访谈录 2009-07-03&07-06 头部中刀，美国大兵仍重返

We do have a story that inspires and reminds you of the stuff our fighting forces are made of. Bob Woodruff, our own Bob Woodruff told us so few a while back about Sgt. Dan Powers, his injury and his determination to get back on the job. Well, here we bring you up to date. Wow, Bob.

 

Well, you know, he’s got this unbelievable, unheard-of really this injury before. You know, he is the guy that got this great will though, a lot of these doctors, these other soldiers around can’t believe that he lived. They can’t believe he is able to communicate later on. But, now, he wants to go back to the war, to be with his colleagues, to be with his friends. Just take a look at this, you should be amazed.

 

"Dan Powers, 2983"

 

Sgt. Dan Powers could have left the army, hung up his combat gear and called it a career, but that thought never entered his mind.

 

“What do your friends say when you tell them you are doing this?”

 

“They say I’m crazy.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Powers had narrowly escaped death in Iraq, and now, his return to duty was nearly complete.

 

“It means my life has come full circle, and I’m at the same place I was before I got hurt.”

 

“I’m gonna go up with you, I'll watch you from up there.”

 

We first met Sgt. Powers at Fort Bragg two years ago as he was recovering from a combat injury as bizarre as it was severe. The X-Ray says it all. An Iraqi insurgent¹ had inched up behind Powers on a Bagdad’s street, plunging² a large knife into his skull³, perilously⁴ close to his brain.

 

“He had no idea what really happened.”

 

Army Medic Ryan Webb rushed to stabilize⁵ Powers, and to keep him calm.

 

“I did have to fight a few people off that came by and were like 'Whoa, you’ve got a knife sticking out of your head.”

 

Incredibly, Powers remained conscious and alert as he was rushed to a combat hospital.

 

“When you said that, did you even know you had a knife in your head?”

 

“No, I did not.”

 

“How long did it take you to finally realize it?”

 

“Oh, they said you got a knife in your head and I kind of looked up, oh my god, so I do.”

 

Stunned⁶ doctors and nurses rolled video cameras as they prepared to remove the knife, which they did, saving Power’s life.

 

“I’ve been running into people that I served within Iraq, and they said, wow, you are still here.”

 

And the two years since Sgt. Powers has worked tirelessly to return to his airborne brigade.

                 

“He has never accepted defeat. He has never quit, not one day.”

 

The final step in his recovery would be out of the back of C-130 aircraft, 1,250 feet above the bay, off the coast of Key West.

 

“The best part was, when the ramp⁷ opened and they said stand by, and I said, that's it, here we go.”

 

The brigade's senior officer was the first to jump, then two seconds later, Powers was off, aloft in the swirling⁸ wind and feeling on top of the world.

 

“And my chute opened, there I was, hanging up at about 1000 feet. it was great.”

 

Watching from a command boat below, Powers’ wife, Trudy, was overcome.

 

“It was awesome⁹. I actually I started crying. It was really emotional.”

 

Moments later, 28 of Powers’ fellow soldiers followed him into the sky. “It was a spectacular aerial show of solidarity¹⁰ for their brother in arms.

 

“He has done more for the brigade than he’ll ever realize. He set an example for every single paratrooper in this brigade.”

 

Powers says he dedicated¹¹ his jump to all the people who worked to save his life.

 

“I feel I owed it to so many people who’s put so much effort into saving little me, and to all the guys that were not as lucky as I was.”

 

You know, Diane, he’s gonna be now deployed¹² again back to Afghanistan about two weeks from now. In mid-July, he is gonna be back with the military police for the next twelve months. Here’s a guy that just wanna go back to that team, back to his friends, and he is going.

 

Forever hear about the brothers you have to go back with the brothers. I hear him say 'little me', hardly, but his wife is letting him go back, I mean his family. I think I’d be just holding on.

 

Yeah, I can't get my wife to allow me to go back very easily, but he got his.

 

Well, we salute¹³ him in every possible way. And thank you Bob for the story.

 

1 insurgent   

adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子

参考例句：

• Faruk says they are threatened both by insurgent and government forces.法鲁克说，他们受到暴乱分子和政府军队的双重威胁。
• The insurgent mob assembled at the gate of the city park.叛变的暴徒聚在市立公园的门口。

2 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

4 perilously   

adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地

参考例句：

• They were perilously close to the edge of the precipice. 他们离悬崖边很近，十分危险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It'seemed to me that we had come perilously close to failure already. 对我来说，好像失败和我只有一步之遥，岌岌可危。 来自互联网

5 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

6 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

7 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

8 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

9 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

10 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

11 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

12 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

13 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。