2-16

 

16.

I got promoted, sort of. To a small lookout¹ high above the battlefield. For quite some time thelookout had been driving the Taliban mad. We had it, they wanted it, and if they couldn’t get itthen they were bound to destroy it. They’d attacked the lookout scores of times in the monthsbefore I got there.

Hours after my arrival at the lookout, here they came again.

AK-47s rattling², bullets whizzing by. It sounded like someone throwing beehives through ourwindow. There were four Gurkhas with me, and they unleashed³ a Javelin⁴ missile in the directionof the incoming fire.

Then they told me to take a seat behind the 50-cal. Jump on, saab!

I climbed into the gun nest, grabbed the big handles. I shoved in my earplugs, took aimthrough the mesh⁵ hanging from the window. I squeezed the trigger. The feeling was like a trainthrough the middle of my chest. The sound was locomotive-like as well. Chugga chugga chugga.

The gun spat⁶ bullets across the desert, and shell casings flew around the lookout like popcorn⁷. Itwas the first time I’d ever fired a 50-cal. I simply couldn’t believe the power.

In my direct line of sight was abandoned farmland, ditches, trees. I lit it all up. There was anold building with two domes⁸ that looked like a frog’s eyes. I peppered those domes.

Meanwhile, Dwyer began lobbing its big guns.

All was mayhem.

I don’t remember much after that, but I don’t need to—there’s video. The press was there, bymy side, filming. I hated them being there, but I’d been ordered to take them on an outing. Inreturn they’d agreed to sit on any images or information they gathered until I was out of thecountry.

How many did we kill? the press wanted to know.

We couldn’t be sure.

Indeterminate, we said.

I thought I’d be in that lookout for a long time. But soon after that day I was summoned upnorth to FOB Edinburgh. I boarded a Chinook full of mailbags, lay down among them to hide.

Forty minutes later I was hopping⁹ off, into knee-deep mud. When the hell did it rain? I was shownto my quarters in a sandbag house. A tiny bed.

And a roommate. Estonian signals officer.

We hit it off. He gave me one of his badges as a welcome gift.

Five miles away was Musa Qala, a town that had once been a Taliban fortress¹⁰. In 2006 we’dseized it, after some of the worst fighting British soldiers had seen in half a century. More than athousand Taliban had been subdued¹¹. After paying such a price, however, the town was quickly,carelessly, lost again. Now we’d won it a second time, and we aimed to keep it.

And a nasty job it was. One of our lads had just been blown up by an IED.

Plus, we were despised in and around the town. Locals who’d cooperated with us had beentortured, their heads put on spikes¹² along the town walls.

There would be no winning of either hearts or minds.

 

1 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

2 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

3 unleashed   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
• The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 javelin   

n.标枪，投枪

参考例句：

• She achieved a throw of sixty metres in the javelin event.在掷标枪项目中，她掷了60米远。
• The coach taught us how to launch a javelin.教练教我们投标枪。

5 mesh   

n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络

参考例句：

• Their characters just don't mesh.他们的性格就是合不来。
• This is the net having half inch mesh.这是有半英寸网眼的网。

6 spat   

n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声

参考例句：

• Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
• There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。

7 popcorn   

n.爆米花

参考例句：

• I like to eat popcorn when I am watching TV play at home.当我在家观看电视剧时，喜欢吃爆米花。
• He still stood behind his cash register stuffing his mouth with popcorn.他仍站在收银机后，嘴里塞满了爆米花。

8 domes   

n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场

参考例句：

• The domes are circular or ovoid in cross-section. 穹丘的横断面为圆形或卵圆形。 来自辞典例句
• Parks. The facilities highlighted in text include sport complexes and fabric domes. 本书重点讲的设施包括运动场所和顶棚式结构。 来自互联网

9 hopping   

n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The clubs in town are really hopping. 城里的俱乐部真够热闹的。
• I'm hopping over to Paris for the weekend. 我要去巴黎度周末。

10 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

11 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

12 spikes   

n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划

参考例句：

• a row of iron spikes on a wall 墙头的一排尖铁
• There is a row of spikes on top of the prison wall to prevent the prisoners escaping. 监狱墙头装有一排尖钉，以防犯人逃跑。 来自《简明英汉词典》