读者文摘:失而复得的国旗(1)

One early morning last winter, someone broke into Shawn Marceau's truck.

去年冬天的一个清晨，有人闯进肖恩·玛索的卡车。

That wasn't particularly unusual—thieves had already hit him three times in recent months, even as the truck was parked outside his home in White Swan, Washington.

这并不是特别不寻常，最近几个月小偷已经打击了他三次，即使是在他的卡车停在他位于华盛顿白天鹅社区的家外面的时候。

This time they made off with a laptop, some riflescopes, and, unbeknownst to Marceau at the time, an American flag.

这一次，他们偷走了一台笔记本电脑，一些瞄准器，以及当时玛索不知道的一面美国国旗。

But this wasn't just any flag. It had belonged to his son, 22-year-old Marine¹ lance corporal Joe Jackson.

但是那不是一面普通的国旗。那面国旗属于他的儿子。22岁的海军一等兵乔·杰克逊。

The flag had been signed by each member of Jackson's platoon at the beginning of their deployment² and had hung over his bed for his entire tour of duty in Afghanistan.

杰克逊排的每个成员在开始部署时都在这面旗帜是签了名。杰克逊在整个阿富汗服役期间都把这面旗挂在他的床上。

Jackson was on foot patrol³ in Helmand Province in 2011 when he stepped on an improvised⁴ bomb and was killed.

2011年，杰克逊在赫尔曼德省徒步巡逻的时候，踩到了一颗简易炸弹，不幸身亡。

His father frequently took the flag to memorials and veterans' events to share his son's story.

他的父亲经常带着旗子去参加纪念活动和退伍军人活动，分享自己儿子的故事。

It wasn't until several weeks after the break-in, when he was getting organized for an annual memorial rifle shoot honoring Jackson, that Marceau realized the neatly⁵ folded flag was gone.

直到被偷几周后，在组织一年一度的纪念杰克逊的步枪射击活动时，玛索才发现这面折叠齐整的旗子已经消失了。

"I was very upset—in a rage," he told Fox & Friends, "because I lost it."

他告诉《福克斯与朋友们》，“我感到非常沮丧、非常愤怒。因为我把它弄丢了。”

Marceau reached out to friends and family, asking them to search for the flag wherever they could—at pawn-shops, secondhand stores, even the local Goodwill⁶.

玛索联系了家人和朋友，请他们帮忙寻找丢失的国旗，不管是在当铺，二手店，甚至是当地的Goodwill服务公司。

Nothing. He went to the rifle memorial, on April 21, without the flag.

但是没有结果。4月21日，他去了步枪射击活动，没有带儿子的国旗。

In a last-ditch effort, the heart-broken father took to Facebook.

在最后的努力下，这位心碎的父亲上了Facebook。

"Would appreciate it if all my friends could share this note. This American flag was stolen out of my truck," he wrote, including a photo of the flag.

他写道，“如果我所有的朋友都能分享这条消息，我将不胜感激。这面美国国旗从我的卡车里被偷走了。”他还附加了这张国旗的照片。

"Any information would be great. No questions asked."By the next morning, on May 5, his post had been shared around 2,000 times.

“任何消息都好。不会问问题。”到第二天早上，在5月5日，他的帖子已大约被分享了2000次。

By May 7, there were around 40,000 reposts. "I couldn't believe it," says Marceau. "There were so many comments I couldn't keep up."

截至5月7日，转发量约为4万次。玛索说，“我简直不敢相信，评论太多，我跟不上了。”

Unfortunately, the flag was still nowhere to be found.

不行的是，这面国旗还是没有踪影。

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

3 patrol   

v.巡逻，巡查；n.巡逻，巡查，巡逻队

参考例句：

• They attacked two soldiers on patrol.他们袭击了两名正在巡逻的士兵。
• Policemen patrol the streets.警察在街上巡逻。

4 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

5 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

6 goodwill   

n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉

参考例句：

• His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
• We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。