Unit6FriendshipATrueFriend.doc

Unit 6 Friendship─A True Friend Part A 閱讀—Reading Section 　　The Vietnam War (1959-1975) is one of the bloodiest military conflicts in human history. Millions of lives were consumed or scorched by the raging flames of war. By the end of the war, over fifty-eight thousand Americans and at least two million Vietnamese, including troops and civilians, had lost their lives in battle. In addition, more than three hundred thousand Americans and an estimated three million Vietnamese had been wounded in the war. 　　Such a hideous war is certainly a playground of the darkest and cruelest elements of human nature. Yet occasionally it also inspires some of the noblest sentiments latent in the human heart, such as heroic courage, unwavering loyalty, or the unique love and caring that is shared by comrades-in-arms. The following is a story about the blindness of war, about offering help and comfort, about sacrifice and dedication, and most of all, about the meaning of friendship. 　　The mortar rounds had landed in the small village. Whatever their planned target had been is lost in the agony of the Vietnam War, but they landed in a small orphanage run by a missionary group. 　　The missionaries and one or two children had been killed outright, and several children had been wounded, including one young girl, about 8 years old, who had suffered wounds to her legs. 　　Since the missionaries were no longer able to tend to their young charges, people from the village helped as much as they could, but it was a couple of hours before medical help arrived in response to a runner who had been sent to a neighboring town that had radio contact with American forces. 　　The medical help was a young U.S. Navy doctor and an equally young Navy nurse, who arrived in a jeep with only their medical kits. A quick survey of the injured quickly established the young girl as the most critically injured, and it was clear that without immediate action, she would die from loss of blood and shock. 　　A blood tr