二戰英雄複得落水獎章--潛水員的功勞

二戰時的歐洲西線戰場，最著名的戰役有兩個:  敦克爾克大敗退和諾曼底登陸戰。前者將被德軍圍困主的四十萬英法聯軍中的三十四萬撤到了英倫三島。四年後，後者又把百萬英美盟軍渡過英吉利海峽，給第三帝國敲響了滅亡的喪鍾。

英國老兵裏，參加過其中之一的幸存者現在是少之又少，兩次都參加過的那更是鳳毛麟角，猶如參加國長征的中國老紅軍，都是比熊貓還要真貴的稀罕物。

英國現在還真幸存者這麽一隻"老熊貓"，都93歲了，得過的軍功章就有一包。可是這位"熊貓"大叔，在參加敦克爾克老兵慶典泛舟泰晤士河時，他的那些軍功章全都落入泰晤士河。要將這些軍章從泰晤士河底撈起，那真叫一個大海撈針，英文說法就是:  mission impossible。但有一家英國打撈公司，想老英雄所想急老英雄所急，主動要求幫助老英雄打撈失物。結果您猜怎麽著?  還真把那mission impossible給找著了，真是可喜可賀。

下麵就是這則新聞:

Divers reunite British war hero with lost medals

Divers defied the murky waters of the River Thames on Saturday to recover priceless medals for a British war hero after he feared they were lost forever.

World War II veteran Charles Brown, 93, was taking part in a Dunkirk veterans river cruise last weekend when his medals slipped out of his jacket pocket and into the water at Teddington, as he boarded a boat.

When the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) heard about the loss it offered to recover the irreplaceable medals which included an OBE (Order of the British Empire) awarded for his work for war veterans and his Dunkirk and Normandy campaign medals.

Malcolm Miatt, lifeboat operations manager at RNLI Teddington, said: "I wasn't sure that we'd find the medals because they been down there all week and visibility from the silt was bad due to all the heavy rain recently.

"However, our divers found them almost immediately, there was no drama."

When he heard the news, an overjoyed Brown took a taxi from his retirement home to the river to be reunited with his medals.

"I do get a bit emotional because these medals meant so much to me. I wasn't a celebrity, a pop singer or a cricketer, these medals were what I was proud of," he said.

"I'm not going to be celebrating with cream cakes or anything like that, just having the medals back is enough for me."

學詞匯:

murky:  混濁不清，是clean的反義。

"無價之寶"怎麽講?  "價格"是price，"無價"就是priceless；"無價之寶"就是什麽樣的高價都買不走，也即priceless。英文裏還有一詞，invaluable也是"無價之寶"的意思:  動詞value是"估算價值"，valuable是"有價值的"或"可估算出價值的"，"invaluable"是"怎麽估高價也不為過"、即"無價之寶"的意思。注意，千萬不能把invaluable看成是"一錢不值"。

war hero:  戰鬥英雄。有人可能會說，war是戰爭，battle才是戰鬥；因此，戰鬥英雄該是battle hero才對。細究用詞是應該受到鼓勵的，但英語是英美人民的英語，不是中國人民的英語。所以用詞要隨人家。war hero就是中國的"戰鬥英雄"，人家這麽用了，我們也要這麽用。

slip out of his jacket pocket:  滑出他的上衣口袋

to board a boat:  登船。那登機呢?  對了， to board a plane。知道boarding pass是什麽嗎?  登機牌。
地名敦克爾克和諾曼底的英文是什麽?  Dunkirk和Normandy。千萬別以為英文地名不重要，與人交流，時間地點人物非常要緊，而這方麵是中國人說英語時的弱點，需要加強。

Royal National Lifeboat Institution:  做好事的這家公司。

"無可替代的"怎麽說:  irreplaceable，動詞"放置"是place，"重新放置"也即"替代"，形容詞"可替代的"是replaceable，這樣下來，irreplaceable當然就是"不可替代的"。

"救生艇"會說嗎?  lifeboat。
"能見度"呢?  visibility。

"河床淤泥"是silt。打撈的時候，軍功章落水已經一個禮拜了，加上近日來的大雨使得河床底部的能見度很差。但潛水員(divers)幾乎是瞬間就找到了軍章。

"高興壞了"怎麽說?  Overjoyed，就是"興奮過度"。
"那可不是說故事"，怎麽講?  There was no drama，就是"這都是真的"的意思。
"我真是有些激動"，會說嗎?  I do get a bit emotional。

"我不是名人"，會嗎?  I am not a celebrity。中國學生有濫用famous一詞的傾向，"to be a celebrity"和"to be famous"不完全一樣。某人可能在一科學領域很famous，但不一定是celebrity。

cricketer:  英國板球運動員

celebrating with cream cakes:  用奶油蛋糕來慶祝。動詞celebrate和名詞celebrity，從讀音到詞義要搞清楚兩者的異同。