8 Chapter 7 Hard Times

Chapter 7 Hard Times Most of the battles in the war were fought in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. In late fall of 1778, the Continental Army won an important victory in Saratoga, New York. After receiving the good news, Washington led ten thousand of his men westward in Pennsylvania. They would set up camp until spring, when battles would resume. He picked a place called Valley Forge. It was easy to defend. Also his spies could keep an eye on British troops in nearby Philadelphia.

这场战争中的大部分战役都在纽约、新泽西和宾夕法尼亚进行。 1778年深秋，大陆军在纽约州萨拉托加赢得了一场重要的胜利。 得到这个好消息后，华盛顿率领一万人向西进入宾夕法尼亚。 他们会在这里扎营，直到春天战事再起。 他选了一个叫福吉谷的地方。 这很容易辩护。此外，他的间谍还可以监视驻扎在费城附近的英军。

The months at Valley Forge should have been a time for the troops to rest up, regain their strength. However, the weather turned bitter cold. The huts the soldiers built had no heat. (The snow made all the wood too damp to burn.) In letters to the Continental Congress, Washington kept begging for help. He needed uniforms, shoes, and food. Washington was told to stop his "whining complaints." How bad was it for the soldiers? Many were dressed only in rags. Some had no clothes at all, just a tattered blanket. Sometimes a soldier had to borrow someone else's rags to go on

在福吉谷的那几个月本应该是部队休息，恢复体力的时间。 然而，天气变冷了。 士兵们建造的小屋没有暖气。 (雪把所有的木头都弄湿了，烧不起来。)华盛顿在给大陆会议的信中不断请求帮助。 他需要制服、鞋子和食物。 华盛顿被告知停止他的“牢骚满腹”。 对士兵来说有多糟糕? 许多人衣衫褴褛。 有些人根本没穿衣服，只有一条破毯子。 有时士兵不得不借别人的破衣服来维持生活

duty. Officers who had shoes poured whiskey in them to prevent frostbite. Common soldiers often went barefoot. Washington reported seeing "blood from their feet" in the snow. Some soldiers' frozen feet turned black and had to be amputated. There was no food for the horses. Most fell down dead. There wasn't enough food for the

的职责。穿鞋的警官们往鞋子里倒威士忌以防止冻伤。 普通士兵经常光着脚。 华盛顿报告说，在雪地里看到了“他们脚上的血”。 一些士兵冻僵的脚变黑了，不得不截肢。 马没有吃的了。 大多数人倒地死亡。没有足够的食物

soldiers, either. They would go for days without even so much as a bite of meat. They were near starvation. As always, Martha came to stay with her husband and the troops at winter camp. Everyone called her Lady Washington. She couldn't stand the sight of blood and was known for saying that she shuddered at the sound of a gunshot. Yet she knew being there meant a lot to the soldiers as well as her husband. At Valley Forge, she cared for the sick and would leave small gifts for them. Still, a quarter of the troops (2,500) died from disease. What is even more terrible is that the suffering at Valley Forge was unnecessary. Pennsylvania farmers had recently harvested their crops. It had been a very good year. They could have supplied the troops with food and clothes but chose instead to reap bigger profits by selling to the British. Terrible as the time was at Valley Forge, conditions at the winter camp in Morristown the following year were worse. Soldiers were

士兵。他们会一连几天连一口肉都吃不到。 他们快饿死了。 像往常一样，玛莎来到她丈夫和部队的冬令营。 大家都叫她华盛顿夫人。 她无法忍受看到血，据说她一听到枪声就发抖。 然而，她知道，在那里对士兵和她丈夫来说意义重大。 在福吉谷，她照顾病人，并给他们留下小礼物。 然而，四分之一的士兵(2500人)死于疾病。 更可怕的是，福吉谷的苦难是不必要的。 宾夕法尼亚州的农民最近收获了庄稼。 这是非常好的一年。 他们本可以为军队提供食物和衣服，但却选择通过向英国人出售来获得更大的利润。 福吉谷的情况很糟糕，第二年莫里斯敦冬营地的情况更糟。 士兵们

deserting. Sick soldiers were dying in huge numbers. Washington's army was down to eight thousand men, and of those, fewer than three thousand were well enough to fight. More bad news came that summer. The city of Charleston, South Carolina, fell to the British. After that, there was an American defeat in Savannah, Georgia. And then in the fall, Washington learned that Benedict Arnold, a daring and trusted general, had gone over to the British side. (Arnold did it for money, and to this day is considered the worst traitor in American history.)

遗弃。生病的士兵大量死亡。 华盛顿的军队只剩下八千人，其中只有不到三千人能参加战斗。 那年夏天传来了更多的坏消息。 南卡罗来纳州的查尔斯顿市落入英国人之手。 在那之后，美国在乔治亚州的萨凡纳战败。 到了秋天，华盛顿得知本尼迪克特·阿诺德，一位勇敢而值得信赖的将军，已经投靠了英军。 (阿诺德是为了钱才这么做的，直到今天他仍被认为是美国历史上最坏的叛徒。)

TORIES LOOKING BACK TO A LONG-AGO TIME, IT IS EASY TO THINK THAT EVERYONE IN THE COLONIES WAS FIGHTING TOGETHER, THAT THEY ALL BELIEVED IN THE SAME CAUSE. BUT THAT ISN'T SO. NOT ALL AMERICANS SHARED IN "THE SPIRIT OF '76." JOHN ADAMS, WHO BECAME

回顾很久以前，人们很容易认为殖民地的每个人都在一起战斗，他们都信仰同一个事业。 但事实并非如此。并非所有美国人都认同“76年精神”。 约翰·亚当斯，他成为