VOA慢速英語:人們在亡兵紀(jì)念日這天緬懷為國捐軀的士兵

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Memorial Day honors all of those who have died inAmerica's wars. But the holiday began as a way to remember soldiers killedin the Civil War. On May 30th, 1868, flowers were placed on the graves ofUnion and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Lines of simple white headstones mark the graves. The 80-hectare cemeteryalso serves as a burial place for people of national and historical importance.

Horse-drawn caisson leads a funeral procession at the Arlington National Cemetery in April 2014.

The cemetery is in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River fromWashington. Next to the burial ground is the Defense Departmentheadquarters at the Pentagon.

A funeral with full military honors traditionally includes a caisson to transportthe body. A caisson is a wagon pulled by horses. At Arlington, six black orgray horses pull caissons made in nineteen eighteen. A seventh horsecarries the leader of the procession.

Sometimes a horse without a rider also takes part in a funeral. The bestknown riderless horse was Black Jack. He took part in the funerals ofpresidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. The horse was namedafter a famous general known as “Black Jack” Pershing.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is perhaps the best-known memorial inAmerica’s capital.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the idea of a former soldier named JanScruggs. He fought in the Vietnam War. The war ended in 1975. Manysoldiers came home only to face the anger of Americans who opposed thewar.

Vietnam War Memorial

Jan Scruggs organized an effort to remember those who never returned.

In 1980, a group of former soldiers announced a competition to design amemorial. The winner, Maya Lin, was 21-years-old. She was studyingarchitecture at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Maya Lin designeda memorial formed by two walls of black stone.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial opened in 1982.

The walls are about 76 meters long. They are set into the earth. They meetto form a wide V. The names of more than 58,000 Americans killed ordeclared missing-in-action are cut into the stone.

Nearby is a statue of three soldiers. They are looking in the direction of thenames. Another statue honors the service of women in the war.

Almost any time of day, you can see people looking for the name of a familymember or friend who died in the war. Once they find the name, many rub apencil on paper over the letters to copy it.

Many people leave remembrances at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Oneday, as crowds passed by, two young men left notes. A woman in her late70s or 80s left a handful of red roses.

Korean War Memorial seen here in the winter of 2014

After the success of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Congress approved amemorial to Korean War veterans. The Korean War Veterans Memorialopened in July of 1995. It is near the Vietnam memorial.

The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953. The memorial honors those whodied. It also honors those who survived.

The Korean War has been called the last foot soldier's war. The memorialincludes a group of 19 statues of soldiers. The soldiers appear to be walkingup a hill, toward an American flag.

Artist Frank Gaylord made the statues from steel. Each is more than twometers tall. People who drive along a road near the memorial sometimesthink the statues are real soldiers.

On one side of the Korean War Veterans Memorial is a stone walkway. It liststhe names of the 22 countries that sent troops to Korea under United Nationscommand. On the other side is a shiny stone wall. Sandblasted into the wallare images from photographs of more than 2,500 support troops.

Michelle Obama visits the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Center in 2009.

A Pool of Remembrance shows the numbers of American and United Nationsforces killed, wounded, captured or missing. The total is more than twomillion. Cut into the wall above the pool is a message: "Freedom is Not Free."

One of the lesser known memorials on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is often called "the temple." The round stone structure honors people from theDistrict of Columbia who died in World War One.

The war was fought from 1914 to 1918. The memorial was completed in 1931. It is the only District of Columbia memorial on the National Mall.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to honor women in themilitary. The Women in Military Service for America Memorial opened in 1997.

The memorial is near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. Itrecognizes the service of all the women who have taken part in the nation'swars. About two million women have served or currently serve in the armedforces.

Michael Manfredi and Marion Gail Weiss designed a place of glass, water andlight. The memorial has a large wall shaped in a half-circle. In front, 200 jetsof water meet in a pool.

Inside the memorial, the stories of women in wartime are cut into glasspanels. Computer records contain the names, pictures, service records andpersonal statements of about 250,000 military women.

World War II Memorial seen here in October 2013.

The World War Two Memorial rises between the Lincoln Memorial and theWashington Monument on the National Mall. America entered the war afterJapan bombed the Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7th, 1941.

Sixteen million men and women served in the American military between 1941 and 1945. More than 400,000 died.

The World War Two Memorial stands in the open air. It is built of bronze andgranite. In the center, at ground level, is a round pool of water. Except in verycold weather, water shoots from a circle of fountains in the middle.

When the sun is just right, rainbows of color dance in the air. Fifty-six stonepillars rise around the pool. These represent each of the American states andterritories, plus the District of Columbia, at the time of the war. On two tallarches appear the names of where the fighting took place. One says Atlantic; the other says Pacific.

Many visitors to the memorial served during the war. One visitor, a formerNavy man, once said: "The only good thing about my fighting in the war was that I was too young to be terrified."

A federal law passed in 2000 calls on Americans to stop for one minute atthree o'clock local time on Memorial Day. The National Moment ofRemembrance honors the members of the armed forces and others whohave died in service to America.