2-18

 

18.

We made a square of our vehicles, which we called a harbor. The next day, and the day after, andso on, we ventured out to do patrols around the town.

Show of presence, we were told.

Keep moving, we were told.

Keep the Taliban wondering, we were told. Keep ’em off balance.

Overall, however, the base mission was to support an ongoing¹ American offensive. There wasa constant roar of American jets overhead, and explosions in a nearby village. We worked in veryclose concert with the Americans, engaging the Taliban in frequent firefights.

A day or two after we’d established our harbor, we were sitting on high ground, watchingshepherds in the distance. All we could see for miles around were these men and their sheep. Thescene looked innocent enough. But the shepherds were getting too close to the Americans, makingthem nervous. The Americans fired several warning shots. Inevitably², they hit one of theshepherds. He’d been riding a motorbike. We couldn’t tell from our distance if it had been anaccident or deliberate. We watched the sheep scatter³, then saw the Americans swoop⁴ in and pickup⁵ the shepherds.

When they’d gone I went out into the field, with a few Fijian soldiers, and picked up themotorbike. I wiped it down, put it aside. Took care of it. After the Americans had questioned theshepherd, bandaged and released him, he came to us.

He was shocked that we’d retrieved⁶ his motorbike.

He was more shocked that we’d cleaned it.

And he nearly passed out when we gave it back.

 

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

3 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

4 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

5 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

6 retrieved   

v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息）

参考例句：

• Yesterday I retrieved the bag I left in the train. 昨天我取回了遗留在火车上的包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat. 他伸手从后座上取回了自己的夹克。 来自辞典例句