I came back the next afternoon from our first mountain post and stopped the car at the smistimento where the wounded and sick were sorted by their papers and the papers marked for the different hospitals. I had been driving and I sat in the car and the driver took the papers in. It was a hot day and the sky was very bright and blue and the road was white and dusty.
I sat in the high seat of the Fiat and thought about nothing. A regiment went by in the road and I watched them pass. The men were hot and sweating. Some wore their steel helmets but most of them carried them slung from their packs. Most of the helmets were too big and came down almost over the ears of the men who wore them.
The officers all wore helmets; better-fitting helmets. It was half of the brigata Basilicata. I identified them by their red and white striped collar mark. There were stragglers going by long after the regiment had passed--men who could not keep up with their platoons.
They were sweaty, dusty and tired. Some looked pretty bad. A soldier came along after the last of the stragglers. He was walking with a limp. He stopped and sat down beside the road. I got down and went over.
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5
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“怎么啦?”
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5
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"What’s the matter?"
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6
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他望望我,站起身来。
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6
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He looked at me, then stood up.
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7
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“我要朝前走的。”
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7
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"I’m going on."
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8
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“你哪儿不舒服?”
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8
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"What’s the trouble?"
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9
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“——妈的战争。”
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9
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"-- the war."
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10
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“你的腿怎么啦?”
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10
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"What’s wrong with your leg?"
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11
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“不是腿的问题,是疝气发了。”
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11
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"It’s not my leg. I got a rupture."
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12
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“那你为什么不搭运输车?”我问。“你为什么不上医院?”
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12
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"Why don’t you ride with the transport?" I asked. "Why don’t you go to the hospital?"
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13
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“人家不让我这么做。中尉说我故意把疝带搞丢了。”
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13
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"They won’t let me. The lieutenant said I slipped the truss on purpose."
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14
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“我来摸摸看。”
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14
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"Let me feel it."
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15
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“滑出来了。”
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15
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"It’s way out."
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16
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“在哪一边?”
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16
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"Which side is it on?"
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17
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“这儿。”
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17
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"Here."
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18
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我摸到了。
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18
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I felt it.
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19
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“咳嗽,”我说。
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19
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"Cough," I said.
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20
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“我怕越咳会越大。现在比今儿早上大一倍了。”
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20
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"I’m afraid it will make it bigger. It’s twice as big as it was this morning."
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21
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“坐下,”我说。“等伤员的病历卡一弄好,我就带你上路,把你交给你们的医务官。”
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21
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"Sit down," I said. "As soon as I get the papers on these wounded I’ll take you along the road and drop you with your medical officers."
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22
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“他会说是我故意搞丢的。”
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22
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"He’ll say I did it on purpose."
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23
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“他们不能拿你怎么样,”我说。“这又不是伤。你这是老毛病,从前可不就发过吗?”
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23
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"They can’t do anything," I said. "It’s not a wound. You’ve had it before, haven’t you?"
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24
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“但是我把疝带搞丢了。”
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24
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"But I lost the truss."
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25
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“人家会送你上医院的。”
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25
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"They’ll send you to a hospital."
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26
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“我可不可以就呆在这儿,中尉?”
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26
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"Can’t I stay here, Tenente?"
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27
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“不行,我没有你的病历卡。”
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27
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"No, I haven’t any papers for you."
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28
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司机走出门来,带来了车上伤员们的病历卡。
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28
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The driver came out of the door with the papers for the wounded in the car.
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29
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“四个到105。两个上132,”他说。这两家医院都在河的另一边。
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29
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"Four for 105. Two for 132," he said. They were hospitals beyond the river.
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30
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“你开车吧,”我说。我扶着那个发疝气的士兵上了车,跟我同那开车的坐在一起。
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30
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"You drive," I said. I helped the soldier with the rupture up on the seat with us.
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31
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“你会讲英语吗?”他问。
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31
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"You speak English?" he asked.
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32
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“当然啦。”
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32
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"Sure."
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33
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“你对这该死的战争觉得怎么样?”
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33
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"How you like this goddam war?"
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34
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“坏透了。”
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34
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"Rotten."
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35
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“真是坏透了,耶稣基督,真是坏透了。”
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35
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"I say it’s rotten. Jesus Christ, I say it’s rotten."
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36
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“你到过美国吗?”
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36
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"Were you in the States?"
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37
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“到过。在匹兹堡呆过。我知道你是美国人。”
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37
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"Sure. In Pittsburgh. I knew you was an American."
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38
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“难道我的意大利语还不到家吗?”
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38
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"Don’t I talk Italian good enough?"
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39
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“反正我知道你是美国人。”
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39
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"I knew you was an American all right."
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40
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“又是个美国人,”司机用意大利语说,望着那个发疝气的士兵。
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40
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"Another American," said the driver in Italian looking at the hernia man.
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41
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“听着,中尉。你非把我送回我那个团不行吗?”
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41
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"Listen, lootenant. Do you have to take me to that regiment?"
"Listen," I said. "You get out and fall down by the road and get a bump on your head and I’ll pick you up on our way back and take you to a hospital. We’ll stop by the road here, Aldo." We stopped at the side of the road. I helped him down.
"So long," I said. We went on and passed the regiment about a mile ahead, then crossed the river, cloudy with snow-water and running fast through the spiles of the bridge, to ride along the road across the plain and deliver the wounded at the two hospitals. I drove coming back and went fast with the empty car to find the man from Pittsburgh.
First we passed the regiment, hotter and slower than ever: then the stragglers. Then we saw a horse ambulance stopped by the road. Two men were lifting the hernia man to put him in. They had come back for him.
He shook his head at me. His helmet was off and his forehead was bleeding below the hair line. His nose was skinned and there was dust on the bloody patch and dust in his hair.
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57
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“中尉,你看这疙瘩!”他叫道。“没有用。他们赶回来找我了。”
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57
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"Look at the bump, lieutenant!" he shouted. "Nothing to do. They come back for me."
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58
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我们回到别墅的时候已经是五点钟了,我到洗车子的地方洗了个淋浴。
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58
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When I got back to the villa it was five o’clock and I went out where we washed the cars, to take a shower.
Then I made out my report in my room, sitting in my trousers and an undershirt in front of the open window. In two days the offensive was to start and I would go with the cars to Plava. It was a long time since I had written to the States and I knew I should write but I had let it go so long that it was almost impossible to write now. There was nothing to write about.
I sent a couple of army Zona di Guerra post-cards, crossing out everything except, I am well. That should handle them. Those post-cards would be very fine in America; strange and mysterious. This was a strange and mysterious war zone but I supposed it was quite well run and grim compared to other wars with the Austrians.
The Austrian army was created to give Napoleon victories; any Napoleon. I wished we had a Napoleon, but instead we had Ii Generale Cadorna, fat and prosperous and Vittorio Emmanuele, the tiny man with the long thin neck and the goat beard.
Over on the right they had the Duke of Aosta. Maybe he was too good-looking to be a. great general but he looked like a man. Lots of them would have liked him to be king. He looked like a king. He was the King’s uncle and commanded the third army. We were in the second army. There were some British batteries up with the third army.
I had met two gunners from that lot, in Milan. They were very nice and we had a big evening. They were big and shy and embarrassed and very appreciative together of anything that happened. I wish that I was with the British. It would have been much simpler.
Still I would probably have been killed. Not in this ambulance business. Yes, even in the ambulance business. British ambulance drivers were killed sometimes. Well, I knew I would not be killed. Not in this war. It did not have anything to do with me.
It seemed no more dangerous to me myself than war in the movies. I wished to God it was over though. Maybe it would finish this summer. Maybe the Austrians would crack. They had always cracked in other wars. What was the matter with this war?
Everybody said the French were through. Rinaldi said that the French had mutinied and troops marched on Paris. I asked him what happened and he said, "Oh, they stopped them." I wanted to go to Austria without war. I wanted to go to the Black Forest. I wanted to go to the Hartz Mountains.
Where were the Hartz Mountains anyway? They were fighting in the Carpathians. I did not want to go there anyway. It might be good though. I could go to Spain if there was no war. The sun was going down and the day was cooling off. After supper I would go and see Catherine Barkley. I wish she were here now.
I wished I were in Milan with her. I would like to eat at the Cova and then walk down the Via Manzoni in the hot evening and cross over and turn off along the canal and go to the hotel with Catherine Barkley.
Maybe she would. Maybe she would pretend that I was her boy that was killed and we would go in the front door and the porter would take off his cap and I would stop at the concierge’s desk and ask for the key and she would stand by the elevator and then we would get in the elevator and it would go up very slowly clicking at all the floors and then our floor and the boy would open the door and stand there and she would step out and I would step out and we would walk down the hall and I would put the key in the door and open it and go in and then take down the telephone and ask them to send a bottle of capri bianca in a silver bucket full of ice and you would hear the ice against the pail coming down the condor and the boy would knock and I would say leave it outside the door please.
Because we would not wear any clothes because it was so hot and the window open and the swallows flying over the roofs of the houses and when it was dark afterward and you went to the window very small bats hunting over the houses and close down over the trees and we would drink the capri and the door locked and it hot and only a sheet and the whole night and we would both love each other all night in the hot night in Milan.
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71
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这样子才对劲啦。我还是快点吃饭,早一点找凯瑟琳·巴克莱去吧。
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71
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That was how it ought to be. I would eat quickly and go and see Catherine Barkley.
They talked too much at the mess and I drank wine because tonight we were not all brothers unless I drank a little and talked with the priest about Archbishop Ireland who was, it seemed, a noble man and with whose injustice, the injustices he had received and in which I participated as an American, and of which I had never heard, I feigned acquaintance.
It would have been impolite not to have known something of them when I had listened to such a splendid explanation of their causes which were, after all, it seemed, misunderstandings. I thought he had a fine name and he came from Minnesota which made a lovely name: Ireland of Minnesota, Ireland of Wisconsin, Ireland of Michigan.
What made it pretty was that it sounded like Island. No that wasn’t it. There was more to it than that. Yes, father. That is true, father. Perhaps, father. No, father. Well, maybe yes, father.
You know more about it than I do, father. The priest was good but dull. The officers were not good but dull. The King was good but dull. The wine was bad but not dull. It took the enamel off your teeth and left it on the roof of your mouth.
"And the priest was locked up," Rocca said, "because they found the three per cent bonds on his person. It was in France of course. Here they would never have arrested him. He denied all knowledge of the five per cent bonds. This took place at B閦iers. I was there and reading of it in the paper, went to the jail and asked to see the priest. It was quite evident he had stolen the bonds."
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77
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“我完全不相信你的话,”雷那蒂说。
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77
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"I don’t believe a word of this," Rinaldi said.
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78
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“那就听便,”罗卡说。“反正我是讲给我们这位教士听的。很有教育意义。他既是教士,一定会有体会的。”
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78
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"Just as you like," Rocca said. "But I am telling it for our priest here. It is very informative. He is a priest; he will appreciate it."
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79
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教士笑笑。“说下去吧,”他说。“我在听着。”
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79
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The priest smiled. "Go on," he said. "I am listening."
"Of course some of the bonds were not accounted for but the priest had all of the three per cent bonds and several local obligations, I forget exactly what they were. So I went to the jail, now this is the point of the story, and I stood outside his cell and I said as though I were going to confession, ’Bless me, father, for you have sinned."
"And what did he say?" asked the priest. Rocca ignored this and went on to explain the joke to me. "You see the point, don’t you?" It seemed it was a very funny joke if you understood it properly. They poured me more wine and I told the story about the English private soldier who was placed under the shower bath.
Then the major told the story of the eleven Czecho-slovaks and the Hungariancorporal. After some more wine I told the story of the jockey who found the penny. The major said there was an Italian story something like that about the duchess who could not sleep at night.
At this point the priest left and I told the story about the travelling salesman who arrived at five o’clock in the morning at Marseilles when the mistral was blowing. The major said he had heard a report that I could drink. I denied this. He said it was true and by the corpse of Bacchus we would test whether it was true or not.
Not Bacchus, I said. Not Bacchus. Yes, Bacchus, he said. I should drink cup for cup and glass for glass with Bassi, Fillipo Vincenza. Bassi said no that was no test because he had already drunk twice as much as I. I said that was a foul lie and, Bacchus or no Bacchus, Fillipo Vincenza Bassi or Bassi Fillippo Vicenza had never touched a drop all evening and what was his name anyway?
He said was my name Frederico Enrico or Enrico Federico? I said let the best man win, Bacchus barred, and the major started us with red wine in mugs. Half-way through the wine I did not want any more. I remembered where I was going.
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87
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“巴锡赢了,”我说。“他比我行,我得走了。”
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87
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"Bassi wins," I said. "He’s a better man than I am. I have to go."
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88
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“他真的有事,”雷那蒂说。“他有个约会。我都知道。”
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88
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"He does really," said Rinaldi. "He has a rendezvous. I know all about it."
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89
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“我得走了。”
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89
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"I have to go."
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90
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“那么改天晚上再比吧,”巴锡说。“改天晚上精神好点时再比吧。”
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90
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"Another night," said Bassi. "Another night when you feel stronger."
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91
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他拍拍我的肩膀。桌上点着几支蜡烛。军官们都很开心。“晚安,诸位先生,”我说。
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91
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He slapped me on the shoulder. There were lighted candles on the table. All the officers were very happy. "Good-night, gentlemen," I said.
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92
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雷那蒂跟我一道出来。我们在门外小草地上站了一会,他说:“喝醉了,你还是别去吧。”
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92
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Rinaldi went out with me. We stood outside the door on the patch and he said, "You better not go up there drunk."
"I’ll get some, baby. You walk up and down." He came back with a handful of roasted coffee beans. "Chew those, baby, and God be with you."
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97
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“巴克斯,”我说。
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97
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"Bacchus," I said.
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98
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“我送你走一趟去。”
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98
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"I’ll walk down with you."
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99
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“我完全没有问题。”
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99
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"I’m perfectly all right."
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100
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我们一同穿过市镇,我嘴里咀嚼着咖啡豆。到了直通英国别墅的车道口,雷那蒂向我道晚安。
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100
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We walked along together through the town and I chewed the coffee. At the gate of the driveway that led up to the British villa, Rinaldi said good-night.
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101
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“晚安,”我说。“你为什么不一同进去。”
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101
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"Good-night," I said. "Why don’t you come in?"
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102
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他摇摇头。“不,”他说,“我喜欢简单一点的乐趣。”
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102
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He shook his head. "No," he said. "I like the simpler pleasures."
J started down the driveway. The outlines of the cypresses that lined it were sharp and clear. I looked back and saw Rinaldi standing watching me and waved to him.
I sat in the reception hail of the villa, waiting for Catherine Barkley to come down. Some one was coming down the hallway. I stood up, but it was not Catherine. It was Miss Ferguson.
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107
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“你好,”她说。“凯瑟琳叫我对你说对不住,她今天晚上不能够见你。”
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107
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"Hello," she said. "Catherine asked me to tell you she was sorry she couldn’t see you this evening."
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108
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“很遗憾。但愿她没有生病。”
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108
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"I’m so sorry. I hope she’s not ill."
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109
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“她不太舒服。”
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109
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"She’s not awfully well."
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110
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“请你转告她我很关心。”
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110
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"Will you tell her how sorry I am?"
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111
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“好的。”
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111
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"Yes, I will."
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112
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“照你看,我明儿再来一趟行不行?”
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112
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"Do you think it would be any good to try and see her tomorrow?"
I went out the door and suddenly I felt lonely and empty. I had treated seeing Catherine very lightly, I had gotten somewhat drunk and had nearly forgotten to come but when I could not see her there I was feeling lonely and hollow.