【11月21日】看軍聞學英語

■刀客

原文:

Gen. Van Ovost doesn't think of herself as a trailblazer. 'Frankly, I never wanted to be 'the first,'' she said.'I've been fortunate that other people have broken those glass ceilings and I've been able to blaze right behind them and widen the trail.'

Despite early strides, women like Van Ovost faced substantial barriers. For example, the Pentagon did not lift a decades-long policy that prohibited women from flying in combat until 1993.

While she desperately wanted to fly at Mach 1 fighter speeds following undergraduate pilot training, she was instead assigned to the C-141B Starlifter, a cargo plane. But in 1993, she took a reassignment opportunity to become one of a few female test pilots at Edwards Air Force Base, California, flying aircraft such as the A-10 Thunderbolt II–a favorite–and the first iteration of the C-17 cargo aircraft.

中譯:

范‧奧沃斯特上將不認為自己是個開路先鋒,她表示,坦白說,她從未想要成為「第一」,何其有幸,前人已先衝破種種無形的升遷障礙,讓她能夠緊跟在後發揚光大,並拓展道路。

女性縱使早就展現意氣風發之姿,像范‧奧沃斯特等之女性,仍不免遭遇各式實質阻礙,誠如美國國防部一直到1993年,才取消長達數十年來禁止女性駕駛戰鬥機的政策。

在完成官校飛行訓練後,她最想飛的是音速1馬赫的戰機,卻被派飛C-141B「舉星者」運輸機。但在1993年,她把握住重新派任的機會,成為加州愛德華空軍基地少數女性試飛官之一員,駕駛過當時最夯的A-10「雷霆二式」攻擊機,以及第一代的C-17運輸機。

-關鍵軍語-

※cargo:

Goods or supplies carried by an aircraft or ship.

例句:

The An-124 Ruslan remains the largest military cargo plane in current service.

An-124「雄獅」仍位居現役最大型的軍用運輸機。