"Some'ow a dyin' Alleymong don't seem a real Alleymong; you ain't able to 'ate 'im as you ought."—Bill Teake's Philosophy.
From the day I left England up till the dawn of September 25th I never met a German, and I had spent seven months in France. At night when out on working-parties I saw figures moving out by the enemy trenches1, mere3 shadows that came into view when an ephemeral constellation4 of star-shells held the heavens. We never fired at these shadows, and they never fired at us; it is unwise to break the tacit truces5 of the trenches. The first real live German I saw was the one who blundered down the ladder into our trench2, the second raced towards our trenches with Bill Teake following at his heels, uttering threats and vowing6 that he would stab the prisoner if he did not double in a manner approved of by the most exacting7 sergeant-major.
[88]
Of those who are England's enemies I know, even now, very little. I cannot well pass judgment8 on a nation through seeing distorted lumps of clotting9 and mangled10 flesh pounded into the muddy floor of a trench, or strewn broadcast on the reverse slopes of a shell-scarred parapet. The enemy suffered as we did, yelled with pain when his wounds prompted him, forgot perhaps in the insane combat some of the nicer tenets of chivalry11. After all, war is an approved licence for brotherly mutilation, its aims are sanctioned, only the means towards its end are disputed. It is a sad and sorry business from start to finish, from diplomacy12 that begets13 it to the Te Deums that rise to God in thanksgiving for victory obtained.
In the first German trench there were dozens of dead, the trench was literally14 piled with lifeless bodies in ugly grey uniforms. Curiosity prompted me to look into the famous German dug-outs. They were remarkable15 constructions, caves leading into the bowels16 of the earth, some of them capable of holding a whole platoon of soldiers. These big dug-outs had stairs leading down to the main chamber17 and steps leading out. In one I counted forty-seven steps leading down from the floor of the trench to the roof of the shelter. No shell made was capable of piercing[89] these constructions, but a bomb flung downstairs....
I looked into a pretentious18 dug-out as I was going along the trench. This one, the floor of which was barely two feet below the level of the trench floor, must have been an officer's. It was sumptuously19 furnished, a curtained bed with a white coverlet stood in one corner. Near the door was a stove and a scuttle20 of coal. In another corner stood a table, and on it was a half bottle of wine, three glasses, a box of cigars, and a vase of flowers. These things I noticed later; what I saw first on entering was a wounded German lying across the bed, his head against the wall and his feet on the floor. His right arm was almost severed21 at the shoulder.
I entered and gazed at him. There was a look of mute appeal in his eyes, and for some reason I felt ashamed of myself for having intruded22 on the privacy of a dying man. There come times when a man on the field of battle should be left alone to his own thoughts. I unloosened my water-bottle from its holder23 and by sign inquired if he wanted a drink. He nodded, and I placed the bottle to his lips.
"Sprechen Anglais?" I inquired, and he shook his head.
I took my bottle of morphia tablets from[90] my pocket and explained to him as well as I was able what the bottle contained, and he permitted me to place two under his tongue. When rummaging24 in my pocket I happened to bring out my rosary beads25 and he noticed them. He spoke26 and I guessed that he was inquiring if I was a Catholic.
I nodded assent27.
He fumbled28 with his left hand in his tunic29 pocket and brought out a little mud-stained booklet and handed it to me. I noticed that the volume was a prayer-book. By his signs I concluded that he wanted me to keep it.
I turned to leave, but he called me back and pointed30 to his trousers pocket as if he wanted me to bring something out of it. I put in my hand and drew out a little leather packet from which the muzzle31 of a revolver peeped forth32. This I put in my pocket. He feared that if some of our men found this in his possession his life might be a few hours shorter than it really would be if he were left to die in peace. I could see that he required me to do something further for him. Raising his left hand with difficulty (I now saw that blood was flowing down the wrist) he pointed at his tunic pocket, and I put my hand in there. A clasp-knife, a few buttons, a piece of string and a photo were all that the pocket contained. The photograph showed a man, whom I saw was the soldier,[91] a woman and a little child seated at a table. I put it in his hand, and with brilliant eyes and set teeth he raised his head to look at it....
I went outside. M'Crone was coming along the trench with a bomb in his hand.
"Any of them in that dug-out?" he asked me.
"One," I replied.
"Then I'll give him this," M'Crone shouted. His gestures were violent, and his indifference33 to personal danger as shown in his loud laughter was somewhat exaggerated. As long as he had something to do he was all right, but a moment's thought would crumple34 him up like a wet rag.
"I've done in seven of them already," he shouted.
"The one in here is dying," I said. "Leave him alone."
M'Crone went to the dug-out door, looked curiously35 in, then walked away.
Behind the German trench I found one of our boys slowly recovering from an attack of gas. Beside him lay a revolver, a mere toy of a thing, and touching36 him was a German with a bullet in his temple. The boy told me an interesting story as I propped37 him up in a sitting position against a couple of discarded equipments.
"I tripped up, and over I went," he said.[92] "I came to slowly, and was conscious of many things 'fore38 I had the power to move my hands or feet. What do you think was happenin'? There was a bloomin' German sniper under cover pottin' at our boys, and that cover was a bundle of warm, livin' flesh; the blighter's cover was me! 'If I get my hand in my pocket,' I says to myself, 'I'll get my revolver and blow the beggar's brains out.'"
"Blow out his brains with that!" I said, looking at the weapon. "You might as well try to blow out his brains with a pinch of snuff!"
"That's all you know!" said the boy. "Anyway, I got my hand into my pocket, it crawled in like a snake, and I got the little pet out. And the German was pot-pottin' all the time. Then I fetched the weapon up, stuck the muzzle plunk against the man's head and pulled the trigger twice. He didn't half kick up a row. See if the two bullets have gone through one hole, Pat."
"They have," I told him.
"I knew it," he answered. "Ah! it's an easy job to kill a man. You just rush at him and you see his eyes and nothin' else. There's a mist over the trench. You shove your bayonet forward and it sticks in something soft and almost gets dragged out of your hands. Then you get annoyed because[93] you can't pull it back easy. That's all that happens and you've killed a man.... How much water have you got?"
A German youth of seventeen or eighteen with a magnificent helmet on his head and a red cross on his arm was working in the centre of a square formed by four of his dead countrymen, digging a grave. The sweat stood out on his forehead, and from time to time he cast an uneasy glance about him.
"What are you doing there?" I asked.
"Digging a grave for these," he said, in good English, pointing a shaky finger at the prostrate39 figures. "I suppose I'll be put in it myself," he added.
"Why?" I inquired.
"Oh! you English shoot all prisoners."
"You're a fool, Fritz," said M'Crone, approaching him. "We're not going to do you any harm. Look, I've brought you something to eat."
He handed the boy a piece of cake, but the young Bavarian shook his head. He was trembling with terror, and the shovel40 shook in his hands. Fifteen minutes later when I passed that way carrying in a wounded man, I saw M'Crone and the young Bavarian sitting on the brink41 of the grave smoking cigarettes and laughing heartily42 over some joke.
Prisoners were going down towards M——[94] across the open. Prisoners are always taken across the open in bulk with as small an escort as possible. I saw a mob of two hundred go along, their hands in the air, and stern Tommies marching on flank and at rear. The party was a mixed one. Some of the prisoners were strong, sturdy youngsters of nineteen or twenty, others were old men, war-weary and dejected. A few were thin, weedy creatures, but others were massive blocks of bone and muscle, well set-up and brimful of energy even in their degrading plight44.
Now and again queer assortments45 of these came along. One man was taken prisoner in a cellar on the outskirts46 of Loos. Our men discovered him asleep in a bed, pulled him out and found that he was enjoying a decent, civilised slumber47. He came down to M—— as he was taken prisoner, his sole clothing being a pair of stockings, a shirt and an identity disc. Four big Highlanders, massive of shoulder and leg, escorted a puny48, spectacled youth along the rim43 of the trench, and following them came a diminutive49 Cockney with a massive helmet on his head, the sole escort for twelve gigantic Bavarian Grenadiers. The Cockney had now only one enemy, he was the man who offered to help him at his work.
I came across a crumpled50 figure of a man in grey, dead in a shell-crater. One arm was[95] bent51 under him, the other stretched forward almost touching a photograph of a woman and three little children. I placed the photograph under the edge of the man's tunic.
Near him lay another Bavarian, an old man, deeply wrinkled and white haired, and wounded through the chest. He was trembling all over like a wounded bird, but his eyes were calm and they looked beyond the tumult52 and turmoil53 of the battlefield into some secret world that only the dying can see. A rosary was in the man's hand and his lips were mumbling54 something: he was telling his beads. He took no notice of me. Across the level at this point came a large party of prisoners amidst a storm of shells. The German gunners had shortened their range and were now shelling the ground occupied by their troops an hour previous. Callous55, indifferent destruction! The oncoming prisoners were Germans—as men they were of no use to us; it would cost our country money and men to keep and feed them. They were Germans, but of no further use to Germany; they were her pawns56 in a game of war and now useless in the play. As if to illustrate57 this, a shell from a German gun dropped in the midst of the batch58 and pieces of the abject59 party whirled in air. The gun which had destroyed them had acted as[96] their guardian60 for months. It was a frantic61 mother slaying62 her helpless brood.
The stretcher-bearer sees all the horror of war written in blood and tears on the shell-riven battlefield. The wounded man, thank heaven! has only his own pain to endure, although the most extreme agony which flesh is heir to is written large on the field of fight.
Several times that day I asked myself the question, "Why are all soldiers not allowed to carry morphia?" How much pain it would save! How many pangs63 of pain might morphia alleviate64! How often would it give that rest and quiet which a man requires when an excited heart persists in pumping blood out through an open wound! In the East morphia is known as "The gift of God"; on the field of battle the gift of God should not be denied to men in great pain. It would be well indeed if all soldiers were taught first aid before a sergeant-major teaches them the art of forming fours on the parade ground.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
trenches
|
|
| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
trench
|
|
| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
constellation
|
|
| n.星座n.灿烂的一群 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
truces
|
|
| 休战( truce的名词复数 )； 停战（协定）； 停止争辩（的协议）； 中止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
vowing
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
exacting
|
|
| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
clotting
|
|
| v.凝固( clot的现在分词 )；烧结 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
mangled
|
|
| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
chivalry
|
|
| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
diplomacy
|
|
| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
begets
|
|
| v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 )；产生，引起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
literally
|
|
| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
bowels
|
|
| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
pretentious
|
|
| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
sumptuously
|
|
| 奢侈地，豪华地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
scuttle
|
|
| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
severed
|
|
| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
intruded
|
|
| n.侵入的，推进的v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 )；把…强加于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
holder
|
|
| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
rummaging
|
|
| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的现在分词 )； 海关检查 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
beads
|
|
| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
assent
|
|
| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
fumbled
|
|
| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
tunic
|
|
| n.束腰外衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
muzzle
|
|
| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
crumple
|
|
| v.把...弄皱，满是皱痕，压碎，崩溃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
propped
|
|
| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
fore
|
|
| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
prostrate
|
|
| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
shovel
|
|
| n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
brink
|
|
| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
heartily
|
|
| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
rim
|
|
| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
plight
|
|
| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
assortments
|
|
| 分类，各类物品或同类各种物品的聚集，混合物( assortment的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
outskirts
|
|
| n.郊外，郊区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
slumber
|
|
| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
puny
|
|
| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
diminutive
|
|
| adj.小巧可爱的，小的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
crumpled
|
|
| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
tumult
|
|
| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
turmoil
|
|
| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
mumbling
|
|
| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
callous
|
|
| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
pawns
|
|
| n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
illustrate
|
|
| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
batch
|
|
| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
abject
|
|
| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
guardian
|
|
| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
frantic
|
|
| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
slaying
|
|
| 杀戮。 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
pangs
|
|
| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
alleviate
|
|
| v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |