VOA慢速英语--《天眼行动》:无人机精准打击

‘Eye in the Sky' Looks at Drone Strikes 《天眼行动》:无人机精准打击

Should the life of one innocent be sacrificed to save many others? That is the thematic question of director Gavin Hood¹’s new film. "Eye in the Sky." 

The movie is set in 2015. The United States and Britain are set to carry out a joint² drone attack. They aim to kill a terrorist before he carries out a suicide bombing that could kill many people.

The thriller³ follows the drone operation which is about to strike a terrorist cell in Nairobi, Kenya. Officials are faced with moral questions as an innocent civilian⁴ enters the area where the missile is expected to strike.

Military officials in different parts of the world watch video of the target area provided by a tiny spy drone. They observe as a Briton-led group of terrorists prepares for a major suicide attack in Nairobi. The officials consider moving from their capture-only drone operation to a deadly one.

The military and political debate over the decision delays action and that worries Helen Mirren’s character, Colonel Katherine Powell. She is the leader of the joint military operation.

Time is running out.

The situation becomes even more complex after a child enters the drone target area.

Colonel Powell watches from London. She is ready to kill the terrorists. Her goal, as she sees it is to prevent a possible terrorist massacre⁵. But others consider the political and diplomatic results of such an attack. One character describes the weight of the military decision simple. He says “If they kill 80 people, we win the propaganda war. If we kill one child, they do.”

No easy answers

Gavin Hood says "Eye in the Sky" shows that there are no easy answers when it comes to drone warfare⁶. “Will you sacrifice, will you definitely take one innocent life in order to possibly prevent the loss of 80 lives? What if there were five innocent lives close to this kill zone? What if the estimate of the loss of life (by the terrorists) was only 20? What if it was 2,000?" he asks.

The filmmaker hopes "Eye in the Sky" will generate discussions among his audiences on the human, political and strategic costs of drone warfare. “If you are not there and you are only attacking from the sky, how [do you expect] the local population to respond?” he asks.

Hood says his film is imaginary but the story was fully⁷ researched. "We spoke⁸ to people from all areas. From the military lawyers, who were involved in this, to drone pilots, to military intelligence officers. He said a real drone pilot was permanently⁹ on set to make sure that everything was correct.

Real life dilemmas¹⁰

Along with Helen Mirren, the late actor Alan Rickman plays the sharp but cool under fire Lt. General Benson.  Aaron Paul is the emotional drone pilot Steve Watts¹¹. Together they successfully communicate the message of "Eye in the Sky" -- that as exact as drone missiles might be, they are still guided by often conflicted human beings.

In Gavin Hood’s words, “there are military people who seriously question the use of the drone and there are people within the military who think it is the best thing that ever happened."

Gavin Hood says the debates we see dramatized in “Eye in the Sky” are very much like the debates happening in real war rooms, and elsewhere in the real world.

Words in This Story

thriller – n. a novel, movie or theatrical¹² production that is exciting; a story full of exciting action, mystery or suspense¹³

cell – n. a small group of people who work together secretly as part of a larger organization or group

massacre – n. the violent killing¹⁴ of many people

zone – n. an area that is different from other areas

cool under fire – expression of calm at a time of threat or unease

1 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

4 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

5 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

6 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

10 dilemmas   

n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 )；窘境，困境

参考例句：

• They dealt with their dilemmas by mixing perhaps unintentionally an explosive brew. 他们――也许是无意地――把爆炸性的佐料混合在一起，以此来应付困难处境。 来自辞典例句
• Ten years later we encountered the same dilemmas in Vietnam. 十年后，我们又在越南遇到了同样进退两难的局面。 来自辞典例句

11 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

12 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

13 suspense   

n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑

参考例句：

• The suspense was unbearable.这样提心吊胆的状况实在叫人受不了。
• The director used ingenious devices to keep the audience in suspense.导演用巧妙手法引起观众的悬念。

14 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。