2-5

 

5.

Early autumn. Drystone walls, patchwork¹ fields, sheep snacking on grassy² slopes. Dramaticlimestone cliffs and crags and scree. In every direction, another beautiful purple moor³. Thelandscape wasn’t quite so famous as the Lake District, just over to the west, but it was stillbreathtaking, and still inspired some of the great artists in British history. Wordsworth, for one. I’dmanaged to avoid reading that old gent’s stuff in school, but now I thought he must be pretty damngood if he spent time around these parts.

It felt like sacrilege to be standing⁴ on a cliff above this place and trying to obliterate⁵ it.

Of course it was pretend obliteration⁶. I didn’t actually blow up one single dale. Still, at the endof each day I felt I had. I was studying the Art of Destruction, and the first thing I learned was thatdestruction is partially⁷ creative. It begins with imagination. Before destroying something you haveto imagine it destroyed, and I was getting very good at imagining the dales as a smoking hellscape.

The drill each day was the same. Rise at dawn. Glass of orange juice, bowl of porridge, then afull English, then head into the fields. As first daylight poured over the horizon I’d begin speakingto an aircraft, usually a Hawk⁸. The aircraft would reach its IP, initial point, five to eight nauticalmiles away, and then I’d give the target, signal the run. The aircraft would turn and commence. I’dtalk it through the sky, over the countryside, using different landmarks¹⁰. L-shaped wood. T-shapeddike. Silver barn. In selecting landmarks I’d been instructed to start big, move on to somethingmedium, then pick something small. Picture the world, I was told, as a hierarchy¹¹.

Hierarchy, you say? Think I can handle that.

Each time I called out a landmark⁹, the pilot would say back: Affirm.

Or else: I am visual. I liked that.

I enjoyed the rhythms, the poetry, the meditative¹² chant of it all. And I found deeper meaningsin the exercise. I’d often think: It’s the whole game, isn’t it? Getting people to see the world asyou see it? And say it all back to you?

Typically the pilot would be flying low, five hundred feet off the deck, level with the risingsun, but sometimes I’d send him lower and put him into a pop-up. As he streaked¹³ towards me atthe speed of sound, he’d pull back, shoot upwards¹⁴ at a forty-five-degree angle. Then I’d begin anew series of descriptions, new details. As he reached the top of his climb and rolled his wings, ashe leveled and started to feel negative g-force, he’d see the world just as I’d painted it, then swoopdown.

Suddenly he’d cry out: Tally¹⁵ target! Then: In dry!

Then I’d say: Clear dry.

Meaning, his bombs were but spirits melting into air.

Then I’d wait, listening keenly for the pretend explosions.

The weeks just flew by.

 

1 patchwork   

n.混杂物；拼缝物

参考例句：

• That proposal is nothing else other than a patchwork.那个建议只是一个大杂烩而已。
• She patched new cloth to the old coat,so It'seemed mere patchwork. 她把新布初到那件旧上衣上，所以那件衣服看上去就象拼凑起来的东西。

2 grassy   

adj.盖满草的；长满草的

参考例句：

• They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
• Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。

3 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 obliterate   

v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去

参考例句：

• Whole villages were obliterated by fire.整座整座的村庄都被大火所吞噬。
• There was time enough to obliterate memories of how things once were for him.时间足以抹去他对过去经历的记忆。

6 obliteration   

n.涂去，删除；管腔闭合

参考例句：

• The policy is obliteration, openly acknowledged. 政策是彻底毁灭，公开承认的政策。 来自演讲部分
• "Obliteration is not a justifiable act of war" “彻底消灭并不是有理的战争行为” 来自演讲部分

7 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

8 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

9 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

10 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句

11 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

12 meditative   

adj.沉思的，冥想的

参考例句：

• A stupid fellow is talkative;a wise man is meditative.蠢人饶舌，智者思虑。
• Music can induce a meditative state in the listener.音乐能够引导倾听者沉思。

13 streaked   

adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹

参考例句：

• The children streaked off as fast as they could. 孩子们拔脚飞跑 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• His face was pale and streaked with dirt. 他脸色苍白，脸上有一道道的污痕。 来自辞典例句

14 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

15 tally   

n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致

参考例句：

• Don't forget to keep a careful tally of what you spend.别忘了仔细记下你的开支账目。
• The facts mentioned in the report tally to every detail.报告中所提到的事实都丝毫不差。