Sergeant1 Kerfoot Harriman, bearing with proud satisfaction the learning and culture he had acquired in the course of three years at a small Middle-Western university, walked down the Rue2 de Dieu in a manner which carried the suggestion that he had forgotten the belt of his breeches.
Approaching a white two-story stone building which age and an occasional long-distance German shell had given an air of solemn decrepitude3, Sergeant Harriman unbent enough to shout stiltedly4: “Mailo! Mailo-ho!”
His reiterated5 announcement was unnecessary. Already half-dressed soldiers were rushing through the entrance of the building and toward the approaching sergeant.
“All right, you men. If you can’t appear in uniform get off of the company street.” Sergeant Harriman was commanding.
In their eagerness to hear the list of names called out the men forgot even to grumble6, but scrambled7 back through the doorway8 overflowing9 the long hall off of which were six rooms,[11] devoid10 of furniture, which had been converted into barracks.
Sergeant Harriman, feeling the entire amount of pleasure to be had from the added importance of distributing the mail—the first the platoon had received in two months—cleared his throat, took a steadfast11 position and gave his attention to the small bundle of letters which he held in his hand.
He deftly12 riffled them twice without speaking. Then he separated the letters belonging to the non-commissioned officers, the corporals, and sergeants13 from those addressed to the privates. The non-commissioned officers received their letters first.
At last:
“Private Hicks,” he read off.
“Here, here I am. Back here.” Private Hicks was all aflutter. Separated from the letter by a crowd of men, he stood on tiptoe and reached his arm far over the shoulder of the man in front of him.
“Pass it back to him? Pass it back to him?” voices impatiently asked.
“No!” Sergeant Harriman was a commander, every inch of him. “Come up and get it, Hicks.”
[12]
“Hey, snap out of it, will ya! Call off the rest of the names.”
A path was made, and Hicks finally received the letter.
Harriman looked up. “If you men don’t shut up, you will never get your mail!”
“Private Pugh!”
“Hee-ah. Gimme that lettah. That’s f’m mah sweet mammah.” Pugh wormed his small, skinny body through the men, fretfully calling at those who did not make way quickly enough. He grasped the letter. Then he started back, putting the letter in his pocket unopened.
“Poor old Pugh. Gets a letter and he can’t read.”
“Ain’t that a waste of stationery14?”
“Why don’t you ask the captain to write an’ tell your folks not to send you any more mail? Look at all the trouble you cause these mail clerks.”
Several men offered to read the letter to Pugh, but he did not answer.
An hour later the first sergeant was walking up and down in front of the billets, blowing his whistle. Bugle-calls were taboo15.
“Shake it up, you men. Don’t you know[13] you’re supposed to be ready for drill at nine o’clock?”
“Drill! I thought we come up here to fight,” voices grumbled16, muttering obscene phrases directed at General Pershing, the company commander, and the first sergeant.
Men scurried17 out of their billets, struggling to get on their packs and to fall in line before the roll was called.
“Fall in!” the little sergeant shouted, standing18 before the platoon. “Right dress!” he commanded sharply and ran to the right of the platoon, from where he told one man to draw in his waist and another to move his feet, and so on, until he was satisfied that the line was reasonably straight. “Steady, front!” And in a very military manner he placed himself in the proper place before the company and began to call the roll.
“All present or accounted for, sir,” he reported to the captain, a note of pride and of a great deed nobly done ringing in his voice.
The sergeants fell back in rear of the platoons and the commander ordered “squads right.” The hobnailed boots of the men on the cobblestones echoed hollowly down the street.
Stupid-looking old Frenchmen, a few thick-waisted[14] women, and a scattering19 of ragged20 children dully watched the company march down the street. For the most part they were living in the advance area because they had no other place to go and because they feared to leave the only homes that they had ever known.
The platoon marched out of the town along a gravel21 road and into a green, evenly plotted field, where they were deployed22 and where, to their surprise, a number of sacks, filled with straw, had been hung from a row of scaffolding.
The platoon faced the sacks, were man?uvred so that each man would be standing in front of one of the dummies23 and were ordered to fix bayonets. Sergeant Harriman, the nostrils24 of his stubby nose flaring25 wide with zeal26, began his instructions.
“All right, you men. Now you want to forget that these are sacks of straw. They are not at all. They are dirty Huns—Huns that raped27 the Belgians, Huns that would have come over to the good old U. S. A. and raped our women if we hadn’t got into the war. Now, men, I want to see some action, I want to see some hate when you stick these dirty Huns. I want to see how hard you can grunt28.”
[15]
“All ready now. Straight thrust. One, two, three—now——”
As a body the platoon lunged their bayonets into the cloth-covered straw.
“Great God! Is that all the pep you’ve got? Why, you men are stale. What the hell did you come over here to fight for? Did you ever hear that you were supposed to be saving the world for democracy? Now, try it again, and put some punch in it this time. Let’s hear your grunt.”
The action was repeated. “Rotten!” yelled the sergeant. “What the hell are you going to do when you get up to the front? Do you think this is an afternoon tea? You act like a bunch of ribbon-counter clerks, and that’s what I believe most of you are. Now let’s try the butt29 stroke.”
“Butt stroke. One—two—three. Oh, hell. Where are you aiming, Gillespie? Remember, you’ve missed him with the bayonet and you’re trying to soak him in the crotch—in the crotch, mind you, with the butt of your rifle.”
Several of the men caught the frenzy30 of the sergeant, and at each command they ran, gritting31 and grinding their teeth, and grunted32 at[16] the pieces of straw. From the terrific onslaught one of the dummies was severed33 from the scaffold, and the sergeant cried out:
“That’s the first real spirit I’ve seen to-day. That’s the way to kill them!” he called to the man who had wrested34 the dummy35 from its place. “Come up here and show these dopes how to kill.”
Exultant36, the man left his place and strutted37 over to the sergeant. Taking a position before one of the dummies, he proceeded to show the rest of the platoon how really and frightfully to stab the dummies until their stuffing broke through the sacks.
“He’s working to be a corporal, the dirty scut. And oh, if he does get to be a two-striper won’t he make us step around. Boy!” Hicks muttered to Pugh, who was standing next to him and whose bayonet had failed even to pierce the covering of the sack.
“He won’t pull none of that old stuff on me. Ah’ll tell Lieutenant38 Bedford and he’ll make him be good or I won’t give him any more money to gamble with,” Pugh drawled.
“You sure have got a stand-in with Bedford, Pugh. I often wondered how you did it.”
“Hell, that’s easy. When he was down at[17] St. Nazaire I lent him ’bout a thousand francs to gamble with, and he ain’t never paid me.”
The platoon assembled and marched back to their billets.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
rue
|
|
| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
decrepitude
|
|
| n.衰老；破旧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
stiltedly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
reiterated
|
|
| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
grumble
|
|
| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
scrambled
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
overflowing
|
|
| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
devoid
|
|
| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
steadfast
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
deftly
|
|
| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
sergeants
|
|
| 警官( sergeant的名词复数 )； （美国警察）警佐； （英国警察）巡佐； 陆军（或空军）中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
stationery
|
|
| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
taboo
|
|
| n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
scurried
|
|
| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
scattering
|
|
| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
ragged
|
|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
gravel
|
|
| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
deployed
|
|
| （尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
dummies
|
|
| n.仿制品( dummy的名词复数 )；橡皮奶头；笨蛋；假传球 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
flaring
|
|
| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
zeal
|
|
| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
raped
|
|
| v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
grunt
|
|
| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
frenzy
|
|
| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
gritting
|
|
| v.以沙砾覆盖（某物），撒沙砾于( grit的现在分词 )；咬紧牙关 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
grunted
|
|
| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
severed
|
|
| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
wrested
|
|
| （用力）拧( wrest的过去式和过去分词 )； 费力取得； （从…）攫取； （ 从… ） 强行取去… | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
dummy
|
|
| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
exultant
|
|
| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
strutted
|
|
| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |