【3月24日】看軍聞學英語

■刀客

原文：

As a cold, blustery wind blew across the Elizabeth River and through the open-sided operations deck of the ship named in his honor, Hershel 'Woody' Williams reflected on the miracles he has experienced in his 96 years of living.

'Many of the miracles in my life have occurred because of the actions of others,' Williams told a crowd of about 1,000 who took part in the commissioning ceremony for the USS Hershel 'Woody' Williams (ESB-4).

Once such miracle took place 75 years ago on the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima, when Williams, under heavy enemy fire, lugged explosive charges and wielded a flame thrower to destroy seven fortified machine gun emplacements in a frenzied four-hour period, clearing a path allowing his pinned-down company to advance.

中譯：

凜冽冷風吹過伊利莎白河，穿透以自己名字命名的戰艦作業甲板。威廉斯回想起走過96個年頭，所經歷的種種奇蹟。

威廉斯對參加「赫雪爾．伍迪．威廉斯號」遠征海上基地艦服役典禮逾千名觀禮人員說道：「我一生中許多奇蹟，都是因為處理別人的事才會發生。」

75年前，在日本占領硫磺島上所發生的，就屬於這類奇蹟。當時威廉斯在猛烈敵火下，一邊拖著爆炸裝藥、一邊操控噴火器，他在狂亂的4小時內，摧毀了7座強化機槍陣地，開出一條血路，讓原本無法動彈的連隊，得以繼續前進。

－關鍵軍語－

※explosive charge:

A measured quantity of explosive material.

※flame thrower:

A mechanical incendiary device designed to project a long, controllable stream of fire.

例句：

The flamethrower was first used by the German army.

最早使用噴火器的是德國陸軍。