Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 THE DAY BEFORE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1944 THE TOWN OF LE ROC NORMANDY, FRANCE AROUND 11:00 A.M. Paul kicked his soccer ball along the winding dirt road. For the first time in months, he wasn't worrying about the miserable war. He wasn't

第二章1944年6月5日星期三的前一天上午11点左右，法国诺曼底勒洛克镇 保罗沿着弯弯曲曲的土路踢足球。 几个月来，他第一次不用担心这场悲惨的战争了。 他不是

wondering whether he'd ever see Papa again. He wasn't thinking about Adolf Hitler, the evil German Nazi leader, or his soldiers who'd invaded Paul's country, his town, and his life. This is going to be a good day, he told himself. It was his mother's birthday. Paul was going to buy her some cookies. How long had it been since he or his mother — Maman — had eaten a cookie or a cake or a bar of chocolate? He had no idea. With the war in its fifth year, all the best foods had disappeared. Poor Maman made her coffee out of ground acorns mixed with hot water. Paul's mouth watered as he remembered biting into a chocolate éclair, with the sweet, velvety cream that slid down his throat. Or a crepe filled with strawberry jam that made his fingers sticky all day. Maman's favorites were madeleines, little buttery cookies that melted in your mouth. So that's what Paul would get for her.

不知道他还能不能再见到爸爸。 他没有想到阿道夫·希特勒，邪恶的德国纳粹领袖，也没有想到他的士兵入侵了保罗的国家、他的城镇和他的生活。 这将是美好的一天，他告诉自己。 那天是他妈妈的生日。 保罗打算给她买些饼干。 他和他的母亲——妈妈——有多久没吃过饼干、蛋糕或巧克力了？ 他不知道。随着战争进入第五年，所有最好的食物都消失了。 可怜的妈妈把磨碎的橡子和热水混合在一起煮咖啡。 当保罗想起咬一口巧克力甜饼时，他流口水了，甜甜的天鹅绒般的奶油顺着他的喉咙滑了下来。 或者是一个草莓果酱的可丽饼，让他的手指整天都黏糊糊的。 妈妈最喜欢的是玛德琳蛋糕，一种入口即化的黄油小饼干。 这就是保罗给她的礼物。

Paul pictured Maman now — her gentle eyes, her warm smile. She worked all the time, sewing and mending clothing to support them. Some mornings she was gone making deliveries before he climbed out of bed. Making Maman happy was worth anything to Paul. Even his soccer ball. He gave the brown leather ball a gentle tap with his toe. That's how he was going to get Maman her cookies. He would sell the ball. Right now he was heading to the dingy little market down by the river. That's where desperate people from Le Roc went to sell things — their wedding rings, their prized books, their last pair of shoes. Nobody played much soccer these days. Practically every young man in Europe was either fighting in the war or was a prisoner of the Germans. But Paul's soccer ball was leather,

保罗现在想象着妈妈——她温柔的眼睛，她温暖的微笑。 她一直在工作，缝纫和缝补衣服来养活他们。 有些早晨，他还没起床，她就出去送东西了。 让妈妈开心对保罗来说是值得的。 甚至他的足球。他用脚趾轻轻地敲了一下棕色皮球。 他就是这样给妈妈拿饼干的。 他会把球卖掉。现在他正朝河边那个肮脏的小市场走去。 来自勒洛克的绝望的人们去那里卖东西——他们的结婚戒指，他们珍贵的书，他们最后一双鞋。 这些天没人经常踢足球。 实际上，欧洲的每一个年轻人要么参加了战争，要么成了德国人的俘虏。 但保罗的足球是皮革的，

which was scarce. Someone could cut it up and turn it into a pair of shoes or gloves. Paul flinched as he imagined his ball getting butchered. He kicked it even more gently. Maman and Papa had given it to him for his seventh birthday. He'd rushed over to show it to his best friend, Gerard. They were both soccer fanatics. "Now we're going to the World Cup for sure!" Gerard had said, pushing his curls out of his eyes and cracking that bright, lopsided smile of his. Over the next few years, this ball had gone everywhere with them. They'd chased it thousands of times across their schoolyard. They'd dribbled it through the wheat fields and orchards and down every cobblestoned street of their town. They'd practiced penalty kicks on the beach as the waves crashed, diving into the sand to stop the ball from rolling into the ocean.

这是稀缺的。有人可以把它切开，做成一双鞋或手套。 当保罗想象他的球被屠杀时，他畏缩了。 他踢得更轻了。 这是爸爸妈妈送给他的七岁生日礼物。 他冲过去给他最好的朋友杰拉德看。 他们都是足球迷。 “现在我们肯定要去世界杯了！”杰勒德说着，把他的卷发从眼睛里拨开，绽开了他那明亮的、歪斜的微笑。 在接下来的几年里，这个球随他们到处跑。 他们在校园里追了它几千次。 他们在麦田和果园里，在镇上的每条鹅卵石街道上都洒着水。 当海浪袭来的时候，他们在沙滩上练习点球，扑到沙滩上阻止球滚进大海。

"Race you!" Paul would shout, and he and Gerard would go charging after the ball. Paul still loved the game. But he hadn't touched the soccer ball in months. Not since Gerard had disappeared. The Nazis had taken Gerard and his family away. Paul's stomach twisted as he thought about it. One cold night in March, the Nazis had arrested every Jewish person in town and shoved them into trucks. Nobody knew for sure where the Nazis had taken them, but there were rumors too horrifying to believe. About children torn away from their parents. About train cars where people were packed so tightly they couldn't breathe. About huge prisons where people were starved and worked to death. Some nights Paul lay in his bed, praying that what he'd heard wasn't true. Paul gave his ball a furious kick. Then he closed his eyes and took a breath. No, he told

“比赛你!”保罗会大喊大叫，然后他和杰拉德会冲过去抢球。 保罗仍然热爱这项运动。 但他已经好几个月没碰过足球了。 自从杰勒德失踪后就没有了。 纳粹带走了杰勒德和他的家人。 保罗想到这事，胃里一阵抽搐。 三月的一个寒冷的夜晚，纳粹逮捕了镇上所有的犹太人，把他们塞进卡车里。 没有人确切地知道纳粹把他们带到哪里去了，但有一些谣言可怕得令人难以置信。 关于孩子们与父母分离的故事。 火车车厢里的人挤得都喘不过气来。 讲的是人们在巨大的监狱里挨饿和工作致死的故事。 有些夜晚，保罗躺在床上，祈祷他所听到的不是真的。 保罗狠狠地踢了一下他的球。 然后他闭上眼睛，吸了一口气。 不，他说

himself. He wasn't going to think about the Nazis today. It was Maman's birthday. This was going to be a good day.

他自己。他今天不会去想纳粹。 那天是妈妈的生日。这将是美好的一天。