at the gravestones in the town cemetery¹⁴.

The church in the center of town still maintains a mannequin of a U.S. paratrooper hanging by his parachute from its steeple in homage¹⁵ to the American soldier who was left in that precarious¹⁶ position after being dropped in the wrong place during the invasion.

U.S. President Bush stopped into town in 2002, and honored those who had died in combat. Mr. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac are scheduled to meet in Paris just before the Normandy celebrations, in an effort to heal their differences over Iraq.

Jean-Michel Selles, who sells war memorabilia in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, doubts the bitter divisions over the Iraq war will be healed anytime soon. It has been a while, he said, and France's esteem¹⁷ for the United States has faded.

But people in Sainte-Mère-Eglise will always venerate¹⁸ World War II veterans like Howard Manoian, he says - and thank them for liberating¹⁹ them on D-Day.

注释：
veterans [5vetErEn] n. 老兵
pack [pAk] vi. 群集
beach [bi:tF] n. 海滩
commemorate [kE5memEreit] vt. 纪念
anniversary [7Ani5vE:sEri] n. 周年纪念
D-Day是表示盟军攻入诺曼底的日子，现在D-Day表示军事行动的打响
Normandy [`nR:mEn5dI] n. 诺曼底（法国西北部一地区）
paratrooper [5pArEtru:pE] n. 伞兵
dewy [5dju:i] adj. 带露水的
sprinkle [5spriNkl] v. 伞降，撒落
parachute [5pArEFu:t] n. 降落伞
recounting [ri5kaunt] v. 叙述
Nazi [5nB:tsi:] n. 纳粹党人
dust off 打扮干净，抹去灰尘
barbecues [5bB:bIkju:] n. 吃烤烧肉的野餐
nostalgic [nC5stAldVIk] adj. 怀旧的
quaint [kweint] adj. 优雅的，古雅的
transatlantic [5trAnzEt5lAntik] adj. 大西洋彼岸的
heal [hi:l] v. 治疗
bitter [5bitE] adj. 苦的，痛苦的
notary clerk 公证员
dice [dais] n. 骰子
toss [tCs] v. 投，掷
flutter [5flQtE] vi. 飘动
duck [dQk] vt. 躲避
platoon [plE5tu:n] n. 排
Belgium [5beldVEm] n. 比利时（西欧国家）
scrap [skrAp] n. 记忆片断
tuck [tQk] vt. 把……塞到里面
anecdote [7Anek5dCtik] n . 轶事的
gravestone [5^reIvstEJn] n. 墓石，墓碑
cemetery [5semitri] n. 墓地，公墓
mannequin [5mAnikin] n. 人体模型
steeple [5sti:pl] n. 尖塔
homage [5hCmidV] n. 敬意
precarious [pri5kZEriEs] adj. 不稳定的

1 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

2 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。

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 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

5 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

6 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

7 quaint   

adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的

参考例句：

• There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里，有很多小巷。
• They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。

8 cemeteries   

n.（非教堂的）墓地，公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里，邻近墓地的地方，时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句

9 notary   

n.公证人，公证员

参考例句：

• She is the town clerk and a certified public accountant and notary public.她身兼城镇文书、执业会计师和公证人数职。
• That notary is authorised to perform the certain legal functions.公证人被授权执行某些法律职能。

10 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

11 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

12 scraps   

油渣

参考例句：

• Don't litter up the floor with scraps of paper. 不要在地板上乱扔纸屑。
• A patchwork quilt is a good way of using up scraps of material. 做杂拼花布棉被是利用零碎布料的好办法。

13 anecdotes   

n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• amusing anecdotes about his brief career as an actor 关于他短暂演员生涯的趣闻逸事
• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman. 他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 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。

15 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

16 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

17 esteem   

n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• The veteran worker ranks high in public love and esteem.那位老工人深受大伙的爱戴。

18 venerate   

v.尊敬，崇敬，崇拜

参考例句：

• They came to venerate him as a symbolic figure.他们把他当作偶像来崇拜。
• We were taught to venerate the glorious example of our heroes and martyrs.我们受到教导要崇敬英雄、烈士的光辉榜样。

19 liberating   

解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
• They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中，他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）