Dadan, Erdan Islands大、二膽
The original name of "Dadan" (phonetically similar to 'boldness' in Chinese) island was "Da-dang" (phonetically similar to 'burden' in Chinese).(註1) When Chiang Jing-guo, the late President of the R.O.C., served as the Director of the General Political Warfare Department, he inspected Da-dang in 1951 and encouraged soldiers with the words " With 'boldness' you are bound with the 'burden' of national recovery."(註2) So the name "Da-dang" was changed into "Dadan". Up to the present day, Dadan Island is still renowned(註3) for its reputation as "Boldness upon burden, a never abandoned islet."
大膽島原名大擔,民國四十年(西元1951年)總政戰部主任蔣經國視察大擔時,為了勉勵官兵:「大膽者,方能負起反攻復國之大擔」,因此,將「大擔」改名為「大膽」。沿用至今,大膽島亦有「大膽擔大擔,島孤人不孤」之名號。
On July 27th, 1950, the Communist soldiers began to fire at Dadan Island from Baish Battery, Sitou, Tatou, and Uyu of the mainland. About four hours later, approximately 700 soldiers set sail from Xiamen Harbor and landed on the east and the west sides of Dadan. The battle occurred during a typhoon at night, and the failure of military communication put our soldiers in jeopardy.(註4) After fighting a hard and brave resistance, in one day our military captured over 200 enemy soldiers with just the manpower of two companies(註5) and a half. The rest of the enemies were either dead or wounded, and most of them had drowned in the sea. This battle was thus noted as "Big V at Dadan."(註6)
民國三十九年(西元1950年)七月二十七日,共軍從大陸的白石砲台、溪頭、塔頭、浯嶼等地向大膽島轟擊。大約四個小時之後,有七百名左右的共軍從廈門港灣乘船出發,並且從大膽東、西兩側登上大膽島。當時剛好是颱風夜,國軍通信斷裂,深入危險之中。但是國軍經過一天的奮戰和勇猛的反抗,僅僅以兩個半連的兵力,就俘獲二百多名共軍,其他的共軍大都非死即傷,且大部份都溺斃,後來將這一場戰爭稱為「大膽大捷」。(七)
■註1:此處以大膽、大擔的中文發音(phonetically,語音、發音上)來解釋膽(boldness)與擔(burden)的差異與由來。
■註2:以When引導的子句作為時間副詞,形容全句,並以同位格(, the late President…,)解釋蔣經國為已故(late)總統。此部分在中文原句裡並沒有。全句的主詞與動詞為he inspected…。
■註3:renowned-(adj)有名的、聲譽卓著的。原來renown在12至16世紀的中古英語裡,作動詞使用,後來演化成為只當名詞使用,指名聲、名望。但由動詞加上ed形成的分詞(當形容詞用),仍沿用至今。
■註4:jeopardy-(n)具有急迫性且風險性高的危難。同義詞包括danger與peril。其中danger最常用,泛指一般的危險、危難;peril的嚴重程度與jeopardy相同。
■註5:company-(n)軍事用語,指部隊編制裡的「連」。一般部隊編制包括軍(army)、師(division)、旅(brigade)、團(corps)、營(battallion)、連(company)、排(platoon)、班(squad)等。
■註6:Big V-指Big Victory,大捷。亦可代換為Great Victory。若比照古寧頭大捷,此處可譯為Triumph Over Dadan。
【編按:本系列含英文新聞註解由國立金門技術學院Patti Jernigan老師指導,本報編輯部提供,歡迎各界來函建議、指正。】
資料來源:金門縣政府
作者:陳建民‧漢貴恩