we went onto the rifle range
我们去步枪靶场练枪
and it was amazing, the bull's-eyes I was getting.
神奇的是 我居然正中靶心
So, the next thing, I was made a first-class rifleman.
紧接着 我就成了一名一流步枪手
Above all, we learned rapid fire.
首先 我们学习了连射
Ten rounds, get those ten rounds onto the target in one minute.
十发子弹 一分钟内打到目标上
It was known as "the mad minute".
这被称作是疯狂的一分钟
I'd never seen a dead man, or anything of that kind
我从没见过死人 或是其他死了的东西
and I wondered, if it came to my shooting a man,
我很好奇 如果要我开枪杀人
whether I would be able to do this.
我是否能够做到
You'd plunge the bayonet into the sack, shout like hell.
你把刺刀插进麻袋里 大喊大叫
And they would tell you where to put your bayonet.
然后他们会教你怎么用刺刀
Either into his left shoulder, his right shoulder,
刺向敌人的左肩 右肩
in the chest, or in the body.
胸口 或者身体
We were told to make as much noise as we could.
我们被告知要尽量制造噪音
I think that was to frighten the enemy.
我认为那是为了吓退敌人
Didn't seem a likely thing to do, but we used to shout.
看起来似乎不太可能 但我们常用喊的
When you've trained as a division, there's 12 battalions,
你们被分成12个营 分别训练
that's roughly 12,000 men who are on the move
有大约12000人在作战
and you're a very small cog in a big wheel.
你们只是庞大系统中很小的部件而已
Saturday mornings we were let off,
周六早上我们被允许休息
but we had to do sometimes barrack duties.
但我们有时还必须执行军营任务
Then, on Sundays, we were all marched down to church.
周六时我们就被送至教堂
It didn't matter what religion you were,
你到底信仰什么宗教根本不重要
you all had to go and that was it.
你们所有人都要去教堂 没得商量
Hardly a day passed without the shout around the barrack room,
营房周围总是有喊声
Has anybody here had any experiences with horses?
这有人了解马匹吗
Can anybody here play any musical instruments?
这有人会乐器吗
Anybody had any experience at so-and-so...?
这有人会干这干那吗
So, gradually, the 1,000 men who joined up as a motley throng,
所以渐渐的 1000名鱼龙混杂的新兵
now became a transport man, a bandsman, signalman, and so on.
变成运输兵乐队兵信号员 各种身份的人
You didn't wanna mess about at the parade ground
你不想在行进路线上背着沉重的背包
with heavy packs on the route marches.
在练兵场上到处闲逛
Most of us wanted to go across and do some scrapping.
大多数人都想直接上阵杀敌
After good food, fresh air and physical exercise,
呼吸了新鲜空气 优质伙食 体能训练后
they'd changed so that their mothers
他们都变得
wouldn't have recognised them.
亲妈都认不出来
They'd put on an average of one stone
他们的体重大约都增加了一块石头的重量
in weight and one inch in height.'
身高也都长高了一英寸(2.54厘米)
Although we hated the sight and sound
尽管我们一点都不想看见管纪律的中士
of our disciplinary sergeants,
我们甚至不想听到他的声音
this reflects greatly to their credit
但这恰恰是对他们的赞扬
because they knocked us into shape
当我们的方阵和步伐被塑造成应有的样子
as regards to marching and foot drills.
这些其实都归功于他们
But, far more than that,
但远不止如此
they were handsome, ruddy, upstanding,
他们英姿飒爽 精神抖擞 正气凌然
square-shouldered young men
这些双肩宽阔 背负责任的年轻人们
who were afraid of nobody, not even the sergeant major.
无所畏惧 连军士长都不能震慑他们
After six weeks, we were informed
六周后 我们被告知
we were gonna be posted overseas.
我们会被送到国外去
They said, "You're leaving tomorrow
他们说 你们明天早上就会启程
morning for an unknown destination."
被送到未知的目的地
You were never told where you were heading for.
他们从来不会告诉你目的地是哪里
I just wanted to fight the Germans
我只是想打德国人
and, as far as that was concerned,
只要是去打德国人
it didn't matter tuppence to me where we went.
我完全不在乎我们到底要去哪里
And when we pushed them through
当我们让他们结束
this crash programme of military training,
本次紧急军事训练时
they were pushed off to France in batches.
他们就被分批送往法国了
Before we left, the officer said,
出发前 军官说
"Well, you haven't had time to be made sergeants,
既然你们没来得及被封为中士
so we'll give you a couple of stripes."
我们就给你们上个军衔吧
So they made us corporals and, in less than no time,
他们就给了我们下士军衔
we were marched down to the station.'
紧接着我们就被送往车站
In my mind, I wondered, "Shall I ever come back?"
我一直在脑中有个疑问 我回得来吗
I didn't think I would at the time.
当时我觉得我回不来了
I didn't worry about it.
我也完全没有因此难过
Oh, they were all full of euphoria.
他们都非常兴奋
They were all glad they were going. Nobody was crying.'
他们对要出发了都很开心 没有人哭泣
I wrote a postcard when I was in
我在火车上时写下了一张明信片
the train and chucked it out the window,
然后把它塞到窗户外面去了
hoping that it would be delivered to my family.'
我希望我的家人能收到这张明信片
We arrived at Folkestone in the evening.
傍晚的时候我们抵达福克斯通
We embarked on one of the old Thames pleasure boats.'
登上了一艘老旧的泰晤士河游船
Well, pretty crowded.
当时人很多
Well, of course, it's only 21 miles
当然了 从佛到加来
from Dover to Calais on the boat.'
只有21英里(约33.8千米)的航程
There were talks by officers to us
军官们告诉我们
as to how to behave ourselves on foreign soil
在外国领土上该做些什么
and that we'd got to respect other people's modes of conduct.'
我们应该尊重他人的行为模式
The biggest number of casualties were NCOs
军士的伤亡最大
and we weren't all too keen about this.
我们对此不是很渴望
So I went into the lavatory and my stripes came off
我去上厕所的时候肩章掉了下来
and they disappeared through the porthole.
掉进了下水道消失了
And with that, I went back on deck as a private.'
因此 我回到甲板上时成了二等兵
As our horses were brought down the gangways,
我们的马被牵下了舷梯
I noticed the expression on the men's faces.
此时我注意到大家的表情
There were no cheerful, smiling faces
欢欣消失了
coming down that gangway at all.'
愉悦的情绪也被带下了舷梯
'It was beautiful weather. Very warm.
天气很好 很暖和
Every village and town we went through, people rushed out,
我们每经过一个村镇 人们都会冲出来
bottles of wine, yards of French bread, flowers...'
鲜花美酒 法式面包
The land flowed in every single aspect.
每一寸土地都跃动着欢欣
There were farmers going about their
农民都去做自己的事
business, the most lovely country.
那真是最可爱的村庄
'If we were passing a field of carrots, we used to raid the field
如果我们路过一片胡萝卜地 我们就会
and walk along munching the carrots and turnips.'
冲进田里 抓起胡萝卜和大头菜一顿狂吃
'I was dead scared that the war
我当时非常害怕
would be over before I got out to it.
我还没到达战场 战争就已经结束了
When I got out to France, I was terribly pleased.
当我踏上法国土地 我长舒了一口气
