外研版选修三册第三单元阅读讲解

Unit 3 War and peace

第26页阅读讲解

The D-DAY LANDINGS
诺曼底登陆

1 By spring 1944, the Second World War had been raging across the globe for about five years. But along the south coast of England, something unusual was happening: Allied troops made up mainly of British, Canadian and American soldiers were gathering in large numbers. This marked one of the final stages of a top-secret operation that had been months, perhaps years, in the planning. Code-named “Operation Overlord”, it was the largest combined sea, air and land operation in history, the aim being to free north-west Europe from German occupation. After waiting for the perfect combination of weather, moon and tides, the date for the start of Operation Overlord was set for 6 June.
1944年春天，第二次世界大战的战火已经席卷全球大约五年之久。但是在英格兰的南部海岸正发生着不寻常的事情：由英国、加拿大和美国士兵组成的盟军正在大量聚集。这标志着一场计划了数月，甚至可能是数年的绝密行动终于进入了最后阶段。这次作战行动的代号为“霸王行动”，它是历史上规模最大的海、陆、空三方力量集结的行动，目的是解放德国占领的欧洲西北部地区。在确保天气、月亮和潮水三者达到最佳结合点后， “霸王行动”最终定在了6月6日。

2 An order issued by Supreme Allied Commander General Eisenhower to the troops read: “Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened… But this is the year 1944… The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory! I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!”
盟军最高司令艾森豪威尔将军在鼓舞军队士气时说道： “你们的任务将不会轻松。敌人训练有素、武器精良，而且久经沙场……但今年是1944年时局已经发生转变！全世界自由的人们正在一起向胜利前进！我对你们的勇气、责任心和作战能力十分有信心。我们将迎接的只会是彻底的胜利！"

3 With these words ringing in their ears, Allied soldiers prepared for what would become known as D-Day. At dawn on 6 June, thousands landed by parachute behind enemy lines in northern France. Meanwhile, thousands more were journeying across the English Channel to Normandy, protected by fighter planes in the skies above them. Their objective was clear: to reach the Normandy beaches along about 80 kilometres of French coastline. But even in the depths of war, few could have been prepared for the violence and horror they would experience there.
盟军土兵耳中回荡着这些话语，做好了登陆诺曼底的准备。6月6日清晨，数千名士兵在法国北部空降在敌人后方。与此同时，更有数千名土兵在战斗机的保护下，穿越英吉利海峡，在诺曼底登陆。他们的目标十分明确：到达法国海岸线约80千米外的诺曼底海滩。但就算是深陷战争，也很少有人能够做好准备，面临即将发生的残暴和恐怖。

4 The fiercest fighting was at Omaha Beach. The enemy were hiding, ready to attack the Allied soldiers even before they reached land. Boats were hit and men drowned, while those who did make it to the beach faced heavy machine gunfire. By mid-morning, hundreds lay dead in the water and amongst the tanks on the beach. One soldier recalled how he barely made it with bombs falling all around him: “I was the first one out. The seventh man was the next one to get across the beach without being hit. All the ones in between were hit. Two were killed; three were injured. That's how lucky you had to be.”
奥马哈海滩的情况最不容乐观。敌人藏身于各个地方，准备在盟军登陆前就开始进攻。船被击翻，一些人落水而亡，而那些成功登陆的人面对的则是机关枪的猛烈扫射。上午10点左右已有上百人在水中或在海滩上的坦克之间阵亡。一名士兵事后回忆他是如何在轰炸中侥幸脱险的： "我是第一个冲出来的人，第七个冲出来的士兵是第二个穿过海滩没有被击中的，我俩之间的士兵全被击中了，其中有两人死亡，三人受伤。真的是要有天大的幸运才能躲过这一劫。”

5 But, despite the high cost in human life, the D-Day landings were a success and were seen widely as the beginning of the end of the Second World War. By the end of August 1944, the Allies had reached the River Seine, Paris was liberated and the Germans had been removed from north-west France. The Allied forces then prepared to enter Germany, where they would meet up with the Soviet military moving in from the east.
尽管伤亡惨重，诺曼底登陆还是取得了成功，并且被人们普遍视为第二次世界大战结束的开端。在1944年8月底，盟军抵达塞纳河，解放了巴黎，从法国西北部赶走了德国人。之后盟军准备进攻德国，而苏联军队也正从德国东部攻入，两军相遇。

6 Seventy years later, men who had fought on D-Day gathered on both sides of the English Channel, where people were coming together for memorial ceremonies. As part of this solemn and moving occasion, a former soldier read out to the crowd these lines from the poem For the Fallen, by Laurence Binyon:
70年后，曾在诺曼底登陆中奋战的将士聚集在英吉利海峡两岸，人们共同参加纪念仪式。在庄重感人的仪式上，一位当时参战的老兵向众人朗诵了劳伦斯·比尼恩《谨献给阵亡将士》一诗中的一段：

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
我们会日渐衰老，但他们永远不会老去，
他们永远不为年龄所难，永远不为岁月所累。
每当夕阳西下，每当清晨来临
我们都会想起他们。

7 Survivors of the D-Day landings continue to meet to remember the fellow soldiers and friends they lost that day. Although each year they are fewer in number, their outstanding acts of courage mean that we will always remember them – as well as those who lost their lives on the beaches of northern France.
诺曼底登陆的幸存者每年都会相聚并纪念他们在登陆那天失去的战友和朋友。虽然每年相聚的人越来越少，但他们的英勇壮举将会让我们永远铭记他们，以及那些在法国北部海滩上阵亡的士兵。

第32页阅读讲解

LIANDA: A PLACE OF PASSION, BELIEF AND COMMITMENT
联大：一个充满热情、信念和奉献的地方

1 Throughout history, the great thinkers of the world have often rather romantically referred to their academic struggles as being like “war”. However, for most of them, the “war” has been purely symbolic. Real war is never romantic as it brings suffering and immense challenges.
纵观历史，世界上伟大的思想家们常常以一种浪漫的说法把他们的学术之争比喻为“战争”。然而，对他们中的大多数人来说， “战争”一词纯粹是象征性的。真正的战争从来不是浪漫的，因为它会带来痛苦和巨大的挑战。

2 In 1937, the aggression of the Japanese army brought disaster to China's three great universities: Peking University and Tsinghua University were occupied by Japanese troops, while Nankai University was completely destroyed by bombing. To save their educational and intellectual heritage, the three universities joined together in Kunming as National Southwest Associated University, otherwise known as Lianda.
1937年，日军的侵略给中国三所著名大学带来了灾难：北京大学和清华大学被日本军队占领，南开大学被彻底炸毁。为了保护教育和知识遗产这三所大学在昆明联合成立了国立西南联合大学，简称联大。

3 Professors and students alike in the three universities made an epic journey over a distance of more than 2,000 kilometres, most of them on foot. Their bed was the dusty road and their roof was the open sky, often lit up by exploding Japanese bombs. Conditions were little better once they reached the remote and mountainous south-west part of China. They had to live in rough buildings, packed 40 to a room, like sardines. There were dire shortages of food, books, and equipment. Furthermore, classes were frequently disrupted due to fierce air attacks and often had to be held before 10 am and after 4 pm.
这三所大学的教授和学生们完成了一场2，000多千米的漫长而艰辛的行程，他们中的大部分人都是徒步完成的。他们以尘士飞扬的道路为床，以开阔的、经常被日军的炸弹照亮的天空为屋顶。到了中国西南部的偏远山区后，情况也没有好多少。他们不得不住在简陋的房子里， 40个人像沙丁鱼样挤在一间屋子里，食物、书籍和设备严重短缺。此外，由于猛烈的空袭，课堂经常中断，因此上课时间往往在上午10点前和下午4点后。

4 However, despite the immense hardships and the daunting challenges, it was right in this place, over a period of eight long years, that the nation's intellectual heritage was not only guarded but fortified by the passion and belief of the worthy academics of Lianda. It is no wonder that many, if not most, of China's leading scholars and scientists emerged at Lianda, including the two Nobel Prize-winning physicists, Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao. “Lianda laid the foundation for every achievement I have made,” Yang recalled. He still remembers learning in a temporary classroom that had no glass in the windows. “On windy days, we had to hold down the paper on the desk, which would otherwise be blown away,” he said.
然而，尽管面临着巨大的困难和艰巨的挑战，在这个地方，经过八年漫长的岁月，国家的知识遗产不仅得到了保护，还得到了强化，这些都归功于联大杰出学者们的热情和信念。难怪即使不是大多数，但也有许多中国领先的学者和科学家都是联大出身，包括两位诺贝尔奖得主，物理学家杨振宁和李政道。“联大为我所取得的每项成就奠定了基础。”杨振宁回忆道。他还记得在间窗户没有玻璃的临时教室里学习。“在刮风的日子里，我们不得不把纸按在桌子上，否则纸就会被风吹走。”他说。

5 With the country at war, students at Lianda were not going to shirk their duty. Driven by a sense of commitment, a great many joined the army to resist the Japanese invaders and defend the honour of the nation. In fact, Lianda provided the largest number of student-soldiers from any campus in China. Of the thousands of college students from all over China who served as interpreters, one tenth were from Lianda, including the well-known translators Zha Liangzheng and Xu Yuanchong. Zha later depicted the contributions of his peers in a poem:
国家正处于战争状态，联大的学生们不会逃避他们的责任。在献身精神的驱使下，许多人参军抵抗日本侵略者，保卫国家的荣誉。事实上，联大输送的学生士兵的数量是中国所有校园中最多的。在来自全国各地担任翻译的数千名大学生中，有十分之一的人来自联大，其中包括著名的翻译家查良铮和许渊冲。查良铮后来在一首诗中描述了他的同龄人所做的贡献:

Softly, on the hillside forgotten by all,
A misty rain falls in a gentle breeze;
There is no trace of the footprints of history;
Where brave souls once stood, breathing new life into the trees.
轻轻地，在那被遗忘的山坡上，
还下着密雨，还吹着细风，
没有人知道历史曾在此走过，
留下了英灵化入树干而滋生。

6 A product of the war, Lianda is now physically gone. But it has become the crowning glory of China's modern universities, not only because of its prominent professors and talented students, but also because of the school's strong spirit of perseverance and dedication. In 2017, representatives from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nankai University and Yunnan Normal University gathered to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its founding.
作为战争的产物，联大现在已经不复存在。但它已经成为了中国现代大学的最高荣耀，这不仅仅是因为那些杰出的教授和才华横溢的学生，也因为联大坚韧不拔和勇于奉献的精神。2017年，北京大学、清华大学、南开大学和云南师范大学的代表们齐聚一堂，共同纪念联大建校80周年。

7 More than eighty years on, the priceless contribution of Lianda still needs to be reaffirmed. It has become part of the collective memory of the Chinese nation, with its spirit as the blueprint for all universities in China in the modern era.
尽管已经历经80多年，联大做出的无价贡献仍值得重申。它已成为中华民族集体记忆的一部分，联大精神更是描绘了现代中国所有大学的蓝图。