The First Jet第一架喷气
1.It was just noon on that 25th day of April 1945. I had gone through my first minutes of combat. The 456th Bomber Group, based in Italy, had gone into Austria. They had hit the railroad yards at Linz along the Danube River.
1、事情发生在1945年4月25日的中午。我正在执行我的第一次战斗任务。基地在意大利的第456轰炸机组刚刚飞进奥地利。他们要轰炸多瑙河沿岸位于林滋的铁路工厂。
2.My job was to drop chaff. They were the little bundles of tin that confused enemy radar. Through the 3-inch-square chaff chute, I could see the enemy shells exploding just below us.
2、我的工作是抛撒干扰片。它们是锡制的很小的捆，能够干扰敌人的雷达。透过3平方英寸（抛撒）干扰片斜道，我能看到敌人的炮弹就在我们（飞机肚子）底下爆炸。
3.Just after "bombs away," a sharp blow rocked our plane. An enemy shell had ripped a hole in the floor of the airplane. It was about a yard from the engineer's feet.
3、刚刚执行“投弹完毕”命令，一下急速的打击使我们的飞机摇晃起来。敌人的一颗炮弹已经在飞机的地板上撕破一个大洞。它距离工程师的脚不过一码。
4."Engineer to pilot," his voice said, "we’ve been hit."
4、“工程师呼叫机长，”（耳机中）他的声音说道，“我们被击中了。”
5."Bad?"
5、“很严重吗？”
6."Don't think so. It missed the control cables-went out through the top."
6、“不太严重。它没有击中控制缆，穿过顶棚出去了。”
7.No more talk. It was over. But it left a shaky feeling. We knew that the war was almost over. A guy’s chances of getting home were good.
7、没有更多的交谈。这件事过去了。但是它留下令人震撼的感觉。我们都知道战争几乎结束了。一个军人战后回家的机会很高。
8.Each of us was thinking the same thing. If that shell had hit us half a second sooner, it might have hit the pilot. Three inches to the left and it would have cut some cables. A tiny instant later, and it would have hit one of us.
8、我们中的每个人都在想同样的事。如果那颗炮弹早半秒击中我们，它可能击中机长。只要偏左3英寸，它将会割断某些控制缆。稍微迟后瞬间，它将击中我们中的一个。
9.The bomb run ended. The bomb bay doors slid shut. Suddenly we were in the clear open sky.
9、一连串的轰炸结束了。弹舱门关上了。刹那间我们冲入晴朗的广阔天空。
10.We let ourselves feel a bit safer now. We had the three-hour flight home. It was across part of Yugoslavia. Then came the voice of our nose gunner.
10、现在我们使自己感到多了一点安全。我们要用3个小时飞回家。正在横穿南斯拉夫某地。这时传来我们的前机枪手的声音。
11."Fighter. Eleven o'clock low. Coming in fast."
11、“战斗机。11点方向下。逼近得非常快。”
12."Whose?" somebody said.
12、“谁的？”有人问。
13."Not ours," came the answer, forward. "Never saw anything like it. it's closing in now……fast……fast……never saw anything so fast."
13、“不是我们的，”从前方传来回答，“从来没有见过像这样的东西。现在它正在接近，太快了，太快了，从来没有见过任何东西这么快。” 转贴于：职称英语考试_考试大「责编:lq 纠错」
14."I see him!" the left waist gunner said.“ It’s a jet-one of those new Me 262’s!"
14、“我看到它了！”左腰部机枪手说。“它是架喷气机，是新型ME262中的一架！”
15."Can’t even hold him in the sight," the gunner said.
15、“简直不能'盯'住它，”机枪手说。
16.If one of their new jets hits you, just start shooting and hope that you hit him. You won't get a chance to aim. That's what we had been told. The enemy had a fighter so fast we couldn't even hold a sight on it. It was something we had never heard of. Something they called a "jet."
16、我们曾被告知：如果他们的新型喷气机冲向你，立即扫射，但愿你打中它，你没有瞄准它的机会。敌人有一种战斗机太快，我们甚至不能'看'住它。这是我们从没听说过的东西，敌人称之为“喷气机”。
17.And now the jet came at us! Our nose turret turned wildly to follow it. The electric motors of the turret hummed. The gunner tried to bring his guns around.
17、现在喷气机冲向我们！我们的前炮塔发疯似地旋转着跟随它。炮塔的电动机嗡嗡叫。机枪手试图带着他的枪转动。
18.Looking over the other waist gunner’s shoulder, I saw the enemy jet. Saw its shining green nose and its high rudder. It knifed through the spring air toward our plane.
18、从另外一个腰部机枪手的肩上看去，我看到了敌人的喷气机。看到了它的闪亮的绿色鼻子和高高的方向舵。它刀劈般穿过春天的天空接近我们的飞机。
19.In seconds the jet's cannon would fire. In seconds it would all be over. Our bomber would fold. It would streak down to smash in the mountains below.
19、几秒中内喷气机的大炮将开火，几秒钟内一切将结束。我们的轰炸机将折叠成团。它将瞬间下坠粉碎在下面的山上。
20.In seconds……Then I noticed that it had not yet fired a single shot. All of us stared. We were ready for the blow. But no one fired!
20、几秒钟内……突然，我注意到它没有发射一发子弹。我们所有人都凝视着。我们已经准备着爆炸。但是没有人开火。
21.The jet was in range. Its shining nose was on us as it closed in for the kill.
21、喷气机确实在射程以内。它闪亮的鼻子对着我们，似乎它要靠近来进行屠杀。
22.Then the unbelievable: the enemy jet leveled off. It flashed below us and was gone.
22、这时令人难以置信的事情发生了，敌人的喷气机与我们的飞机拉成水平。它闪向我们的下面，然后离去。
23."Close!" somebody said. “Too close!"
23、“太近了！”有人说。“太近了！”
24.Then we went back to the business of getting home. I guess most of the crew forgot about that jet that had us in its sights. But I have never forgotten it.
24、之后，大家重新回到飞回家的事情里。我猜想机组的大多数人现在已经忘掉那架置我们于其视距的喷气机。但是，我从来没有忘掉它。
25.Was the German pilot out of ammunition? Did his guns jam at the last second? Or was it more than that? Was he tired of killing?
25、是德国飞行员没有弹药？是最后一秒他的机枪卡壳？或者还有更多隐情？或者是他已经厌倦于杀戮？
26.I'll never be sure. I don't know what held the fire of our own gunners. But the sky changed from a rain of hate to a blue sky of hope.
26、我可能永远不会弄清。我也不知道为什么我们的机枪手没有开火。但是天变了，从一个讨厌的雨天变成我们所希望的蓝天。
