In these last days of ceremonies, we have heard wonderful words of tribute. Now we come to this hallowed place that speaks, more than anything else, in silence. Here on this quiet plateau, on this small piece of American soil, we honor those who gave their lives for us 50 crowded years ago.
在儀式的最后這幾天，我們聽到了很多歌頌陣亡將士的很好的悼詞。現在，我們來到這個神圣的地方，它寂靜的訴說勝過一切。
Today, the beaches of Normandy are calm. If you walk these shores on a summer's day, all you might hear is the laughter of children playing on the sand or the cry of seagulls overhead or perhaps the ringing of a distant church bell, the simple sounds of freedom barely breaking the silence, peaceful silence, ordinary silence.
今天，諾曼底的海灘是平靜的。如果你在夏日走在這片海灘上，你能聽到的只有在沙里玩耍的孩子們的笑聲，或者頭頂上海鷗的鳴叫，或者也許有遠處教堂的鐘聲。這些簡單的聲音很小，幾乎都不能打破這片平靜，和平的平靜，普通的平靜。
But June 6th, 1944, was the least ordinary day of the 20th century. On that chilled dawn, these beaches echoed with the sounds of staccato gunfire, the roar of aircraft, the thunder of bombardment. And through the wind and the waves came the soldiers, out of their landing craft and into the water, away from their youth and toward a savage place many of them would sadly never leave. They had come to free a continent, the Americans, the British, the Canadians, the Poles, the French Resistance, the Norwegians, and others; they had all come to stop one of the greatest forces of evil the world has ever known.
然而，1944年6月6日卻是20世紀最不普通的一天。在寒冷的拂曉，這片海灘上回響著噠噠的槍聲、飛機的轟鳴、炸彈的雷鳴。風浪之中戰士們來了，從登陸艇上出來，走進水里，遠離他們的青春，走向他們之中很多人永遠不會離開的兇殘之地。他們來了，來解放一個大陸。他們是美國人、英國人、加拿大人、波蘭人、法國抵抗戰士、挪威人，還有其他一些人；他們來阻止有史以來最強大的邪惡力量。
As news of the invasion broke back home in America, people held their breath. In Boston, commuters stood reading the news on the electric sign at South Station. In New York, the Statue of Liberty, its torch blacked out since Pearl Harbor, was lit at sunset for 15 minutes. And in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, a young mother named Pauline Elliot wrote to her husband, Frank, a corporal in the Army, "D-Day has arrived. The first thought of all of us was a prayer."
當進攻的消息傳回美國時，人們屏住了呼吸。在波士頓，上班的人們站著看南站的電子公告牌上的新聞。載紐約，自從珍珠港事件后便已熄滅的自由女神像火炬在黃昏時點燃了15分鐘。在賓夕法尼亞的紐卡斯爾，一個叫做Pauline Elliot的年輕母親給他在軍中的下士丈夫Frank寫信：“D-Day到來了。我們所有人首先想到的就是祈禱�！�
Below us are the beaches where Corporal Elliot's battalion and so many other Americans landed, Omaha and Utah, proud names from America's heartland, part of the biggest gamble of the war, the greatest crusade, yes, the longest day.
我們下邊的海灘就是Elliot下士所在的營和很多美國人登陸的地方。奧馬哈和猶他，美國腹地驕傲的名字，他們投入了最大的戰爭賭博，最偉大的圣戰，對，還有最漫長的一天。
During those first hours on bloody Omaha, nothing seemed to go right. Landing craft were ripped apart by mines and shells. Tanks sent to protect them had sunk, drowning their crews. Enemy fire raked the invaders as they stepped into chest-high water and waded past the floating bodies of their comrades. And as the stunned survivors of the first wave huddled behind a seawall, it seemed the invasion might fail.
在血腥的奧馬哈海灘，最初的幾個小時連連失利。登陸艇被地雷和炮彈炸開。派過去救援他們的坦克帶著機組人員沉沒。敵人的火力掃射著在齊胸深海水中趟過漂浮著的戰友遺體的戰士。在第一波的幸存者驚呆地躲在海堤后面時，進攻似乎很可能失敗。
Hitler and his followers had bet on it. They were sure the Allied soldiers were soft, weakened by liberty and leisure, by the mingling of races and religion. They were sure their totalitarian youth had more discipline zeal.
希特勒和他的追隨者放手一搏。他們確信盟軍是軟弱的，被自由和舒適的生活、種族和宗教的混合而削弱。他們確信，他們極權主義下的青年更有紀律和熱情。
--未完待續 |
發表于 2010-1-25 12:48:09
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