丘吉尔日记（下）|双语散文

2017-08-12 英语环球广播 英语环球ChinaPlus

小伙伴们，周末好！

上周我们听了丘吉尔日记《哈瓦那城的港口》上半部分，这周我们来听下半部分。

温斯顿·伦纳德·斯宾塞·丘吉尔（ Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill，1874年11月30日－1965年1月24日），英国最伟大的政治家、历史学家、画家、演说家、作家、记者。

丘吉尔1874年生于英格兰牛津郡伍德斯托克的一个贵族家庭，父亲伦道夫勋爵曾任英国财政大臣。1940年至1945年和1951年至1955年两度出任英国首相，被认为是20世纪最重要的政治领袖之一，领导英国人民赢得了第二次世界大战，是“雅尔塔会议三巨头”之一，战后发表《铁幕演说》，正式揭开了美苏冷战的序幕。他写的《不需要的战争》获1953年诺贝尔文学奖，著有《第二次世界大战回忆录》16卷、《英语民族史》24卷等。

我们先来熟悉一下文中出现的部分单词：

block house [blɔk haus] n. 碉堡，地堡

pilot engine [ˈpailət ˈendʒin] n. 清路汽车，先驱机车，压道机车

armored-car n. 装甲车辆

compartment [kəm'pɑrtmənt] n. 火车车厢中的小房间，分隔间

infest [ɪn'fest] v. 侵扰

adherent [əd'hɪrənt] n. 追随者，拥护者

combustible [kəm'bʌstəb(ə)l] adj. 易燃的，可燃的

phosphorous ['fɒsfərəs] n. [化] 磷

incendiarist [ɪn'sendiərɪst] n. 纵火者

conflagration [ˌkɒnflə'greɪʃən] n. 大火灾

authorship ['ɔːθəʃɪp] n. 原创作者，根源

twofold ['tuːfəʊld] adj. 两倍的；双重的

belligerent [bə'lɪdʒərənt] n. 交战的一方（国家、集体或个人）

indescribable [ˌɪndɪ'skraɪbəbl] adj. 难以形容的

revolt [rɪ'vəʊlt] n. 反抗，起义

这篇日记是丘吉尔作为一名青年军官兼随军记者在古巴写的战地日记，从中可以领略到他的写作才能和风格。

本文由沈汀为您朗读，中文版本由李冉、李曙新编译。

The Harbor of the City of Havana

Cienfuegos, 9 November 1985

Next day we started for Santa Clara, which is the Captain General’s headquarters. As far as Colon the journey is safe, but thenceforward the country is much disturbed. The insurgents have given notice that they will wreck any train carrying troops, and have several times succeeded in so doing. Every station from Colon to Santa Clara is a small fort. Sometimes it is a stockade of logs, sometimes a loopholed house or a stone breastwork; all have a garrison of from fifteen to twenty men. Every bridge has to be guarded also by a block house or other defensive work, as the rebels cut the supports through and so upset the trains. In fact, they have tried every sort of dodge in this respect. One of the cleverest of these is to loosen a rail and to fasten a wire to it. When the train comes along this wire is pulled, and the result often fully repays their labors. Dynamite is also thrown, but the insurgents appear not to understand its employment, as only two explosions have taken place so far, though there have been many attempts. At Santa Domingo a pilot engine and an armored-car are added to the train, as the rebels often indulge in target practice — from a respectful distance. In the car rides the escort, the passengers being permitted the privilege of using the ordinary compartments. When we reached this place the line thence to Santa Clara had just been cut, and the traffic had to go round by Gruces, thus causing a great delay. On arrival there it was announced that the train which preceded ours, and in which was General Valdez, had been thrown off the line a few miles beyond Santa Domingo, and that fifteen of its occupants had been severely injured. This had been affected by weakening the supports of a small culvert. The General fortunately escaped uninjured, and at once started up country. Marshal Campos, to whose headquarters we went, received us very kindly, and readily gave us the necessary passes and letters. Unfortunately, we found that the column of General Valdez was already twenty miles away, through a country infested by the enemy, and it would therefore be necessary to go to Cienfuegos, thence by steamer to Tuna, and from there on to Sancti Spiritus. Though this route forms two sides of a triangle, it is — Euclid not withstanding — shorter than the other, and we shall catch the column there.

The insurrection shows no sign of abating, and the insurgents gain adherents continually. There is no doubt that they possess the sympathy of the entire population, and hence have constant and accurate intelligence. On the other hand Spain is equally determined to crush them, and is even now pouring in fresh troops by the thousand. How it will end is impossible to say, but whoever wins and whatever may be the results, the suffering and misery of the entire community is certain. The struggle is now entering upon a crucial stage. Maximo Gomez has said openly that he will not allow the grinding of the sugar cane. Any planter who does so will have his plantation burned. In the face of this threat the authorities are powerless. The cane is ripe, fit for cutting, and very combustible. It was explained to me that a piece of phosphorous, coated with wax, would be the probable instrument of the incendiarists. This little pill is fastened to the tail of the Cuban grass snake, a common and inoffensive creature, which is then set loose. The sun melts the wax and ignites the phosphorous, and the result is a conflagration, without any possible clue as to its authorship. No amount of military protection or patrolling can guard against this form of outrage, and the general impression is that the planters will not grind. The importance of this cannot be over-estimated. It means the paralyzing of the staple industry of the country and the ruin of the entire island. It means bankruptcy to the planter and starvation to the laborer, and it will leave a mark upon Cuba which will take many years of plenty and good government to efface.

The twofold object of the rebels in taking this momentous step is to make plain to the entire world the power they have – and so obtain recognition as belligerents from the United States — and by plunging their country into indescribable woe to procure the intervention of some European Power. Looked at from any standpoint, it is a dreadful and a desperate remedy, and one which neither restriction of liberty nor persistent bad government can fully justify. It is, nevertheless, a course open to the dangerous and determined men who are in revolt, and one which there is every reason to believe they will adopt.

哈瓦那城的港口

1895年11月9日，西恩富戈斯

第二天，我们出发前往位于圣克拉拉城的总司令部。在到科隆去的这段路上一直很安全，但在以后的乡间地区就很不安定了。暴动者已发出通告说，他们要破坏所有运送部队的列车，并有几次已成功地这样做了。从科隆到圣克拉拉沿途每个站都设了一个小关卡。这些关卡有的是用圆木围成的栅栏，有的是墙上开有枪孔的房子，有的是用石头垒成的胸墙；每个关卡都有十五到二十人的部队把守。由于起义者切断了一切支援，扰乱了列车的正常运行，因此，每座桥梁也都有一座碉堡或其他防御工事来警卫。实际上，暴动者在这方面已经想出了种种对付的办法，其中最巧妙的一个办法就是把一段铁轨弄松，然后在上面系一根金属线。当列车开过来时就把金属线一拉，于是他们的劳动就得到了充分的报偿。暴动者们也使用投掷炸弹的方式，但他们似乎对这种方式掌握得不好，虽然尝试了好多次，但至今只引爆成功了两次。在圣多明各，我们的列车上加挂了一节压道车和一辆装甲车，因为那些起义者经常喜欢选定目标进行远距离袭击。装甲车里坐着护卫队员，乘客们得到允许有权使用列车车厢中的普通分隔间。我们到达此地的时候，从这里到圣克拉拉的铁路线刚刚被切断，我们不得不绕道经过克鲁塞斯，因此而拖延了很长时间。到达这里的时候我们就听说，就在我们前面的一辆列车，上面乘坐着瓦尔德斯将军，在离开圣多名各几英里外的地方被脱出了路轨，其中有十五名乘客受了重伤。这是用减弱铁路下方一个小涵洞的支撑作用而造成的结果。所幸的是将军没有受伤，但立刻在全国引起了轰动。我们到达坎波斯元帅的总部时，元帅和蔼地接待我们，并很快发给了我们所需要的通行证和信件。遗憾的是，我们发现那时瓦尔德斯将军的部队已经开出去二十英里，正在通过一段被敌军侵扰的乡村，由此看他们需要到西富恩戈斯去，然后从那儿乘船去图纳，再去圣斯皮里图斯。这样的路线行成了一个三角形的两条边，根据欧几里德的几何学定理，这条路线尽管比另一条的路线短，但我们还是可以在那里赶上他的部队。

暴动没有显出减弱的迹象，而且暴动的追随者还在不断增多。毫无疑问，他们拥有全体民众的同情，所以才会不断获得准确的情报。另一方面，西班牙也同样下定决心要镇压他们，甚至现在还在大批地派来增援部队。很难说结果会怎样，但不论哪方获得胜利，不论是什么结果，全体国民要遭受一场苦难是肯定的。现在，斗争已经进入关键阶段。马克西莫·戈麦斯曾公开说，他不允许任何人研磨蔗糖。任何种植园主如果这样做的话，其种植园将被烧掉。面对这样的恐吓，当局毫无办法，甘蔗已经熟了，正是收割的时候，也是非常易燃的时候。有人向我解释说，一片磷在外面裹上一层蜡，就可以成为纵火者的工具。把一颗这样的小丸子绑在一条古巴草蛇 — 一种常见的但没有伤害性的蛇 — 的尾巴上，然后把它放走。太阳将蜡丸晒化，磷一热便燃烧起来，其结果就是一场大火灾，而关于火灾的根源则不可能有任何线索。对于这种形式的暴行，再多的军事保护或军事巡逻都无济于事，所以普遍的印象是种植园主都不会研磨蔗糖。不能过高估计这样做的重要性。它意味着这个国家主要产业的瘫痪和整个岛屿的毁灭。它意味着甘蔗种植园主的破产和种植工人的挨饿，并将给古巴留下一个伤痕，需要用多少年的时间和有能力的政府才能予以消除。

起义者采取这种严重的步骤有双重目的，一是向全世界展示他们所拥有的力量 — 由此获得美国对其作为交战一方的承认 — 二是把他们的国家推向难以形容的灾难，以促成欧洲列强的干预。无论从哪种立场来看，这都是一个可怕的和绝望的补救办法，是一个既不能限制自由，又不想保持坏政府能够合法统治下去的办法。所以不管怎么说，这就是反抗运动中的那些危险而又坚定的分子所走的路，也完全有理由相信他们要选择走这样的路。

一座城市，承载了多少故事。你有没有对哪座城市有特别的情结呢？快来留言聊聊吧！

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