滇缅公路(英中对照)

古德明《征服英语》之英语军事故事，古德明，香港英语教育作家，他开了一个《征服英语专栏》，在专栏中专门用英语写了世界近代史上的军事小故事，用英语讲述历史中那些惊心动魄的战争。
滇缅公路
soon after the outbreak of the second sino-japanese war in 1937, china's coast and port cities were occupied by the japanese. for war materials to be sent by other countries to china, the only route was a 717-mile trail between kunming and lashio in the british colony of burma.
in response to chiang kai-shek's call to turn the trail into a highway, 200,000 chinese started working and the burma road was completed in 1938. what they lacked in equipment, the chinese made up for in determination. one american engineer remarked,"my god, they scratched the thing out of the mountains with their finger nails!"

the japanese began near-daily bombing of the road."let them come," the chinese said."it costs the japs a thousand dollars every time they drop a bomb on the road. even when they hit it, we can fill up the holes for only a few cents' worth of labour."
一九三七年，第二次中日战争爆发，中国沿海地区和港市转眼间落入日军手上。中国要从外国输入战争物资，只能靠一条七百一十七英里长的小径。小径一端接昆明，一端接英国殖民地缅甸的腊戌。
二十万中国人响应蒋介石号召，着手把那小径辟作大道。一九三八年，滇缅公路落成。中国人缺乏的是筑路工具，但有的是毅力。美国一名工程师说：「老天，他们用手指甲，在重峯迭峦之间挖出这条公路！」
日军开始轰炸滇缅公路，几乎无日无之。中国人说：「让他们来吧。日本鬼子向公路投一枚炸弹，就得花一千元；即使炸中了，我们填平炸弹洞，劳工费用不过几分钱。」