2007年NPR美国国家公共电台二月-A Woman Who Dreamed of Flying with the Ma

The US military now confirms that the helicopter that crashed last week northwest to Baghdad was shot down by Sunni insurgence¹. The pilot on that Sea Knight² helicopter was 28-year-old Jennifer Harris, a Marine³ captain who was killed along with 6 others on board. Harris served three full tours in Iraq. She was the first service woman from Massachusetts killed there. And she was due to come home in a week. NPR's Chris Arnold has this Remembrance.

Jennifer Harris stood out both in the Marine Corps⁴ in Iraq where she was one of just a handful of women flying helicopters on combat rescue missions and back in her hometown of Swampscott, Massachusetts. It's a small town on the coast north of Boston. Peter Sax was the principle of the high school when Harris went there and knew her well.

You know the people who walk in my office and you just feel good cause they are there...you know .. She lit up my room, she lit up the office, and she lit up the school. Harris grew up in a working class family. In high school, she was a sailing instructor⁵. She volunteered at the library and the local hospital. She was a class officer all four years, a top student, national honor society. The school gives her two good citizenship⁶ awards every year, usually the two different people. Harris won them both.

Jennifer Harris was a superstar and she would blush at that. She was in this room right now, I was that she would...she didn't realize how great she was.

Sax says unlike most teenagers Jennifer always struck him as being confident and very comfortable with herself. And that stood her well when this skinny kid who played the flute⁷ in the school band to grew up, started working out, made it into the navy academy in the Naples and joined the Marines.

And they're gonna take over the escorting and the casket into the church. Matthew Marlon, the superintendent⁸ of schools is the in his office making phone calls to help arrange the military funeral coming up in a few days. Marlon himself is a Narine and a veteran of the first Gulf⁹ War.

Now she flew medevac which is ....medevac pilots...you know they are coming and you're gonna be okay. So if you got shot and you hear the trucks are coming in and they get you. These are the folks who come and save you. And that's what she did. She flew 9/11 for the Marine Corps.

Marlon said it is one of the most dangerous jobs in the military and Harris did it extremely well to a resident rank so quickly. As a 28-year-old captain, Harris outranked the most of the other veterans in the town even though many were twice her age. That didn't stop her from joking around with them Marlon says the guys at the local veterans' hall loved her.

But at the same time she was tough and you could tell that she was an officer. She had a command of presence to her and she was impressive.

Robert Lubranno grew up next door to Jennifer Harris. They were a dual¹⁰ as little kids. She was at his house all the time. Last week, when Lubranno saw all the cars in front of Harris' house, he thought she just gotten back from Iraq, but then he heard that she'd been killed.

You know running the house and her Mom was already here. And the Marines were there and there was just..there was just awful.

Lubranno's been going through old pictures this week. Birthday parties where he set next to Harris'. He says he was always the wilder one. Climbing trees and jumping out of them to impress her. He says Harris was more level-headed and she didn't take stupid risks but she always liked adventure. She loved sailing and Lubranno thinks all that drove her to the navy academy.

I think she's the excitement of…of doing something different and not... going to the..you know ...the-four-year college thing ...you know.. most of us are doing

Another friend of Harris is navy pilot Matt V who knew her in Naples. He spoke¹¹ to Williams from the airport to help with the funeral.

She was so close to coming house and she was so excited to go due she's gonna..go to next. And take a little break from getting shot everyday. Harris' next assignment was gonna be teaching ROTC at Gorge¹² Washington University though veteran Million heard her superiors were asking her if she wanted to join the pilots the Fly MarineⅠ,the President's helicopter.

So that just gives an idea of, you know, which kind of pilot she was.

Veteran Million says you couldn't ask for a better friend either.

Chris Arnold NPR news Boston.

1 insurgence   

n.起义；造反；暴动；叛乱

参考例句：

• US troops moved into the Afghan mountains in an offensive to stop Taliban insurgence. 美军日前进军阿富汗山区阻止塔利班组织的一次暴动。 来自互联网

2 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

3 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

6 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

7 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

8 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

9 gulf   

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。

10 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

11 spoke   

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。

12 gorge   

n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃

参考例句：

• East of the gorge leveled out.峡谷东面地势变得平坦起来。
• It made my gorge rise to hear the news.这消息令我作呕。