VOA常速英语2008年-Prince Harry Returns to Britain After Deploymen

By Tom Rivers
London
01 March 2008

With his deployment¹ in Afghanistan no longer secret, Prince Harry², 23, has flown back to Britain. The third in line to the throne was greeted at Brize Norton air base by his father Prince Charles and older brother Prince William. In London, Tom Rivers reports for the VOA.

When details of Prince Harry's tour of duty were disclosed in the media, it became clear that his time at a forward base in volatile³ Helmand Province was drawing to a close.

In fact, the prince called himself a "bullet magnet."

On Saturday, his father Prince Charles and his older brother Prince William met Harry at Brize Norton air base near Oxford⁴.  Charles said he now knows what being a parent of a son or daughter on active duty can do to your nerves.

"While being incredibly proud of Harry, I am, I promise, you equally proud for what it is worth of all of the dedicated⁵ service given by all our armed forces," he said.

Reacting to Prince Harry's return, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the right decision was made to get him out of Afghanistan.  He said security considerations for the prince were paramount⁶.

"I think the whole country is going to be delighted that Prince Harry has come back safely, that his security has been protected," he said.  "Very grateful for him for the work that he has done in Afghanistan. Very grateful to all the soldiers as he is for all the support they gave him and also for what they are doing for their country."

For ten weeks, the third in line to the throne worked as a forward air controller, a job that included calling in air strikes on Taliban targets.

But when foreign media blew Harry's cover, and the British media followed, defense⁷ officials in London activated⁸ contingency⁹ plans to get Harry out of harm's way and back to Britain.

Although the prince did not complete his tour, former palace spokesman Dickie Arbiter¹⁰ says it was still a successful deployment and the government's agreement with major British media to blackout coverage¹¹ of Harry did work for a while.

"It did survive for ten weeks, and Harry has got his wish. He has been out there, at the sharp end. Done a job that he has been trained to do and come home, and come home just a little bit earlier than he should have done," he said.

The prince will now have a month of rest and relaxation¹² before resuming his army life.

In comments released to the media earlier this week, Prince Harry said he liked being a normal person.  He said about his service in Afghanistan that it was about as "normal" as he would ever get.

1 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

2 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

3 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

6 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

9 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

10 arbiter   

n.仲裁人，公断人

参考例句：

• Andrew was the arbiter of the disagreement.安德鲁是那场纠纷的仲裁人。
• Experiment is the final arbiter in science.实验是科学的最后仲裁者。

11 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

12 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。