VOA慢速英语--Recovering Objects of War Helps to Heal Wounds

 

Jorge Altieri touches a helmet with old bloodstains on it. The device saved his life in 1982, when Britain and Argentina fought a war over the Falkland Islands.

The helmet, recently returned to Altieri, had been lost on the battlefield many years ago.

"I look at it and I get teary-eyed from all the memories," he said.

Argentina lost the war after its troops invaded the Falklands, a group of islands in the South Atlantic. In all, 649 Argentines and 255 British soldiers died in the fighting.

Argentina still claims ownership of the islands, which it calls the Malvinas. British officials call them the Falklands and say they are self-governing and under British protection.

Relations between the countries have improved recently. A deal permitting a team of experts to recover and identify the remains¹ of Argentine soldiers is one example.

Today, the soldiers who fought and relatives of those who died say recoveries of helmets and other objects seized after the war have helped them heal.

Diego Carlos Arreseigor is an Argentine military veteran. This month, he announced that he is planning to return the helmet of British soldier Alexander Shaw to his family. Shaw was killed in battle at the age of 25.

The helmet is expected to reach Shaw's sister Susan in April or May.

Arreseigor said he found the helmet with other equipment and hid it from a British soldier. He kept if for 37 years, thinking of it as "a trophy² of war" that made up for "the loss and pain of so many fallen friends."

Shaw died just hours before a cease-fire took effect. Arreseigor said the British soldier's story moved him. "It's sad like all war stories…. I just turned 60 and I demand our sovereignty over Las Malvinas, but I also pay homage³ to those who died – Argentine and British – because I think that's the way to rebuild."

For Altieri, seeing his helmet again helped him find similar closure. "I can't stop looking at it, thinking about what it did to stop the bomb shrapnel blowing my head off," he said.

Altieri lost an eye and part of his brain in a blast⁴ during the battle for Mount⁵ Longdon on June 12, 1982, two days before the fighting stopped.

After the cease-fire, a British soldier took Altieri's helmet to London. After the soldier died, his family kept the helmet until it was put up for sale four years ago.

Altieri offered to buy it, but a British man offered to pay twice the amount. Altieri could not persuade the man to sell it back to him.

Recently, however, the helmet went up for auction⁶ on eBay, an e-commerce website. The asking price: about $13,000. Altieri feared he had lost it, until he heard the news: an Argentine businessman had bought it for Altieri.

"All the memories of what I lived in the Malvinas came back to me," Altieri noted⁷.

He hopes to display it at home before giving it to a Falklands war museum. "I want people to see it and see what happened to us there," he said.

I'm John Russell.

Words in This Story

helmet – n. a hard hat that is worn to protect your head

teary-eyed – adj. having eyes that are wet with tears

trophy – n. a prize or award; using the equipment of a defeated army as a memorial of victory

sovereignty – n. the power of a state or area to govern itself

homage – n. something done to honor someone or something

closure – n. a feeling that a bad experience has ended and that you can start to live again in a calm and normal way

auction – n. a public sale at which things are sold to the people who offer to pay the most

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 trophy   

n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品

参考例句：

• The cup is a cherished trophy of the company.那只奖杯是该公司很珍惜的奖品。
• He hung the lion's head as a trophy.他把那狮子头挂起来作为狩猎纪念品。

3 homage   

n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬

参考例句：

• We pay homage to the genius of Shakespeare.我们对莎士比亚的天才表示敬仰。
• The soldiers swore to pay their homage to the Queen.士兵们宣誓效忠于女王陛下。

4 blast   

v.炸毁，摧毁；n.爆炸，爆破，一阵，汽笛声

参考例句：

• A huge bomb blast rocked central London last night.昨晚一次剧烈的炸弹爆炸震动了伦敦市中心。
• Not until last week was the project in full blast.工程直到上星期才全部开工。

5 mount   

n.山峰，乘用马，框，衬纸；vi.增长，骑上（马）；vt.提升，爬上，装备

参考例句：

• Their debts continued to mount up.他们的债务不断增加。
• She is the first woman who steps on the top of Mount Jolmo Lungma.她是第一个登上珠穆朗玛峰的女人。

6 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。