VOA常速英语2015--多架二战战机飞过华盛顿上空 致敬退伍老兵（在线收听）

多架二战战机飞过华盛顿上空 致敬退伍老兵

More than 50 World War II-era planes flew in formation over the World War II Memorial in Washington Friday, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the conflict in Europe.

超过50架曾在二战时期服役的战机编队周五飞过华盛顿的美国二战纪念碑，纪念二战胜利70周年。

The roar of mighty piston engines overhead tranfixed midday strollers and crowds along the National Mall.

强力活塞式发动机的轰鸣声让国家广场中午散步者和人群感到震耳欲聋。

"It's just been an incredible day to come here, after all these years, and see these airplanes again."

“这一天真是是令人难以置信,这么多年过去后,能够再次看到这些飞机。”

The flyby, called Arsenal of Democracy, was organized by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association.Its president and CEO, Peter Bunce, says restorating old airplanes is a slow and painstakingly hard process done mostly by enthusiasts.

这次名为民主政治兵工厂的飞行表演是由通用航空制造商协会组织。其总裁兼首席执行官彼得·博尼斯表示大多由爱好者们修复的老式飞机过程十分缓慢且极其艰苦。

“Recently, there was a very iconic aircraft that was fished out in Lake Michigan and that aircraft will go through a very long restoration processes, it's years and years."

“最近, 在密西根湖中打捞出一架非常具有代表性的飞机,而这架老飞机会经历非常漫长的修复过程，很多年后才能重返天空。”

Many of the planes, such as this Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, called Texas Raiders belongs to a Texas-based non-profit organization called Commemorative Air Force.

像这架名为德州掠夺者的波音B-17飞行堡垒的许多飞机属于德克萨斯非营利组织纪念空军。

Civilian corporate pilot Buddy Cooksey has been flying its vintage planes at air shows for more than 40 years.He says the group has over 11,000 members but is always looking for new fans ready to devote time and work to restoration and upkeep of old planes.

民用企业飞行员巴迪·库克西和它的老爷机从事空中表演已有40多个年头。他称这个组织有超过11000名成员，但总是在寻找准备将时间和精力用在修复及维护旧飞机的新粉丝。

“We are looking for young ladies, young men, race, color, creed does not matter to us.They got the enthusiasm-we want them."

“我们需要年轻的女士,年轻人,种族、肤色、信仰对我们并不重要。只要他们有热情,我们就需要。”

Cooksey says, despite their age, the planes are still in very good shape.

库克西表示虽然过了服役期,但这些飞机性能仍然良好。

“Strangely enough the airplanes are quite durable, they were meant to be that durable.And there's lot of redundancy in the systems and so, the problem that we have is the parts are not easily to come by."

“奇怪的是，这些飞机很耐用,它们就是耐用。系统中还有很多冗余,因此,我们的问题是很难找到零件。”

Cooksey says every once in a while, a box of spare parts is discovered in some warehouse, but many of them have to be manufactured new, which is not cheap.But he says it is important to keep these planes flying as a tribute to all who fought in them.

库克西表示每隔一段时间,都能在一些仓库找到零件,但其中很多必须重新制造,而费用并不便宜。但是他说重要的是要让这些飞机再次翱翔天际向曾经驾驶过它们的老兵们致敬。

“I believe that they could be continually operated for probably…forever, as long as we can continue to do what we are doing."

“我相信这些飞机可以永远飞下去，直到永远…,只要我们继续做正在做的事情。”