2-51

 

51.

There was some talk, after the attack, about pulling me off the battlefield. Again.

I couldn’t bear to think about that. It was too awful to contemplate¹.

To keep my mind off the possibility, I fell to my work, got into the rhythm of the job.

My schedule was helpfully rigid³: two days of planned ops, three days of VHR (very highreadiness). In other words, sitting around a tent, waiting to be summoned.

The VHR tent had the look and feel of a student room at university. The collegiality, theboredom—the mess. There were several cracked-leather couches, a big Union Jack⁴ on the wall,snack foods everywhere. We’d pass the time playing FIFA, drinking gallons of coffee, flippingthrough lad mags. (Loaded was quite popular.) But then the alarm would sound and my studentdays, along with every other era of my life, would feel a million miles away.

One of the lads said we were glorified⁵ firefighters. He wasn’t wrong. Never fully² asleep, neverfully relaxed, always ready to go. We could be sipping⁶ a cup of tea, eating an ice cream, cryingabout a girl, having a chat about football, but our senses were always tuned⁷ and our muscles werealways taut⁸, awaiting that alarm.

The alarm itself was a phone. Red, plain, no buttons, no dial, just a base and handset. Its ringerwas antique, consummately⁹ British. Brrrang. The sound was vaguely¹⁰ familiar; I couldn’t place itat first. Eventually I realized. It was exactly like Granny’s phone at Sandringham on her big desk,in the huge sitting room where she took calls between games of bridge.

There were always four of us in the VHR tent. Two flight crews of two men each, a pilot and agunner. I was a gunner and my pilot was Dave—tall, lanky¹¹, built like a long-distance marathoner,which in fact he was. He had short dark hair and an epic¹² desert tan.

More glaringly, he possessed¹³ a deeply enigmatic sense of humor. Several times a day I’d askmyself: Is Dave serious? Is he being sarcastic¹⁴? I could never tell. It’s going to take me a while tosolve this guy, I’d think. But I never did.

Upon hearing the red phone ring, three of us would drop everything, bolt for the Apache, whilethe fourth would answer the phone and gather details of the op from a voice at the other end. Wasit a medevac? (Medical evacuation.) A TIC? (Troops in contact.) If the latter, how far were thetroops, how quickly could we get to them?

Once inside the Apache we’d fire up the air-con, strap¹⁵ on harnesses and body armor. I’d clickon one of the four radios, get more details on the mission, punch the GPS coordinates¹⁶ into theonboard computer. The first time you ever start an Apache, going through preflight checks takesone hour, if not more. After a few weeks at Bastion, Dave and I had it down to eight minutes. Andit still felt like an eternity¹⁷.

We were always heavy. Brimming with fuel, bristling¹⁸ with a full complement¹⁹ of missiles, plusenough 30-mm rounds to turn a concrete apartment building into Swiss cheese—you could feel allthat stuff holding you down, tying you to Earth. My first-ever mission, a TIC, I resented thefeeling, the contrast between our urgency and Earth’s gravity.

I remember clearing Bastion’s sandbag walls with inches to spare, not flinching²⁰, not givingthat wall a second thought. There was work to do, lives to save. Then, seconds later, a cockpitwarning light began flashing. ENG CHIPS.

Meaning: Land. Now.

Shit. We’re going to have to put down in Taliban territory. I started thinking of Bodmin Moor²¹.

Then I thought…maybe we could just ignore the warning light?

No, Dave was already turning us back to Bastion.

He was the more experienced flier. He’d already done three tours, he knew all about thosewarning lights. Some you could ignore—they blinked all the time and you pulled out the fuses tomake them shut up—but not this one.

I felt cheated. I wanted to go, go, go. I was willing to risk crashing, being taken prisoner—whatever. Ours not to reason why, as Flea’s great-granddad said, or Tennyson. Whoever. Thepoint was: Unto the breach²².

 

1 contemplate   

vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视

参考例句：

• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate.战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。
• The consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.后果不堪设想。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

4 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

5 glorified   

美其名的，变荣耀的

参考例句：

• The restaurant was no more than a glorified fast-food cafe. 这地方美其名曰餐馆，其实只不过是个快餐店而已。
• The author glorified the life of the peasants. 那个作者赞美了农民的生活。

6 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。

7 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 taut   

adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的

参考例句：

• The bowstring is stretched taut.弓弦绷得很紧。
• Scarlett's taut nerves almost cracked as a sudden noise sounded in the underbrush near them. 思嘉紧张的神经几乎一下绷裂了，因为她听见附近灌木丛中突然冒出的一个声音。

9 consummately   

adv.完成地，至上地

参考例句：

• The film is a well made, atmospheric, consummately acted piece. 这部电影是一部制作精良、很有味道、表演臻于完美的作品。 来自柯林斯例句

10 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

11 lanky   

adj.瘦长的

参考例句：

• He was six feet four,all lanky and leggy.他身高6英尺4英寸，瘦高个儿，大长腿。
• Tom was a lanky boy with long skinny legs.汤姆是一个腿很细的瘦高个儿。

12 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

13 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

14 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。

15 strap   

n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎

参考例句：

• She held onto a strap to steady herself.她抓住拉手吊带以便站稳。
• The nurse will strap up your wound.护士会绑扎你的伤口。

16 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。

18 bristling   

a.竖立的

参考例句：

• "Don't you question Miz Wilkes' word,'said Archie, his beard bristling. "威尔克斯太太的话，你就不必怀疑了。 "阿尔奇说。他的胡子也翘了起来。
• You were bristling just now. 你刚才在发毛。

19 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

20 flinching   

v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He listened to the jeers of the crowd without flinching. 他毫不畏惧地听着群众的嘲笑。 来自辞典例句
• Without flinching he dashed into the burning house to save the children. 他毫不畏缩地冲进在燃烧的房屋中去救小孩。 来自辞典例句

21 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。

22 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。