【12月10日】看軍聞學英語

■刀客

原文：

After a coronavirus-related delay, Israel's navy is preparing for the long-awaited arrival of its next generation of missile boats-giving it a powerful new tool to defend its strategic natural gas industry from the threat of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The first missile boat of ＇Project Magen＇ is scheduled to arrive by early December, with three more of the German-made corvettes scheduled to arrive over the next two years.

＇It's bigger. It's newer. It's faster. It's better,＇ said Rear Adm. Eyal Harel, head of Israeli naval operations, during a rare tour of Israel's offshore Leviathan gas field. A massive gas platform stood just a few hundred meters away.

中譯：

以色列海軍目前正準備迎接，先前受到新型冠狀病毒影響所耽擱、企盼已久的新一代飛彈快艇，這批艦艇是以色列用來防衛其戰略天然氣工業，使之免於受到黎巴嫩真主黨激進組織威脅的強大新式戰具。

這項「大衛之盾計畫」的第1艘飛彈快艇，預計於今年12月初送達以色列，而再過2年，預劃還會有另外3艘德製輕型巡防艦加入行列。

以色列海軍作戰處長哈雷爾少將，於以色列外海的「巨無霸」天然氣田，進行極為罕見的視導時表示，這艘飛彈快艇更大、更新、更快，而且更好。這個大型的天然氣平台僅座落在數百公尺的地方。

-關鍵軍語-

※Magen:

Known in Hebrew as the Shield of David.

※corvette:

A battleship ranking below a frigate in size.

例句：

The dimensions of corvette are slightly smaller as compared to the traditional frigate combat vessel, serving especially as a stop-gap between the larger naval combat vessels.

輕型巡防艦的尺寸，較傳統巡防戰鬥艦略小，特別是可作為支援大型海軍戰艦作戰權宜之用。