VOA标准英语2010年-In Afghanistan, US Pilots Aim to Save

Medevac units play a crucial role in Afghanistan, providing emergency care and transportation to injured soldiers, and to Afghan civilians¹

In July, the U.S military recorded its highest monthly death toll² in the nine-year Afghanistan war. As the casualty rate steadily³ climbs, army medical evacuation units play an increasingly vital role in the war - both in saving soldiers lives, and in the battle for Afghan hearts, by helping⁴ injured civilians. Sam Beattie reports from southern Afghanistan.

The emergency call has come, and a U.S. Army medevac team is preparing to take off.  This is Charlie Company of the 6th Battalion⁵, 101st Aviation Brigade and the crew has 15 minutes from the time they get the call to get in the air.  Their goal: to get the injured person to medical care within what trauma⁶ experts call the golden hour, when the chance of survival is highest.

 

This time they are picking up an injured Afghan soldier.  He has extensive damage to his legs, from stepping on one of the thousands of land mines that litter the land.

Sergeant⁷ Andrew Harding uses his 14 years of experience as a medic to keep the man alive until he can get to a hospital.  Although he is still alive when they arrive, the soldier dies on the operating table.

"It's an awesome⁸ feeling when you can scoop⁹ them up from the roadside when they are blown up and save their life, keep them alive, until [we] can get to a higher echelon¹⁰ of care, but unfortunately for every 10 saves you make, you lose that one person and that's what you dwell on, the guys you lost," said Sergeant Harding. 

This unit has flown over 100 missions since they arrived here in March.  Medevac units play a crucial role in this war, providing emergency care and transportation to injured soldiers, and to Afghan civilians.

Major Russ Hiedel explains that the military hopes by providing advanced medical care in this remote part of the country, it will help win support from the population.

"The purpose of the mission is to protect the population and build the capacity," said Major Hiedel.  "I believe that providing those services, it shows good faith and intentions and it's just the right thing to do in most cases, is to provide those services."

This 20-year-old Afghan woman has a skull¹¹ fracture and a broken leg and arm. Her child has facial lacerations.

The medics are unsure how she was hurt, but suspect she was in a car accident, or a vehicle that hit a roadside bomb.  Her grandparents look on anxiously as they are transported to a more advanced hospital.

"More often than not, I've been thanked by a local's family member, a father, a uncle of a child or whoever the familial escort is, they shake your hand, give you a kiss on the cheek, so in that isolated¹² case, they go back to their village and say the Americans did this, the Americans did that and hopefully they will be a little more receptive to helping us out when we need their help trying to catch bad guys," added Sergeant Harding.

The war in Afghanistan is entering its ninth year, and thousands of soldiers and civilians have lost their lives.  With no end in sight, the medevac units stand by for their next call.

 

1 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

2 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

3 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

6 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

7 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

8 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

9 scoop   

n.铲子，舀取，独家新闻；v.汲取，舀取，抢先登出

参考例句：

• In the morning he must get his boy to scoop it out.早上一定得叫佣人把它剜出来。
• Uh,one scoop of coffee and one scoop of chocolate for me.我要一勺咖啡的和一勺巧克力的。

10 echelon   

n.梯队；组织系统中的等级；v.排成梯队

参考例句：

• What kind of friends can be considered the first echelon of the friends?那什么样的朋友才能算第一梯队的朋友？
• These are the first echelon members.这些是我们的第一梯队的队员。

11 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

12 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。