有时候我们会吃梅子糕点
Sometimes, we got a bit of plum duff
牛奶布丁和木薯粉
and milk puddings and tapioca rice.
这是我从小就吃的 老式的 简单的东西
It was good, old-fashioned, plain stuff that I was brought up on.
我没什么好抱怨的
I had no complaint about it.
下午 可能会有关于维氏机♥枪♥的讲座
In the afternoon, it could be a lecture on Vickers machine guns.
你经常要把机♥枪♥拆了
You used to strip the machine gun
然后再组重新组装
right down and put it together again
幸运的是 我似乎很快就弄懂了
and, luckily, I seemed to cotton on to that quite quickly.
我们总是被告知
We were always told
人最好的朋友就是他的步♥枪♥
that man’s best friend is his rifle,
事实的确如此
and it was.
我们的步♥枪♥是一把短的李-恩菲尔德步♥枪♥
Our rifle was a short Lee-Enfield.
那确实是一支非常结实的好枪
A very good rifle indeed. A real sturdy rifle.
在你胸部的两侧都有弹♥药♥袋
You had your ammunition pouches on both sides of the chest
用来平衡背包的重量
to counterbalance the weight of the pack
这些弹♥药♥袋可携带150发.303子弹
and those pouches carried 150 rounds of .303 ammunition.
我们应该一只手拿步♥枪♥
We were supposed to hold a rifle with one hand,
但我永远拿不好枪
but I could never hold a rifle properly.
我的右手腕撑不住
my right wrist wouldn’t hold it up.
我这辈子从未开过枪 但第一天
I’d never fired a rifle in my life but, on the first day,
我们去步♥枪♥靶场练枪
we went onto the rifle range
神奇的是 我居然正中靶心
and it was amazing, the bull’s-eyes I was getting.
紧接着 我就成了一名一流步♥枪♥手
So, the next thing, I was made a first-class rifleman.
首先 我们学习了连射
Above all, we learned rapid fire.
十发子弹 一分钟内打到目标上
Ten rounds, get those ten rounds onto the target in one minute.
这被称作是疯狂的一分钟
It was known as “the mad minute”.
我从没见过死人 或是其他死了的东西
I’d never seen a dead man, or anything of that kind
我很好奇 如果要我开枪杀人
and I wondered, if it came to my shooting a man,
我是否能够做到
whether I would be able to do this.
你把刺刀插♥进♥麻袋里 大喊大叫
You’d plunge the bayonet into the sack, shout like hell.
然后他们会教你怎么用刺刀
And they would tell you where to put your bayonet.
刺向敌人的左肩 右肩
Either into his left shoulder, his right shoulder,
胸口 或者身体
in the chest, or in the body.
我们被告知要尽量制♥造♥噪音
We were told to make as much noise as we could.
我认为那是为了吓退敌人
I think that was to frighten the enemy.
看起来似乎不太可能 但我们常用喊的
Didn’t seem a likely thing to do, but we used to shout.
你们被分成12个营 分别训练
When you’ve trained as a division, there’s 12 battalions,
有大约12000人在作战
that’s roughly 12,000 men who are on the move
你们只是庞大系统中很小的部件而已
and you’re a very small cog in a big wheel.
周六早上我们被允许休息
Saturday mornings we were let off,
但我们有时还必须执行军营任务
but we had to do sometimes barrack duties.
周六时我们就被送至教堂
Then, on Sundays, we were all marched down to church.
你到底信仰什么宗教根本不重要
It didn’t matter what religion you were,
你们所有人都要去教堂 没得商量
you all had to go and that was it.
营房♥周围总是有喊声
Hardly a day passed without the shout around the barrack room,
这有人了解马匹吗
Has anybody here had any experiences with horses?
这有人会乐器吗
Can anybody here play any musical instruments?
这有人会干这干那吗
Anybody had any experience at so-and-so…?
所以渐渐的 1000名鱼龙混杂的新兵
So, gradually, the 1,000 men who joined up as a motley throng,
变成运输兵乐队兵信♥号♥♥员 各种身份的人
now became a transport man, a bandsman, signalman, and so on.
你不想在行进路线上背着沉重的背包
You didn’t wanna mess about at the parade ground
在练兵场上到处闲逛
with heavy packs on the route marches.
大多数人都想直接上阵杀敌
Most of us wanted to go across and do some scrapping.
呼吸了新鲜空气 优质伙食 体能训练后
After good food, fresh air and physical exercise,
他们都变得
they’d changed so that their mothers
亲妈都认不出来
wouldn’t have recognised them.
他们的体重大约都增加了一块石头的重量
They’d put on an average of one stone
身高也都长高了一英寸(2.54厘米)
in weight and one inch in height.’
尽管我们一点都不想看见管纪律的中士
Although we hated the sight and sound
我们甚至不想听到他的声音
of our disciplinary sergeants,
但这恰恰是对他们的赞扬
this reflects greatly to their credit
当我们的方阵和步伐被塑造成应有的样子
because they knocked us into shape
这些其实都归功于他们
as regards to marching and foot drills.
但远不止如此
But, far more than that,
他们英姿飒爽 精神抖擞 正气凌然
they were handsome, ruddy, upstanding,
这些双肩宽阔 背负责任的年轻人们
square-shouldered young men
无所畏惧 连军士长都不能震慑他们
who were afraid of nobody, not even the sergeant major.
六周后 我们被告知
After six weeks, we were informed
我们会被送到国外去
we were gonna be posted overseas.
他们说 你们明天早上就会启程
They said, “You’re leaving tomorrow
被送到未知的目的地
morning for an unknown destination.”
他们从来不会告诉你目的地是哪里
You were never told where you were heading for.
我只是想打德国人
I just wanted to fight the Germans
只要是去打德国人
and, as far as that was concerned,
我完全不在乎我们到底要去哪里
it didn’t matter tuppence to me where we went.
当我们让他们结束
And when we pushed them through
本次紧急军事训练时
this crash programme of military training,
他们就被分批送往法国了
they were pushed off to France in batches.
出发前 军官说
Before we left, the officer said,
既然你们没来得及被封为中士
“Well, you haven’t had time to be made sergeants,
我们就给你们上个军衔吧
so we’ll give you a couple of stripes.”
他们就给了我们下士军衔
So they made us corporals and, in less than no time,
紧接着我们就被送往车站
we were marched down to the station.’
我一直在脑中有个疑问 我回得来吗
In my mind, I wondered, “Shall I ever come back?”
当时我觉得我回不来了
I didn’t think I would at the time.
我也完全没有因此难过
I didn’t worry about it.
他们都非常兴奋
Oh, they were all full of euphoria.
他们对要出发了都很开心 没有人哭泣
They were all glad they were going. Nobody was crying.’
我在火车上时写下了一张明信片
I wrote a postcard when I was in
然后把它塞到窗户外面去了
the train and chucked it out the window,
我希望我的家人能收到这张明信片
hoping that it would be delivered to my family.’
傍晚的时候我们抵达福克斯通
We arrived at Folkestone in the evening.
Folkstone:英国肯特郡东部港市
登上了一艘老旧的泰晤士河游船
We embarked on one of the old Thames pleasure boats.’
当时人很多
Well, pretty crowded.
当然了 从佛到加来
Well, of course, it’s only 21 miles
Dover:英国东南部港口
Calais:法国港口
只有21英里(约33.8千米)的航程
from Dover to Calais on the boat.’
军官们告诉我们
There were talks by officers to us
在外国领土上该做些什么
as to how to behave ourselves on foreign soil
我们应该尊重他人的行为模式
and that we’d got to respect other people’s modes of conduct.’
军士的伤亡最大
The biggest number of casualties were NCOs
我们对此不是很渴望
and we weren’t all too keen about this.
我去上厕所的时候肩章掉了下来
So I went into the lavatory and my stripes came off
掉进了下水道消失了
and they disappeared through the porthole.
因此 我回到甲板上时成了二等兵
And with that, I went back on deck as a private.’
我们的马被牵下了舷梯
As our horses were brought down the gangways,
此时我注意到大家的表情
I noticed the expression on the men’s faces.
欢欣消失了
There were no cheerful, smiling faces
愉悦的情绪也被带下了舷梯
coming down that gangway at all.’
天气很好 很暖和
‘It was beautiful weather. Very warm.
我们每经过一个村镇 人们都会冲出来
Every village and town we went through, people rushed out,
鲜花美酒 法式面包
bottles of wine, yards of French bread, flowers…’
每一寸土地都跃动着欢欣
The land flowed in every single aspect.
农民都去做自己的事
There were farmers going about their
那真是最可爱的村庄
business, the most lovely country.
如果我们路过一片胡萝卜地 我们就会
‘If we were passing a field of carrots, we used to raid the field
冲进田里 抓起胡萝卜和大头菜一顿狂吃
and walk along munching the carrots and turnips.’
我当时非常害怕
‘I was dead scared that the war
我还没到达战场 战争就已经结束了
would be over before I got out to it.
当我踏上法国土地 我长舒了一口气
When I got out to France, I was terribly pleased.
特别兴奋
Really keen.’
你会一直行军 直到距离战壕
‘You just marched and marched until
大约20英里(32千米)的地方停下
roughly 20 miles from the trenches.’
我们知道我们距离前线越来越近了
‘We knew we were getting close to the line,
因为炮火声越发清晰了
because the gunfire was becoming more noisy.’
我记得第一发炮弹打响时 我非常兴奋
‘I remember the first shell, I was delighted.’
我们走过一座又一座空城 被遗弃的村庄
‘We went through towns, villages, that were absolutely derelict,
所以我们只知道我们在比利时
so we never knew where we were,
具体在哪 不知道
except that we were in Belgium.’
