4 Going for Victory

By 1967,the Vietnam War had
    ground to a bloody stalemate,
    with neither side capable ofachieving a final or even partialvictory.The American military
and its allies had proved adept
at winning conventional battles,while the NVA and the Viet Congexcelled at gaining the upper handin smaller skirmishes and at
controlling large parts of the SouthVietnamese countryside through
    guerrilla warfare.
stalemate n 僵局
adept adj 熟练的
Constant pounding
The number of American troopsstationed in South Vietnam hadgrown by more than 100,000
by the end of 1966,reaching
an all-time high of nearly half
a million GIs spread between theMekong Delta and the DMZ.VietCong positions in South Vietnamwere pounded with B-52 Arc Lightraids on a daily basis,as well as bynaval guns and ground artillery.Some 20,000 US troops had
already been killed in action,yetLyndon B.Johnson was pouringever more men and machines intothe anticommunist cause and
there was no reason to believe
the escalation would abate.
pound n 打击
abate v 减轻
snatch v 夺取
jaw n 颚
topple v 推翻
Choosing their moment
In the fall of 1967,growing antiwarsentiment in the United States,aswell as the continued unpopularityof President Nguyen Van Thieu
and his corrupt,dictatorial regimein Saigon,encouraged North
Vietnam's leadership to believe
the time was ripe to launch a
full-scale attack.There was also agrowing fear that North Vietnam-its economy in shambles due to
the ongoing American bombing-might soon lack the necessary
resources to achieve a military
solution to the conflict.
dictatorial adj 独裁的
ripe adj 成熟的
shamble n 摇摇晃晃
In preparation for the offensive,the NVA bolstered its own arsenal and began resupplying the VietCong with arms.Through the fallof 1967,men and materials beganmoving down the Ho Chi MinhTrail in ever-greater volume.
bolster v 加强
arsenal n 兵工厂