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THE MAKING OF A NATION 194 - The War in the Pacific

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THE MAKING OF A NATION - May 23, 2002: The War in the Pacific

By David Jarmul
VOICE 1:
THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English by the Voice of America.
(Theme)
American military planners had to make an important decision when the United States entered the Second World


War in late nineteen-forty-one.


They could not fight effectively at the same time in Asia and Europe. They decided1
to use most of their forces to defeat the German troops of Adolf Hitler. Only after
victory was clear in Europe would they use all of America's strength to fight against
Japan in Asia and the Pacific.

This decision had important results. Japan was able to win many of the early battles
of the war in Asia. Our program today is about the fighting in the Pacific.

Voice two

((sfx: planes))

Japanese planes. Out of the sky they came -- suddenly, secretly -- bombing the American military base at Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, in a deadly attack.

The Japanese raid in December nineteen-forty-one marked the beginning of several major victories for Tokyo.
The Japanese destroyed Pearl Harbor. They attacked American bases in the Philippines and destroyed those, too.
Within days, Japan captured the American island of Guam. Japanese troops landed in Thailand, marched into
Malaya, and seized Hong Kong. The Japanese moved into Indonesia and Burma.

Even Hitler's troops in Europe had not moved so quickly or successfully. As one American historian wrote later,
the Pacific Ocean looked like a Japanese lake.

VOICE 1:

Washington tried to fight back. A group of American planes successfully bombed Tokyo in a surprise raid.
However, Japan knew it was winning the war. Its leaders believed no army could stop them. So they expanded
their goals and launched new campaigns.

This was Japan's mistake. It stretched its forces too thin, too quickly. The military leaders in Tokyo believed that
the United States could not resist because it was busy fighting the war in Europe. But not even Japan could
extend its communications and fighting power over such a great distance and continue to win.

VOICE 2:

The turning point came in June nineteen-forty-two in the central Pacific in the great battle of Midway Island.

Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto launched the battle. He wanted to meet and destroy the remaining ships of
the American fleet before Washington had time to rebuild them.

Yamamoto had one-hundred sixty-two ships.

The American admiral, Chester Nimitz, had just seventy-six. But the United States had
learned how to understand the secret messages of the Japanese forces.



For this reason, Nimitz and the Americans knew exactly where the
Japanese ships would sail. And they put their own ships in the best
places to stop them.

The fighting between the two sides was fierce. But when it ended,
the Americans had won a great victory. Admiral Yamamoto was
forced to call off his attack and sail home. For the first time, the
Japanese Navy had been defeated.

VOICE 1:

The next big battle was at Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific. Guadalcanal's
beaches were wide and flat. Japanese officers decided to build a military airbase there. The United States learned
of this. It decided it had to prevent Japan from establishing such a base.

American marines quickly landed on the island. They were joined by troops from Australia and New Zealand.
But Japanese ships launched a surprise attack and destroyed many of the American ships in the harbor. Allied2
forces on the island were left without naval3 support and suffered terrible losses.

For six months, the two sides fought for control of the island. Historian Samuel Eliot Morrison later described the
action this way:

VOICE 2:

"For us who were there," Morrison wrote, "Guadalcanal is not a name but an emotion. Remembering terrible
fights in the air. Fierce naval battles. Bloody4 fighting in the jungle. Nights broken by screaming bombs and the
loud explosions of naval guns."

VOICE 1:

The fighting continued, seemingly forever. But finally, in February, nineteen-forty-three, the Japanese were
forced to leave Guadalcanal.

The battle was an important defeat for Japan. It opened the door for the American and other Allied forces to go
on the attack after months of defensive5 fighting.

VOICE 2:

American military planners did not agree about the best way to launch such an attack. Admiral Nimitz of the
Navy wanted to capture the small groups of Japanese-held islands in the Pacific, then seize Taiwan, and finally
attack Japan itself. But General Douglas MacArthur of the Army thought it best to attack through New Guinea
and the Philippines.

The American leadership finally decided to launch both attacks at once. Both Nimitz and MacArthur succeeded.
Nimitz and his Navy forces moved quickly through the Marianas and other islands. General MacArthur attacked
through new Guinea and into the Philippines. In the battle for Leyte Gulf6, American ships completely destroyed
Japanese naval power.

Throughout the Pacific Ocean and eastern Asia, the fighting continued. Many of the fiercest battles were fought
on tiny Pacific islands. Japanese troops captured the islands early in the war. And they quickly built strong
defenses to prevent Allies from invading.

Allied military leaders found a way to defeat the Japanese plan. They simply avoided the islands where the
Japanese were strong and attacked other islands.

But sometimes the Allies could not avoid battle. They had to land on some islands to seize airfields7 for American
planes.

VOICE 1:



The names of these islands became well-known to soldiers and families throughout the world. Tarawa in the
Gilbert islands. Truk in the Marshall Islands. Saipan in the Marianas. And other islands, too, such as Guam and
Tinian.

The two sides fought fiercely in the battle of Iwo Jima. And Japanese forces on Okinawa resisted for eighty -three
days before finally being defeated by Allied troops.

VOICE 2:

After the defeat at Okinawa, many Japanese people understood that the war was lost, even if Japan had not yet
surrendered. The emperor appointed a new prime minister and ordered him to explore the possibilities of peace.

But both sides still expected the Allies to launch a final invasion into Japan itself. And everyone knew that the
cost in human life would be terrible for both sides.

But the final invasion never came.

For years, American scientists had been developing a secret weapon, the atomic bomb. The United States
dropped one of the bombs on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and another on Nagasaki. More than one -hundredthousand
persons were killed.

Tokyo surrendered within days.

VOICE 1:

Suddenly, sooner than expected, the war was ended. More than twenty -five -million soldiers and civilians8 had
died during the six years of fighting. Germany and Japan were defeated. The soviet9 union was strong in much of
eastern Europe. And the United States found it had become the world's strongest military, economic, and political
power.

(Theme)

VOICE 2:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English. Your narrators were
Harry10 Monroe and Rich Kleinfeldt. Our program was written by David Jarmul. The Voice of America invites you
to listen again next week to THE MAKING OF A NATION.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
2 allied iLtys     
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 naval h1lyU     
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的
参考例句:
  • He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
  • The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。
4 bloody kWHza     
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 defensive buszxy     
adj.防御的;防卫的;防守的
参考例句:
  • Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题,使她警觉起来。
  • The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。
6 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。
7 airfields 4089c925d66c6a634cd889d36acc189c     
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
8 civilians 2a8bdc87d05da507ff4534c9c974b785     
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。
9 Soviet Sw9wR     
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃
参考例句:
  • Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
  • Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。
10 harry heBxS     
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
参考例句:
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

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