2006年VOA标准英语-US Commander Returns to Former Vietnam Battlefi

By Al Pessin
Honolulu
21 July 2006

When the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific visited Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during the past week it was not just an official mission mixing defense¹ policy and diplomacy². It was also a very personal journey for a former U.S. Navy aviator³ who last saw the region from the seat of a reconnaissance jet protected by heavily armed fighters.

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Our U.S. military jet flew over the northern Vietnamese port of Haiphong and followed the Red River to Hanoi. 

Admiral Fallon meets with Vietnamese military leaders in Hanoi   
  
Admiral William Fallon sat in the jump seat in the cockpit to get a good view. He knew the route well. He had taken it on his last mission over North Vietnam in 1970, when he was a young lieutenant⁴, junior grade, taking pictures and using electronic sensors⁵ to find enemy positions for U.S. bombers⁶.

"I spent most of my time flying over the North and over Laos as part of the air campaign," he explained. "And so I got a chance to see some very, very beautiful countryside. But the 'greeting cards,' the 'messages,' that were being sent to me from the ground were not exactly the kinds of things that would endear one to the local population. And I think they probably felt the same way about what we were doing."

Frequently, his pilot had to gun the engines to reach twice the speed of sound to evade⁷ those "greeting cards" - anti-aircraft gunfire and missiles. Many of his friends flying other U.S. Navy aircraft did not make it home alive.

"There were some pretty tough and often sad times in those days," he recalled. " I left a lot of friends over here, and I'm not going to forget those people and the sacrifices they made, with all the best of intentions. But it's a different time now and we need to reap some of the benefits of interaction. So we'll take it from there."

So does Admiral Fallon think he can now make friends with his former enemies?

"Well, I don't know about the 'friends' thing," he admitted. "I've met some of these people at meetings and things, and we've had calm discussions. I try to make this dispassionate. I think this is pretty serious business that has potential great effect on people in both of our countries, and so it's a time for trying to have discussions in a manner that might be beneficial."

Admiral Fallon and his delegation⁸ are welcomed at the Cambodian Defense Ministry⁹ in Phnom Penh  
  
Admiral Fallon says it was a "very interesting" visit to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. He met one man who said he was a battalion¹⁰ commander during the war, shooting up at aircraft like his. The man is now a part of the Vietnam-U.S. Friendship Association, and the two shared a laugh about how things have changed.

The admiral also visited a site deep in the jungle in Laos, where a team under his command, and with Lao government support, is searching through deep mud for the remains¹¹ of other American airmen who did not make it home from the war.

"I had a couple of shipmates that were shot down and lost in this area. And to find myself on the ground, in the jungle observing the work of our teams in the process of recovering remains of lost airmen from that era took me back - certainly, lots of memories," he said.

But the admiral says he tried to focus on the present and the future during his visit, rather than on the past. His hosts in Vietnam and especially Cambodia seemed to take the same approach. But in Laos he found officials eager to point to what they see as the lingering impact of the war on their country, and reluctant to move toward a new relationship with their former adversaries¹².

Admiral Fallon says he'll keep trying.

Admiral Fallon presents a gift to the Lao Defense Minister   
  
"We will have our memories. And if there are bad feelings on all sides, I think it's in our best interest to move beyond," he said. " I think the key thing is that was 35-40 years ago and today is today. And we're really interested in forging those relationships and doing things that are going to be helpful to our country in the future."

Admiral Fallon has several more visits to Asia scheduled for this year to try to build military relationships, including one to Malaysia in November to co-host a meeting of senior military officers from throughout the region. He hopes Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia send representatives to the conference, and one or two of them likely will. But it may still be some years before they all show up at the annual event, and even longer before the heavy legacy¹³ of the war fully¹⁴ loosens its grip on all the countries that were involved.

1 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。

2 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

3 aviator   

n.飞行家，飞行员

参考例句：

• The young aviator bragged of his exploits in the sky.那名年轻的飞行员吹嘘他在空中飞行的英勇事迹。
• Hundreds of admirers besieged the famous aviator.数百名爱慕者围困那个著名飞行员。

4 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

5 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

6 bombers   

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》

7 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

8 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

13 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

14 fully   

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。