全新版大学英语综合教程第四册
Unit 1 Text B
Would nature be on the side of the Allied forces as they prepared to invade mainland Europe or would it favour the Germans? No one was certain.
大自然会站在秣马厉兵准备进攻欧洲大陆的同盟国一方，还是会偏袒德国人？谁也说不准。
The Normandy Landings
诺曼底登陆
1. The largest and most ambitious military expedition in history was the invasion of
Normandy in northern France by British, American and Canadian forces that took place in the summer of 1944. Even nature played a role.
2. It took more than a year for military planners to orchestrate every movement of troops, artillery, ships and aircraft and to t everything in place for the move that was to open up a cond front in Europe. This would liberate France and way for the final assault on Germany itlf.
历史上最大最具野心的军事远征是1944年夏天英国、 美国和加拿大军队在法国北部发动的诺曼底入侵。甚至自然也发挥了作用。军事侵略家精心安排军队、大炮、船舰和飞机的每一步运作，将进军的一切准备就绪去打开在欧洲的第二战线， 这种准备花了一年多的时间。这将解放法国并且为对德国的最后攻击开路。
3. Everything was controlled; right down to the placement of military decoys across the English Channel to fool the Germans into thinking the attack would come from Britain's clost point to France at Pas de Calais rather than in Normandy as planned.
4. Everything was controlled, that is, except the weather.
一切尽在掌控之中。军事诱饵的布置也准备好横穿英吉利海峡以欺骗德国人， 使他们误以为攻击会从英国距法国最近的那个位置即加莱海峡而不是按照计划在诺曼底登陆。除了天
气，一切尽在掌握之中。
5. D-day, the code name given to the day of invasion, was originally scheduled for 5 June 1944. This date had been arrived at by considering two factors--moonlight and tide. The hour of the invasion would need to be near sunri, when the aborne troops would have a rising tide. This would enable them to land clo to the obstacles that had been placed to hinder their landing without coming ashore on top of them. The paratroopers needed a full moon for visibility. The days with the proper tide-moonlight formula clost to the target date were 5, 6 and 7 June. (1) The fifth was chon for D-Day to allow a safety margin in ca the attack needed to be postponed.
入侵日子的代号，登陆日，最初定在 1944 年 5 月 1 日。这一天在月光和潮汐这两个因素的考虑中到来了。入侵的时间需要在日出左右，那时海上运输的军队将会遇到上涨的潮汐。这将使他们接近已经设置好的用来阻碍他们登陆的障碍物而不用上岸。伞兵部队需要一轮明月来提高能见度。拥有适当的潮汐、月光的方案的日子属 6 月6、7 日最接近预定日
期。第五天被选作诺曼底登陆日，万一进攻需要延期，这样可以留有安全的余裕。
6. In addition to moonlight and favourable tides, calm as were needed for the crossing. (2) But an unusually stormy transition from spring toward summer that year held our little hope that there would be a suitable break in the weather. It also meant the possibility that Operation Overlord, as the invasion was called, might have to be postponed until later in the year or even the following year.
除了月光和最合适的潮汐，平静的海面对于横渡也是十分需要的。但是那年从春季到夏季的不平常的猛烈过渡表明天气上不会有一个合适的间隙，它也意味着这场被称作霸王行动的入侵有可能不得不延期到年后或下一年。
7. With the arrival of 5 June, the weather was so bad that General Einhower, supreme commander of the invasion forces, was forced to postpone the invasion by one day. When he met with his staff to review their options, they were faced with the grim reality that 6 June did not look much better than the original D-Day. The meteorological report gave a thin ray of hope that a lull in the storm would allow enough time to launch the inva
sion. Consultations went on late into the night on whether to press ahead. Opinions were divided. Finally, Einhower made his decision. "I am quite positive we must give the order," he said. "I don't like it, but there it is. I don't e how we can do anything el." Within hours, an armada of 3,000 landing craft, 2,500 other ships, and 500 naval vesls began to leave English ports.
6月5日到了，天气太糟糕了，入侵军队的最高指挥官艾森豪威尔将军被迫延迟一天入侵。当他和他的将士回顾他们的选择时，他们面临了残酷的现实。6月 6 日看起来并没有比最初的登陆日好多少。气象预报表明在这场暴风雨中暂停以求得足够的时间来发动入侵几乎没什么英语对话练习
希望。关于是否继续进行入侵的磋商持续到很晚，意见发生了分歧。最后，艾森豪威尔做出了决定。“我很确定我们必须下达命令，”他说，“我不喜欢，但是情况就是这样。我不知道我们还能怎么做。”几个小时内，由3000 艘登陆艇、2500艘其他船只和500 艘舰艇组成的无敌舰队开始撤出英国港口。
8. Meanwhile, critical errors by the German side allowed them to be taken completely by surpri. Due to the bad weather, the German navy cancelled its usual
patrol of the English Channel. Also, a practice drill scheduled for June 6 was called off. The Garman meteorological rvices were unaware of the break in the weather. On the eve of the attack, many of the top German leaders were abnt from their commands. Rommel, the general in charge of the coastal defens, was in Germany visiting his wife on her birthday, and veral officers were some distance away in Rennes or on their way there for a war-game exerci.
同时，德方的关键性失误令他们大吃一惊，由于天气糟糕，德国海军取消了它在英吉利海峡的正常巡逻。并且，定于6月6日的训练取消了。德国气象局没有意识到恶劣天气的间断，在攻击的前一晚，许多德国的高级领导人擅离职守，隆美尔，负责海岸防御的将军，在德国庆祝他妻子的生日，一些官员在遥远的雷思或者在赶到那里参加战争游戏演戏的路上。
9. The assault on Normandy began at 12:, when the pathfinders for the American airborne units left their planes and parachuted to earth. Five minutes later, on the other side of the invasion area, the British pathfinders made their jump. The pathfi
nders were specially trained to find and mark the drop zones. The main胡兰成与张爱玲
airborne assault was to commence within the hour.
当美国空降部队的探路者离开他们的飞机，跳伞降落时，在诺曼底的攻击在上午 12点15分开始了。5分钟后，在入侵地区的另一方，英国探路者也完成了跳伞。这些探路者经过特殊的训练去找到并标记轰击区。主要的空降袭击在几个小时内就要开始了。
10. The airborne attack became confud becau of stiff winds and the evasive flying of the transport planes when they encountered anti-aircraft fire. As a result, the paratroopers were scattered over a wide area and most misd their drop zones, some by as much as 20 miles. Other complications were caud by the terrain, and the worst terrain was on the Cotentin Peninsula. The Germans had laced the open fields with anti-personnel and glider stakes and flooded the low areas. The flooding caud the most trouble for the Americans of the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions, with many of the troops drowned, laden down by their heavy equipment.
