【英语语言学习】长崎原子弹事件70年后

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Seventy years ago, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Japan surrendered, and World War II ended six days later. As NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports, the people of Nagasaki retained searing memories and view the present through the prism of their terrible history. Bomb survivors¹ worry that Japan's current government is pulling the country back towards militarism.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE²: A bell tolled³ at 11:02 a.m., marking the moment that a U.S. plutonium bomb obliterated⁴ this city and killed some 70,000 people. Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue addressed a memorial service. He said Japan should not abandon its pacifist constitution.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TOMIHISA TAUE: (Speaking Japanese).

KUHN: "There's widespread unease and concern that the peaceful ideology⁵ of the constitution of Japan is now wavering," he said. "I urge the government and the parliament to listen to these voices of unease and concern." Japan's post-war constitution was drafted by the U.S. It bans the country from waging war. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was at today's gathering⁶, has proposed a security bill that would overturn that ban. The bill has hurt Abe's approval ratings. Understanding what happened 70 years ago helps explain why. Back in 1945, Minoti Moriuchi (ph) was an 8-year-old student. He lived in a village about three miles from Ground Zero. He remembers catching⁷ crickets in some fruit trees with his friends.

MINOTI MORIUCHI: (Through interpreter) I climbed the tree and was reaching up towards the sky for a cricket. In that instant, a laser-like light hit my eyes. I was blinded, and I thought the sun had exploded.

KUHN: Moriuchi was saved by a little hill that lay in between his home and the city's center. He remembers that a few hours later, his aunt appeared silently at his house with two cousins. She was carrying one, age 3, who was already dead. She was leading another, age 5, by the hand. He died later. His aunt said that the younger cousin died after begging for water.

MORIUCHI: (Through interpreter) They were burned red and black. I could not distinguish their faces from their heads or their clothes from their skin. When I tell my story, this scene always comes back to me. I always regret that I couldn't do anything for this kid who died without a drink of water. It was all he wanted.

KUHN: Moriuchi watched as six family members died in his home. Later, he walked into the city to look for other missing relatives. He remembers seeing fires everywhere, corpses⁸ floating in the river and a streetcar full of charred⁹ bodies. But he says he was too numb¹⁰ and weak with hunger to react.

MORIUCHI: (Through interpreter) I didn't feel pity for them. It didn't feel like they stank¹¹, although they were scary. It was like a dream or as if I was just looking at a drawing.

KUHN: Moriuchi later got radiation sickness, but he survived. He did not consider himself a hibakusha, or atomic bomb victim, until he got stomach cancer in his mid-50s.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)

KUHN: Streetcars rumble¹² up and down Nagasaki's cosmopolitan¹³ bustling¹⁴ streets, just as they did 70 years ago. The traces of death and devastation¹⁵ are nowhere to be seen, but for the bomb survivors, the situation is urgent. Hundreds of them are suffering and dying every year from radiation-related illnesses. And, Moriuchi says, Japan's prime minister seems not to have learned the war's lessons.

MORIUCHI: (Through interpreter) I wonder how he can imagine sending our beloved children and grandchildren to the battlefield. He is interpreting our pacifist constitution in a bizarre way so that we may be able to wage war. It is deplorable.

KUHN: Moriuchi says he regrets not taking a stand on these issues at a younger age, so he's trying to make up for lost time. He successfully sued the Japanese government for support, educated young people and campaigned against nuclear weapons. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Nagasaki.

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 tolled   

鸣钟（toll的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Bells were tolled all over the country at the King's death. 全国为国王之死而鸣钟。
• The church bell tolled the hour. 教堂的钟声报时。

4 obliterated   

v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭

参考例句：

• The building was completely obliterated by the bomb. 炸弹把那座建筑物彻底摧毁了。
• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

6 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

7 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

8 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

9 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 numb   

adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木

参考例句：

• His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
• Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵，催着疲惫的马继续往前走。

11 stank   

n. (英)坝，堰，池塘 动词stink的过去式

参考例句：

• Her breath stank of garlic. 她嘴里有股大蒜味。
• The place stank of decayed fish. 那地方有烂鱼的臭味。

12 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

13 cosmopolitan   

adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的

参考例句：

• New York is a highly cosmopolitan city.纽约是一个高度世界性的城市。
• She has a very cosmopolitan outlook on life.她有四海一家的人生观。

14 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

15 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》