CNN 2010-03-13

WHITFIELD: Finally getting their due. Some of the forgotten heroes of World War II are being honored today in Washington. We're talking about the WASPs². CNN's Jessica Yellin explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): From the time she was eight, Jane Tedeschi wanted to be a pilot.

JANE TEDESCHI, FORMER PILOT: That was Lindberg flying across the Atlantic and a lot of other people were flying air races.

YELLIN: As a young woman in her 20s, Tedeschi sought out flight lessons and got her pilot's license³, a rarity for a woman in those days. With World War II gripping the nation, male pilots were desperately⁴ needed overseas for battle. Female aviator⁵, Jacqueline Cochran, came up with a radical⁶ idea, let female pilots take over domestic missions. The military approved, and WASP¹, Women Air Service Pilots program was born.

TEDESCHI: I thought this was something I could do and love to do and will contribute to the war effort.

YELLIN: Another of the 11,002 members was Deanie Parrish. One of her jobs was to help train gunners for combat.

DEANIE PARRISH, FORMER PILOT: It was not that I was going to do any more than anybody else, because there were other females who were driving ambulances or fire trucks, working on airplanes, and I was doing the one thing that I felt I could do best.

YELLIN: The WASP were civilians⁷, but they were the first women to fly in U.S. military planes, in all logging over 60 million miles in all types of aircraft, from heavy bombers⁸ to attack planes. TEDESCHI: Night flying occasionally was an interesting thing, because we didn't have an awful lot of training in that and you've got to be sure you never lose your horizon.

YELLIN: Although the work was confined to the home front, Air Force Major Nicole Malikowski (ph), the first female Thunderbird pilot says these women developed key tactics and training for the war.

MAJ. NICOLE MALIKOWSKI, AIR FORCE: These women did that by training the men to fly these planes so they could fly in combat. They did that by being instructor⁹ pilots, they were test pilots, they also did aerial gunnery.

TEDESCHI: It shows how happy we were to be flying.

YELLIN: Now with fewer than 300 of the pilots still alive, today the nation is recognizing their legacy¹⁰.

TEDESCHI: It is an historical fact and should be recognized.
 

1 wasp   

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。

2 wasps   

黄蜂( wasp的名词复数 )； 胡蜂； 易动怒的人； 刻毒的人

参考例句：

• There's a wasps' nest in that old tree. 那棵老树上有一个黄蜂巢。
• We live in dread not only of unpleasant insects like spiders or wasps, but of quite harmless ones like moths. 我们不仅生活在对象蜘蛛或黄蜂这样的小虫的惧怕中，而且生活在对诸如飞蛾这样无害昆虫的惧怕中

3 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

4 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

5 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。

6 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

7 civilians   

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。

8 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》

9 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。

10 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。