跟读练习: When a Bf-109 spared a stricken B-17 - 通过视频学习英语口语
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It was December 20th 1943 and in the freezing air high above Germany,
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2nd Lieutenant Charles Charlie Brown struggled to keep his mortally damaged American bomber on course.
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Brown had been wounded in the shoulder, his tail gunner Sergeant Hugh Ecke Eckenrode was dead and several other members of the crew were wounded, some severely.
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Their aircraft, B-17 Ye Olde Pub, had been hit twice by flak as it approached its target, the Focke-Wulf plant in the German city of Bremen,
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forcing the crew to shut down one of the engines and throttle back on another.
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This had left it lagging behind the main formation of aircraft from the 379th Bombardment Group, and groups of German fighters had closed in like sharks, sensing blood in the water.
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Up to 15 fighters had attacked the bomber, and the whole tail section was shot to pieces.
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The nose cone was missing.
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The electrical, hydraulic and oxygen systems were damaged.
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The radio was out and the entrails of the crippled bomber flapped in the slipstream through gaping wrecks in the fuselage.
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But B-17s are tough old birds and this one somehow kept on flying despite the damage.
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Brown blacked out for a short time due to pain, loss of blood and a lack of oxygen, and the bomber spiraled towards the ground.
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Brown came to and realized that the B-17 was only a few hundred feet above the ground.
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He somehow managed to get it back under control and turned west towards England in safety, 250 miles away.
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Brown wasn't able to coax the B-17 much above 1,000 feet, and he was vaguely aware that he had passed close to the perimeter of a German airfield.
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Soon after he realized that a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 was flying in close formation beside him.
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It was so close that Brown could see the German pilot as he gestured towards the ground, telling Brown to set the bomber down.
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Most of the B-17's gunners were wounded.
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Only a few guns were still working and none were able to shoot at the enemy fighter alongside.
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Brown could only look on at the German pilot and shake his head.
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For a short time the Messerschmitt flew beside the bomber.
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Then it slid away above and behind.
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Brown waited for the gunfire that must mean the end of the old pub. But nothing happened.
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He realized to his astonishment that the German fighter was flying escort on the B-17.
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As they crossed the coastline and flew out over the North Sea, the fighter remained on station.
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Only when they were well out from the German coast did the fighter slide in again close to the bomber.
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Brown looked across and the German pilot looked back at him, raised a gloved hand in salute and then swung his aircraft away back towards the east.
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Brown managed to put Ye Olde Pub on the ground, not at their home base in Cambridgeshire, but at an air base of the 448th Bomb Group near Norfolk and East Anglia.
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He and all his crew, other than the tail gunner, survived.
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At debriefing, Brown told his story about the German fighter which escorted him.
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It was decided that this should be kept secret.
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The notion of an honorable German pilot choosing not to shoot
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down a damaged American bomber just didn't fit with the message that the US Air Force wanted to give out.
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Charlie Brown survived the war, went home to go to college and then rejoined the Air Force in 1949.
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He served until 1965 when he retired as a colonel.
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It wasn't until much later, in 1986, at a meeting of retired combat pilots called gathering of the Eagles, that he first spoke about what had happened.
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The response was strong, though some questioned whether the whole incident really happened.
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Even Brown began to wonder.
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His memories of that day in 1943 were hazy due to his injuries, exhaustion and the stress of combat.
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Could he be remembering it all wrong?
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Brown decided that he was going to find the German pilot involved, if only to prove that he hadn't imagined the whole thing.
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It took four years, But in 1990, Brown finally received a letter from a man named Stigler, who was living in Canada.
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Stigler explained that he had been the pilot of the German fighter who had escorted Ye Olde Pub.
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On December 20, 1943, Franz Stigler had been a 27-kill veteran pilot.
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He had flown against American bombers in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 G6 that morning, and he was refueling on the ground when Ye Olde Pub passed close by.
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He took off intending to shoot down the American bomber.
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However, as he closed with the limping aircraft, he could see just how badly it had been hit.
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He would later say that he had never seen a more severely damaged aircraft still flying.
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Stigler's commander had told his pilots never to fire an enemy who was descending on a parachute.
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While the crew of the old pub hadn't bailed out, they were clearly no longer capable of fighting and Stigler decided that he could not bring himself to attack.
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Instead he flew alongside and gestured to Brown to land.
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He just simply couldn't imagine that the crippled aircraft could possibly make it back to England.
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When Brown refused, Stigler made an extraordinary decision.
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Instead of shooting it down, he flew close formation with the B-17, hoping that this would deter flak batteries on the coast from firing at it.
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He flew with the bomber well out over the North Sea until it was clear of German airspace
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and then left it to continue towards England.
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Stigler never told anyone about what had happened.
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Sparing an American bomber would likely have led to punishment and perhaps even execution, but he often wondered if it had made it back to base.
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Stigler continued flying fighters throughout the war.
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In 1953 he emigrated from Germany to Canada where he started a successful business.
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When he heard from Charlie Brown in 1990, Stigler confirmed every aspect of his story.
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Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown were astonished to discover
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that they had been living less than 200 miles apart for much of the time since the war.
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Stigler had settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, while Brown was in Seattle, Washington.
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In the latter years, the two men remained close friends, often visiting and talking to other flyers about their shared experiences.
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Thank you.
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本课的词汇与口语要点
这节 B2 级别的口语课以视频“When a Bf-109 spared a stricken B-17”为素材。 视频中反复出现的词有：Brown, German, bomber, Stigler, fighter。 这段视频共有 66 个句子、1070 个单词可供跟读。 讲话部分时长为 5:51。 说话人语速较快，每分钟约 183 个词，会出现较多连读和弱读。 只有 79% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词，词汇难度较高。
视频中的重点词汇
视频中最难的 15 个单词，附发音和释义：
| 单词 | 发音 | 释义 |
|---|---|---|
| bomber 名词 | /ˈbɑmɚ/ | 轟炸機 /轰炸机 |
| flak 名词 | /flæk/ | 高射炮 |
| gesture 名词 | /ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɚ/ | 手勢 /手势, 姿勢 /姿势 |
| retire 动词 | /ɹəˈtaɪɹ/ | 退休, 引退 |
| airfield 名词 | 飛機場 /飞机场, 機場 /机场 | |
| airspace 名词 | 領空 /领空, 空域 | |
| astonish 动词 | /əˈstɑnɪʃ/ | 震驚 /震惊 |
| astonishment 名词 | /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/ | 驚愕 /惊愕, 驚異 /惊异 |
| emigrate 动词 | /ˈɛmɪɡɹeɪt/ | 移民, 移居 |
| exhaustion 名词 | /ɪɡˈzɔːs.t͡ʃən/ | 耗盡 /耗尽, 用光 |
| fuselage 名词 | /ˈfjuːzəˌlɑːʒ/ | 機身 /机身 |
| refuel 动词 | /ɹiːˈfjuːəl/ | 補充燃料 /补充燃料, 加油 |
| throttle 名词 | /ˈθɹɔ.tl̩/ | 風門 /风门, 節流閥 /节流阀 |
| parachute 名词 | /ˈpæɹəʃut/ | 降落傘 /降落伞 |
| coastline 名词 | 海岸線 /海岸线 |
视频中出现的短语动词
| 单词 | 释义 |
|---|---|
| bail out 动词 | 救市 |
| take off 动词 | 脫 /脱 |
需要注意的发音
说话人用了 6 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 hadn't, wasn't, couldn't。请按听到的简短形式来说。
- “sh” 和 “zh” 音: astonish /əˈstɑnɪʃ/, astonishment /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/, fuselage /ˈfjuːzəˌlɑːʒ/, parachute /ˈpæɹəʃut/, notion /ˈnoʊʃən/
- 长单词——注意重音位置: astonishment /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/, perimeter /pɪˈɹɪm.ɪ.tə/
中文母语者容易读错的音：
- /v/ — 不要读成 /w/，上齿轻触下唇: vaguely /ˈveɪɡli/, glove /ɡlʌv/
- 词尾辅音 — 要读清楚，后面不要加元音: escort /ˈɛs.kɔɹt/, flak /flæk/, beside /bɪˈsaɪd/, astonish /əˈstɑnɪʃ/, astonishment /əˈstɑːnɪʃmənt/
- /r/ 和 /l/ 的区别: refuel /ɹiːˈfjuːəl/, slipstream /ˈslɪp.stɹiːm/, throttle /ˈθɹɔ.tl̩/, flyer /ˈflaɪə(ɹ)/, hydraulic /haɪˈdɹɔːlɪk/
如何用这段视频练习
- 先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
- 先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
- 录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 bomber, flak, gesture 这类单词。
什么是跟读法？
跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。