他们已不再变老（2018）

The first thing they knew was this terrific tremor in the ground.
我们炸掉了本应位于德军战壕下方
We blew a mine which should’ve been
却并不在那的一个矿井
under the German trenches, but wasn’t.
矿井在无人区 这给了德军五分钟的时间
It was in no-man’s-land and that gave the Germans five minutes
来占领爆♥炸♥产生的深坑 他们的确这么做了
to occupy the crater, which they did.’
穆尔中士 他当时站在战壕后面
‘Sergeant Moore, he was standing behind the trench.
手上拿着一把左轮手♥枪♥ 说道
He’d got a revolver in his hand, he said,
“谁敢后退 我就崩了他”
“Anybody going back, I’ll shoot ’em!”
也就是说 如果不向前冲 我们也回不去了
So that, if we didn’t go one way, we wouldn’t go the other.’
我们翻身越过战壕 没有一丝不情愿
‘There wasn’t a reluctance to go over the top,
我身边的人都没有
not with people I was with.’
开炮
Fire!
-开炮 -他们用火力掩护你
– Fire! – ‘They put a curtain of shells over you
而你向前进
and you advance.
-仗就是这么打的 -开炮
– That was the theory of the thing.’ – Fire!
-开炮 -我意识到这就是
– Fire! – ‘l realised that this was the moment
进攻的时刻
of the assault.’
关键时刻 有人♥大♥喊 “他们上了”
‘And then zero hour.’ ‘Somebody shouted, “There they go!”
我向左边看去 伦敦的苏格兰人冲上前了
To the left were the London Scottish running forward.’
London Scottish 英国陆军的一个志愿步兵团
我下了命令 “架梯子 翻过山顶”
‘I gave the order of, “Up the ladders! Over the top!”‘
“翻过山顶”是一战初期英军的标准战斗方法 但通常死伤惨重
在那之后 我们的周围就全是噪音了
‘And after this, we lived in a world of noise.
几个小时里只有噪音
Simply noise for hours.’
你一”翻过山顶” 恐惧就离你而去了
‘As soon as you get over the top, fear has left you.’
我们没有奔跑 没有喊叫声 没有欢呼声
‘We didn’t run. There was no shouting, nor cheering.
所有人都是一片死寂
Everybody was deadly quiet.’
就在我踏入无人区时
‘Just as I stepped into no-man’s-land,
有个人头部中枪了 他的头骨碎裂开来
somebody was shot through the head and his skull was splintered.
相信我 那可不是什么好的退场方式
It wasn’t a good send-off, I can assure you.’
弹幕进入了敌线
‘The barrage proceeded into the enemy lines
-每次前进不到100米 -开炮
– in steps of 100 yards at a time.’ – Fire!
英国♥军♥队和拿着刺刀的士兵组成的队伍
‘The line of British troops, fixed bayonets,
镇定地走在弹幕后方
walking quite steadily behind the barrage.
那是我永远不会忘记的一幕
It was a sight I shall never forget.’
一开始 只有零散几台机关枪对我们开火
‘To start with, we’d had the odd machine-gun firing,
不过火力太小 情况似乎有点好得不真实
but remarkably little, and it seemed almost too good to be true.
然后我们才意识到德军一直在保留火力
‘And we then realised the Germans had been retaining their fire
直到他们看见进攻开展到了什么程度
until they saw how far the attack was developing.’
而我们不知道的是
‘Unknown to us,
他们其实有十到二十台德国机关枪
there was ten to 20 German machine guns.’
于是地狱之门轰然打开了
‘Then all hell broke loose.’
老天 他打开了地狱之门 把我们送了进去
‘And, my God, he really opened up and he let us have it.
将我们一扫而空
It just swept us.’
退后 退后
Keep back! Keep back!
快走 小伙子
Keep moving, laddie!
机关枪子弹像冰雹一样向我们砸来
‘Machine-gun bullets came at us like hailstones.’
我都没有意识到那唰唰的声音来自子弹
‘I didn’t realise that the swish-swish were bullets.’
我环顾四周 人们在你前后左右倒下
‘l looked round and people were dropping all round you.
我是说 他们就那么消逝了 从你身边
I mean, they just faded away, you know, on either side of you.’
然后我想 “他们为什么要朝我开枪”
‘And I thought, “What are they shooting at me for?” ‘
在子弹打中我的大腿时
‘I hadn’t gone more than a few yards
我还没前进几米
before I was shot in the thigh.’
我身边有一位上尉拿着他的左轮手♥枪♥
‘There was a captain alongside me with his revolver out
突然之间 他就倒下了
and, all of a sudden, he dropped.
然后另一个小伙子腿部中弹了
And then another chap, he was hit in the leg,
但他弹跳力很好 继续单脚蹦跳着前进
but he continued with great bounds, hopping on one leg.’
子弹击中坦克时
‘When the bullets hit the tank,
金属碎片四处飞溅
the metal flakes were whirring around
像是从坦克里飞出的刀片
like razor blades inside the tank.’
你看见人们倒下 但你没有理会
‘You could see men dropping, but you didn’t take any notice.
只要你没中弹 你就得继续前行
If you didn’t get hit, you just carried on.’
我醒来时感觉左手疼得厉害
‘l found myself with a terrible pain in my left hand
像是被鞭打一样 然后我发现手上有个大洞
as if somebody had caned me and I found a big hole in it.’
一个士兵冲到了我前面
‘A man was running across the front of me
子弹射穿了他的身体
and he was shot through the body
他钱包里的东西朝我飞来
because the contents of his wallet were flung out forward of me.’
剧痛从我的右臂传来
‘I felt a terrific pain in my right arm
随之鲜血从我的指尖流淌而下
and the blood started running off the end of my hand.’
我没想到德军的机♥枪♥手会费心向我开枪
‘I just didn’t think that this German machine-gunner would trouble to fire at me
但下一个瞬间 我感受到了强烈的冲击
but, the next thing, I felt a shock of quite a number of bullets
那是不少子弹击中了我的右半边身体
hitting the right side of my body.’
一只野兔从我面前窜过 眼球因恐惧而凸起
‘A hare crossed my path with eyes bulging, in fear,
但我觉得它的恐惧
but I felt that it couldn’t have been
还没有我的一半多
half as frightened as I was.’
你眼睁睁地看着同伴们在你身边倒下
‘You could see your mates going down right and left.
你直面赤♥裸♥裸的残酷真♥相♥ 那便是
You were face-to-face with the stark realisation that
此刻即为末日
this is the end of it.’
我前面的两名士兵倒下了
‘The two in front of me went down,
分别是头部和胸部负伤
wounded in the head and chest.’
这些该死的子弹打中了我的腿
‘These bloody bullets got me in the leg
还在我背上炸出了一个洞
and blew a great big hole at the back.
我都没感觉到疼
It didn’t hurt.’
当时想要生存 风险的确非常非常大
‘Well, life was very, very hazardous indeed
《战争图解》 1915年11月13日
英格兰的无人家园
我们是这么做的
and we proceeded in this fashion,
如果有人中弹了 其他人就带着他一起走
some getting hit and others carrying along.’
你没时间去思考什么
‘You hadn’t got time to deliberate upon things.
机♥枪♥子弹向你扑面而来
Machine-gun bullets might be coming over,
但如果没打中你 你就得继续前进
but they weren’t hitting you, and you just go on.’
他们说当你以为自己要死了的时候
‘They say your past comes up
过去的记忆会像潮水般涌上心头
when you think you were gonna die,
但我十九岁时并没有太多过去
but I hadn’t got very much past at 19.
当我看到子弹向我飞来
When I saw these bullets coming along,
我满脑子想的都是 “我能活下来吗”
all I thought was, “Am I gonna live?”‘
当然了 如果那玩意儿精准无误地命中要害
‘Of course, if the thing hits you fair and square
你会瞬间死去
and you die immediately,
你什么都感受不到 毫无痛苦
you don’t feel anything at all, nothing to it.’
第一波攻势全军覆没
‘The first wave were all absolutely wiped out.
士兵们伤亡惨重
Everybody was either killed or wounded.’
尸横遍野
‘There were so many dead laying about,
很难不踩到他们身上
it was hard to avoid treading on them.’
我试着跨过他们的身体 我后面的中士说
‘I was trying to step over them. The sergeant behind me said,
“快点 别管那个了 继续走”
“Go on! You mustn’t take any notice of that. You keep going!”‘
于是我们只得无视战友的遗体
‘And we were literally walking over the dead bodies of our cobbers.
这场屠♥杀♥简直无法言说
The carnage is just indescribable.’
一路上大概有两千名死者 英军和德军都有
‘I had in my path about 2,000 dead, British and German.
由于持续的炮轰 想要把尸体从路上挪开
An attempt to clear any dead man from our path was impossible
是不可能的 为此我们艰难地尝试了多次
because of the shelling and we ploughed over the lot.’
炮弹的爆裂似乎能将几米外的坦克
‘Any shell bursting within a few yards of the tank
掀到半空中去
seemed to lift it up in the air
你能感受到惊人的背压
and you felt a tremendous back pressure.’
当你身处战场之中 战斗的噪音震耳欲聋
‘The noise of the battle when you’re out in the middle of it
以至于你无法听清任何单独的枪炮声
is so terrific that you don’t hear any individual shots even.’
我们只能在德军的铁丝网前停下了
‘And we had to stop in front of the German wire.’
我们无法再往前走了
‘It was quite impossible to advance any further
锋利的铁丝网张牙舞爪 而机关枪桩
because of the barbed wire and the machine-gun posts,
离我们只有不到五十米远
which were about 50 yards further on.’
尽管炮火猛烈
‘The wire in front of us was quite uncut,
我们还是注意到了前方的铁丝网没有剪开
despite the intense bombardments.’
除了面前的铁丝网 你什么都看不见了
‘You couldn’t see anything but this wire,
它似乎绵延数公顷 没有尽头
it seemed to be acres and acres of it.’
黑色的铁丝网布满铁锈
‘It was just black with rust
我感觉连一只兔子都钻不过去
and I don’t think a rabbit could have got through it.’
紧接着 我们的炮兵开始朝自己人开炮了
‘Then, our own artillery started dropping shells amongst us.’
很显然 他们不清楚射程
‘Obviously, they hadn’t got the range,
也有可能是他们不知道我们在哪
or they didn’t know where we were.’
我听见第一枚炮弹在我上方爆♥炸♥了
‘l heard the first shrapnel shell burst above my head.’
弹片的啸叫声震耳欲聋
‘There was a terrific whiz.’
我的钢盔就是那时不见的
‘That was the disappearance of my steel helmet.
我再也没找到它
I never found it again.’
一小块弹片击中了我的后脸颊 一片击中臀部