10.The First Jet
1.It was just noon on that 25th day of April 1945. I had gone through my first minutes of combat. The 456th Bomber1 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。我正在实行我的首次战斗任务。基地在乎大利的第456轰炸机组刚刚飞进奥地利。他们要轰炸多瑙河沿岸坐落于林滋的铁路工厂。
2.My job was to drop chaff2. They were the little bundles of tin that confused enemy radar3. 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。它们是锡制的非常小的捆，可以干扰敌人的雷达。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大家（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 engineers feet.
3、刚刚实行投弹完毕命令，一下急速的打击使大家的飞机摇晃起来。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, weve been hit.
4、工程师呼叫机长，（耳机中）他的声音说道，大家被击中了。
5.Bad?
5、非常严不严重？
6.Dont think so. It missed the control cables-went out through the TOP.
6、不太紧急。它没击中控制缆，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 guys chances of getting home were good.
7、没更多的交谈。这件事过去了。但它留下让人震惊的感觉。大家都了解战争几乎结束了。一个军人战后回家的机会非常高。
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、大家中的每一个人都在想同样的事。假如那颗炮弹早半秒击中大家，它可能击中机长。只须偏左3英寸，它将会割断某些控制缆。稍微迟后瞬间，它将击中大家中的一个。
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。刹那间大家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、目前大家使自己感到多了一点安全。大家要用3个小时飞回家。正在横穿南斯拉夫某地。这个时候传来大家的前机枪手的声音。
11.Fighter. Eleven oclock low. Coming in fast.
11、战斗机。11点方向下。逼近得飞快。
12.Whose? somebody said.
12、哪个的？有人问。
13.Not ours, came the answer, forward. Never saw anything like it. its closing in now..fast..fast..never saw anything so fast.
13、不是大家的，以前方传来回答，从来没见过像如此的东西。目前它正在接近，太快了，太快了，从来没见过任何东西这么快。
14.I see him! the left waist gunner said. Its a jet-one of those new Me 262s!
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.Cant even hold him in the sight, the gunner said.
15、简直不可以盯住它，机枪手说。
16.If one of their new jets hits you, just start shooting and hope that you hit him. You wont get a chance to aim. Thats what we had been told. The enemy had a fighter so fast we couldnt even hold a sight on it. It was something we had never heard of. Something they called a jet.
16、大家曾被告知：假如他们的新型喷气机冲向你，立即扫射，但愿你打中它，你没瞄准它的机会。敌人有一种战斗机太快，大家甚至不可以看住它。这是大家从没听说过的东西，敌人称之为喷气机。
17.And now the jet came at us! Our nose turret4 turned wildly to follow it. The electric motors of the turret hummed.
The gunner tried to bring his guns around.
17、目前喷气机冲向大家！大家的前炮塔发疯似地旋转着跟随它。炮塔的电动机嗡嗡叫。机枪手试图携带他的枪转动。
18.Looking over the other waist gunners 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。它刀劈般穿过春季的天空接近大家的飞机。
19.In seconds the jets cannon5 would fire. In seconds it would all be over. Our bomber would fold. It would streak6 down
to smash in the mountains below.
19、几秒中内喷气机的大炮将开火，几秒钟内所有将结束。大家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、几秒钟内忽然，我注意到它没发射一发子弹。大家所有人都凝视着。大家已经筹备着爆炸。但无人开火。
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。它闪亮的鼻子对着大家，好像它要挨近来进行屠杀。
22.Then the unbelievable: the enemy jet leveled off. It flashed below us and was gone.
22、这个时候让人很难置信的事情发生了，敌人的喷气机与大家的飞机拉成水平。它闪向大家的下面，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，大伙重新回到飞回家的事情里。我猜想机组的大部分人目前已经忘掉那架置大家于其视距的喷气机。但，我从来没忘掉它。
25.Was the German pilot out of ammunition7? Did his guns jam at the last second? Or was it more than that? Was he tired of killing8?
25、是德国飞行员没弹药？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.Ill never be sure. I dont 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、我可能从来不会弄清。我也不了解为何大家的机枪手没开火。但天变了，从一个讨厌的雨天变成大家所期望的蓝天。