在线英语听力室

VOA慢速英语2010年-THIS IS AMERICA - Women Pilots in Worl

时间:2010-12-09 02:25:27

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.
BOB DOUGHTY1: And I'm Bob Doughty. November eleventh is Veterans Day. A veteran is anyone who has served in the armed forces. Veterans Day honors the living. A separate holiday, Memorial Day in May, is for those who died in military service.
This week on our program, we tell you about a group of women veterans who as pilots played a special part in American military history.
(MUSIC)FAITH LAPIDUS: Earlier this year, the first female pilots ever to fly American military aircraft were finally recognized for their service. They were called Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP2 for short.
In March, surviving members of the group received Congress' highest civilian3 honor, the Congressional Gold Medal. WASP veteran Deanie Parrish spoke4 at a ceremony held in the United States Capitol building.
DEANIE PARRISH: "Over sixty-five years ago we each served our country without any expectation of recognition or glory. And we did it without compromising the values that we were taught as we grew up -- honor, integrity, patriotism5, service, faith and commitment.
Veteran's Day parade in New York last year "We did it because our country needed us. I believe I speak for every WASP when I say that it was both a privilege and an honor to serve our country during some of the darkest days of World War Two."BOB DOUGHTY: Many people did not believe women should be permitted to join the military. Even fewer thought women should serve as pilots.
But in the early days of World War Two there was a severe shortage of male pilots. Jacqueline Cochran was a well-known female pilot in the United States at that time. She believed that training women to serve as support pilots at home could free up men to fly combat operations overseas.
General Hap6 Arnold was chief of what was then called the Army Air Forces. Jackie Cochran persuaded him that women were just as able to fly planes as men.
Deanie Parrish, left, listens to comments by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a Congressional Gold Medal presentation ceremony in Washington earlier this year Women Airforce Service Pilots served their country by flying fighters, bombers7 and transport aircraft. They trained other pilots, flew test flights and pulled targets for shooting practice. They transported planes as well as troops and supplies, including parts of the atomic bomb.
In all, they flew more than ninety-six million kilometers.
FAITH LAPIDUS: More than twenty-five thousand women applied8 for the program. About one thousand eight hundred of them were accepted. And of those, about sixty percent completed the training.
Women were required to take their own flying lessons before they could be admitted to the program.
The first group of women began their military flight training in November of nineteen forty-two.
The following year, twenty-five women were trained to fly an airplane known as the "Widowmaker." Some male pilots had refused to fly it because so many of the planes crashed during training. Several pilots were killed.
The military believed the planes were safe if they were flown correctly. The women were asked to prove it. Deanie Parrish's daughter Nancy says they knew the dangers, but volunteered anyway in what she called a very important experiment.
NANCY PARRISH: "Airplanes don't know the difference between men and women. They only know that you're a good pilot or you're not a good pilot. And these women were all very good pilots."BOB DOUGHTY: Yet the Women Airforce Service Pilots were never officially recognized as members of the military. The WASP program was canceled a few weeks after the last class graduated in nineteen forty-four. For one thing, the war was nearing an end.
The women had paid their own way to get to the training base in Sweetwater, Texas. Now dismissed, they had to pay their own way to get home.
Thirty-eight women lost their lives in the WASP program. There were no military honors for these women. Their own families had to pay for their burials.
One of the pilots who died was named Mary Howson. Nancy Parrish retells the story of what Mary Howson's mother told WASP trainees9 in Texas shortly after her daughter's death.
NANCY PARRISH: "'I came because I thought it was important. It's important for you to know so you can tell your families what to expect if something happens to you.'
"She said 'I'm going to read you the telegram that I got from the United States government when Mary was killed.' And she pulled it out and she unfolded it and she read it to this group of trainees.
"And this is what it said, 'Your daughter was killed this morning. Where do you want us to ship the body?'"FAITH LAPIDUS: The Women Airforce Service Pilots fought for years to get the recognition they had earned. World War Two ended in nineteen forty-five. But not until nineteen seventy-seven were the women fully10 recognized as military veterans. And only now are they being honored for their service.
Fewer than three hundred are still alive. More than two hundred of them attended the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony. Some wore their old uniforms.
Deanie Parrish accepted the medal for the group. She said the award itself was not as important as what it represents.
DEANIE PARRISH: "All we ever asked for is that our overlooked history would someday no longer be a missing chapter in the history World War Two, in the history of the Air Force, in the history of aviation, and most especially the history of America."(MUSIC)BOB DOUGHTY: Today, most military jobs are open to women, although there are still restrictions11 on combat duty. More than two and a half million women have served in the military since the American Revolution in the seventeen hundreds. There are several stories of women who pretended to be men so they could join the military.
For example, a woman named Deborah Sampson changed her name to Robert Shurtlief so she could fight in the Revolution. From that time through the end of World War Two, more than one hundred thousand women served as military nurses. Hundreds of thousands of others served as cooks, coders, telegraphers, signalers and spies.
But the military did not officially accept women as pilots until nineteen seventy-six. That was more than thirty years after the service pilots of World War Two. And it was still several years before their story became widely known.
Deanie Parrish and her daughter Nancy launched the organization Wings Across America. The purpose is to educate Americans about the WASP program.
They have interviewed more than one hundred of the women who served. And they hope to interview the nearly two hundred other surviving members while there is still time.
Parts of the interviews can be seen in a video at wingsacrossamerica.org.
(SOUND)FAITH LAPIDUS: In two thousand, the Library of Congress launched its own Veterans History Project. Congress wanted the nation to hear the stories of its older veterans and to keep those memories alive. More than one thousand veterans die each day.
The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress collects recorded stories and written histories from veterans. It also collects memorable12 objects from their service days.
The project includes veterans who served in the first and second world wars, Korea and Vietnam. It also includes men and women who served in the Persian Gulf13 War and the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
BOB DOUGHTY: Veterans Day started as Armistice14 Day on November eleventh, nineteen nineteen. That was the first anniversary of the armistice or cease-fire agreement that ended hostilities15 in the first world war. In nineteen fifty-four President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation to change the name to Veterans Day.
Today there are about twenty-two million veterans in the United States, including one and a half million women.
Over the years Congress has passed legislation like the "GI Bill of Rights." The GI Bill helped many World War Two veterans pay for college and buy a home.
But America has long had a mixed and sometimes sorry record of how it treats its veterans. These include service members who came home wounded or disabled from Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States is now in its tenth year of war -- longer than any other time in American history.
FAITH LAPIDUS: On Veterans Day, communities take time for parades and speeches in honor of those who served their country. At the same time, many Americans will think of family members and friends still serving in harm's way.
(MUSIC)BOB DOUGHTY: Our program was written and produced by June Simms. I'm Bob Doughty.
FAITH LAPIDUS: And I'm Faith Lapidus. You can read, download and comment on our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also join us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. And join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 doughty Jk5zg     
adj.勇猛的,坚强的
参考例句:
  • Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质:脾气倔强,性格刚强。
  • The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。
2 wasp sMczj     
n.黄蜂,蚂蜂
参考例句:
  • A wasp stung me on the arm.黄蜂蜇了我的手臂。
  • Through the glass we can see the wasp.透过玻璃我们可以看到黄蜂。
3 civilian uqbzl     
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的
参考例句:
  • There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
  • He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。
4 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
5 patriotism 63lzt     
n.爱国精神,爱国心,爱国主义
参考例句:
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。
6 hap Ye7xE     
n.运气;v.偶然发生
参考例句:
  • Some have the hap,some stick in the gap.有的人走运, 有的人倒霉。
  • May your son be blessed by hap and happiness.愿你儿子走运幸福。
7 bombers 38202cf84a1722d1f7273ea32117f60d     
n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 );投弹手;安非他明胶囊;大麻叶香烟
参考例句:
  • Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
9 trainees 576ef87c519dfddb06b6987e1e66077f     
新兵( trainee的名词复数 ); 练习生; 接受训练的人; 训练中的动物
参考例句:
  • We've taken on our full complement of new trainees. 我们招收的新学员已经满额了。
  • The trainees were put through an assault course. 受训人员接受了突击训练课程。
10 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
11 restrictions 81e12dac658cfd4c590486dd6f7523cf     
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
参考例句:
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
12 memorable K2XyQ     
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的
参考例句:
  • This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
  • The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。
13 gulf 1e0xp     
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂
参考例句:
  • The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
  • There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。
14 armistice ivoz9     
n.休战,停战协定
参考例句:
  • The two nations signed an armistice.两国签署了停火协议。
  • The Italian armistice is nothing but a clumsy trap.意大利的停战不过是一个笨拙的陷阱。
15 hostilities 4c7c8120f84e477b36887af736e0eb31     
n.战争;敌意(hostility的复数);敌对状态;战事
参考例句:
  • Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
  • All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时,过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。