2-10

 

10.

At the center of Dwyer was a towering spike¹, a kind of makeshift Nelson’s Column. Nailed to itwere dozens of arrows, pointing every which way, each arrow painted with the name of a placesome soldier at Dwyer called home.

Sydney Australia 7223 miles

Glasgow 3654 miles

Bridgwater Somerset 3610 miles

That first morning, walking past the spike, I had a thought. Maybe I should write my ownhome up there.

Clarence House 3456 miles

That’d get a laugh.

But no. Just as none of us was eager to draw the Taliban’s attention, I was eager not to drawthe attention of my fellow squaddies. My main goal was to blend in.

One of the arrows pointed² towards “The Cannons,” two enormous 105-mm guns at the back ofthe non-working shower block. Nearly every day, several times a day, Dwyer fired off those bigguns, lobbed massive shells in a smoky parabola towards Taliban positions. The noise made yourblood stop, fried your brains. (One day the guns were fired at least a hundred times.) For the rest ofmy life, I knew, I’d be hearing some vestige³ of that sound; it would echo forever in some part ofmy being. I would also never forget, when the guns finally stopped, that immense silence.

 

1 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

2 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

3 vestige   

n.痕迹，遗迹，残余

参考例句：

• Some upright stones in wild places are the vestige of ancient religions.荒原上一些直立的石块是古老宗教的遗迹。
• Every vestige has been swept away.一切痕迹都被一扫而光。