Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 Paul threw himself out of the way and smashed into the wall of thick, towering bushes that lined the road. He held his breath. The soldiers zoomed by. They were a blur of gray metal and black leather and red Nazi flags. Those soldiers would have run him down, Paul knew. They would have crushed him under speeding wheels and left him for dead. Like a worm cut in two by a plow.

第四章保罗猛地闪开，一头撞在路旁茂密、高耸的灌木丛上。 他屏住了呼吸。士兵们呼啸而过。 它们是灰色金属、黑色皮革和红色纳粹旗帜的模糊组合。 保罗知道那些士兵会把他撞倒的。 他们会把他压在高速行驶的车轮下等死。 就像被犁切成两半的虫子。

Where were those soldiers going? The question stabbed him in the gut. He knew that somebody was about to get arrested — or shot. Paul pulled himself out of the thick, prickly bushes and stared at the cookies — or what little was left of them. The box lay open a few feet away in front of a gate in the hedge. The cookies were smashed to pieces. Paul desperately tried to scoop up the crumbs. But it was useless. Hot tears stung his eyes. He hated those men! He wanted to chase them down, knock them off their bikes, rip away those swastika flags and stamp them under his boots. Of course Paul couldn't do that. All he could do was sit here in the road, crying like a baby over a pile of cookie crumbs. But Paul knew that wasn't what was truly bothering him. It was this helpless feeling. There was nothing he could do to fight back against the Nazis.

那些士兵要去哪里？ 这个问题刺痛了他的心。 他知道有人要被逮捕了——或者被枪杀了。 保罗从茂密多刺的灌木丛中爬了出来，盯着饼干——或者是剩下的那一点点饼干。 箱子打开了，放在几英尺外树篱中的一扇门前。 饼干被砸碎了。 保罗拼命地想把面包屑捞起来。 但这毫无用处。热泪刺痛了他的眼睛。 他恨那些人！他想追上他们，把他们从自行车上撞下来，扯下那些纳粹旗帜，把它们踩在脚下。 保罗当然不能那样做。 他所能做的就是坐在路上，对着一堆饼干屑哭得像个婴儿。 但保罗知道这并不是真正困扰他的事情。 就是这种无助的感觉。 他对反抗纳粹无能为力。

Nothing anyone could do. Papa had tried to fight back… and look what had happened to him. He'd joined the French army right after Germany invaded France. Within six weeks, the Germans had killed tens of thousands of French soldiers. They took nearly two million men prisoner, including Papa. France surrendered. Now the Nazi flag flapped over the Eiffel Tower — and most of Europe, too. And Papa? He was trapped in a Nazi prison camp somewhere in Germany. Paul and Maman hadn't heard from him in four years. Paul shook his head to clear his mind. He couldn't just sit here crying all day. He was brushing off his trousers when he heard a strange sound. "Coo-roo." He looked up, and a plump gray bird was staring at him from the bushes. The bird swooped through the air and landed at Paul's feet.

任何人都无能为力。爸爸曾试图反击，但看看他的下场。 他在德国入侵法国后加入了法国军队。 在六个星期内，德国人杀死了成千上万的法国士兵。 他们俘虏了将近两百万人，包括爸爸。 法国投降了。现在，纳粹旗帜在埃菲尔铁塔上飘扬，在欧洲大部分地区也是如此。 和爸爸吗?他被困在德国某地的纳粹战俘营里。 保罗和妈妈已经四年没有他的消息了。 保罗摇了摇头，使头脑清醒。 他不能整天坐在这里哭。 当他听到一个奇怪的声音时，他正在掸掉裤子。 “Coo-roo。”他抬头一看，只见一只胖胖的灰鸟正从灌木丛中盯着他看。 那只鸟从空中俯冲下来，落在保罗的脚边。

It must have come for the cookies. "Go ahead," Paul said, motioning to the crumbs. "Someone should eat them." But the bird ignored the crumbs. It peered up at Paul. It had very shiny eyes, gold with a dot of black in the middle. "Coo-roo," it said brightly. "Coo-roo, coo-roo, coo-roo." It fluffed its feathers at Paul. And then it flew around in a slow circle, hovering for a moment right in front of his face. "Coo-roo." "What?" Paul asked gently. "What do you want?" Was he actually talking to a pigeon? Yes. And the pigeon seemed to be talking to him. "Coo-roo." The bird took off over the hedge into the meadow. And Paul walked through the gate after it. It had been a bad morning. Following a friendly

它一定是来吃饼干的。 “来吧，”保罗指着面包屑说。 “应该有人把它们吃了。” 但是鸟儿对面包屑视而不见。 它抬头凝视着保罗。它有一双闪闪发光的眼睛，金色的，中间有一个黑点。 “咕咕，”它欢快地说。 “咕咕，咕咕，咕咕。” 它对保罗抖了抖羽毛。 然后它慢慢地绕着圈子飞，在他面前盘旋了一会儿。 “Coo-roo。”“什么?”保罗温和地问。 “你想要什么？”他真的在和鸽子说话吗？ 是的。鸽子似乎在跟他说话。 “Coo-roo。”那只鸟飞过树篱飞到草地上。 保罗也跟着进了门。 这是一个糟糕的早晨。 在一个友好的

bird into a meadow didn't seem like such a bad idea. The bird flew low, looped around Paul, and headed for a tall apple tree in the middle of the meadow. It circled the tree as Paul walked through the tall grass to join it. Then, all of a sudden, the bird zipped up into the leaves and Paul lost sight of it. He gazed up through the branches, searching for the bird. Something wet dropped onto Paul's head. He wiped it away and glanced at his hand. It was streaked with blood. He cautiously stepped aside, and looked up. Paul froze at what he saw. His mouth fell open but he was too shocked to scream.

鸟飞到草地上似乎不是个坏主意。 那只鸟飞得很低，绕着保罗转了一圈，飞向草地中央的一棵高大的苹果树。 它绕着树转，保罗穿过高高的草丛去找它。 然后，突然，那只鸟飞进了树叶里，保罗看不见它了。 他透过树枝往上看，寻找那只鸟。 有什么湿东西落在保罗的头上。 他擦了擦，看了一眼自己的手。 上面有血迹。 他小心翼翼地走到一边，抬起头来。 保罗被眼前的景象吓呆了。 他的嘴张得大大的，但他吓得叫不出声来。