2007年VOA标准英语-Relatives Tour Pentagon Memorial Site

By Robert Raffaele
Washington
10 September 2007
 

As the sixth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States approaches, a memorial is rising on the grounds of the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. Family members of those aboard the hijacked¹ plane that struck the Pentagon -- and the military and civilian² personnel who died inside -- gathered Friday (September 7th) at the site.  VOA's Robert Raffaele has more. 

Pentagon Memorial construction

The new memorial will honor the 59 passengers and crewmembers of American Airlines Flight 77 -- and the 125 people who died inside the Pentagon. The Pentagon Memorial park will consist of 184 separate units, honoring each victim. Each unit will face a specific direction -- to symbolically³ distinguish the victims of Flight 77 from those who died inside the Pentagon.

The arrangement of the units will form a timeline - representing the various ages of the victims -- from 71 to three years old.

For the victims' families and other survivors⁴ the memorial is a solemn labor⁵ of love.

Rosemary Dillard lost her husband on Flight 77. "Everyone needs to be reminded of that day. Even 100 years from now.  Our freedom is important. And we hope that when people come to this memorial that they will remember their freedom."

Thomas Heidenberger lost his wife Michelle, a flight attendant aboard Flight 77.

Thomas Heidenberger

"It gives all America a place to pay tribute to the sacrifice of not just the 184 [victims] here at the Pentagon, but the 3,000 victims of that day."

Officials say that construction is more than 50 percent complete. The memorial park is scheduled to be finished in time for next year's anniversary of the attacks.

1 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

2 civilian   

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。

3 symbolically   

ad.象征地，象征性地

参考例句：

• By wearing the ring on the third finger of the left hand, a married couple symbolically declares their eternal love for each other. 将婚戒戴在左手的第三只手指上，意味着夫妻双方象征性地宣告他们的爱情天长地久，他们定能白头偕老。
• Symbolically, he coughed to clear his throat. 周经理象征地咳一声无谓的嗽，清清嗓子。

4 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

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。