Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 They all sat together around Mr. Jablonski's scratched wooden table. It was covered with more food than Max or Zena had seen in a year. There was nothing fancy, just bread, cheese, apples, and a pitcher of frothy milk. But to Max it looked like a holiday feast. Mr. Jablonski filled two plates for Max and Zena, and neither of them even tried to remember their manners. They gobbled their food, washing down huge mouthfuls with gulps of milk. Mr. Jablonski kept refilling their plates as Martin and Lev looked on with smiles. The men

他们都围坐在雅布伦斯基先生那张有划痕的木桌旁。 里面的食物比马克斯和泽娜一年见过的都多。 没有什么特别的东西，只有面包、奶酪、苹果和一罐起泡的牛奶。 但对麦克斯来说，这就像是一场节日盛宴。 雅布隆斯基先生给马克斯和泽娜盛了两个盘子，他们俩甚至都没想过要记住自己的举止。 他们狼吞虎咽地吃着东西，大口大口地喝着牛奶。 雅布伦斯基不停地往他们的盘子里添菜，马丁和列弗在一旁笑着看着。 的男人

acted as if Max and Zena were part of their families, too. Martin was the youngest of the group — he looked about seventeen. He was as big as a bear, with a quick laugh. Lev seemed to be just a little older than Aunt Hannah, small but very muscular. His round glasses gave him a shy and bookish look. But his eyes were steely, and Max could see by the way the others listened to him that he was the leader of their little group. Mr. Jablonski wasn't Jewish or a partisan — he was a spy. He'd tricked the Nazis into thinking he

表现得好像马克斯和泽娜也是他们家庭的一部分。 马丁是这群人中最年轻的——看上去大约十七岁。 他像熊一样大，笑得很快。 列弗似乎只比汉娜姨妈大一点，个子虽小，但肌肉发达。 他的圆眼镜使他显得腼腆而有书生气。 但他的眼睛是钢铁般的，从其他人听他说话的样子，马克斯可以看出他是他们小团体的领袖。 雅布隆斯基既不是犹太人也不是游击队员——他是个间谍。 他欺骗纳粹，让他们以为他

loved Hitler. He'd even become close friends with the Nazi commander in the area. But secretly he was working with the partisans — helping plot their missions, hiding them in his barn, supplying them with food and news from the outside. After Max and Zena finished eating, Lev spread a map across the table. He traced their route back to the forest. If they were lucky, they'd reach their camp by sundown tomorrow night. They also talked about the war, showing Max and Zena on the map where the latest battles were being fought. In the ghetto, newspapers and radios had been forbidden. Nobody had any real idea about what was happening outside the barbed wire fence. The Nazis always made it seem as though they were crushing their enemies, and that any day Hitler would be the leader of the entire world. But now Max and Zena learned the amazing truth — Germany was losing the war! The Nazis still controlled most of the countries in Europe, but their grip was slipping. American

喜欢希特勒。他甚至与该地区的纳粹指挥官成了亲密的朋友。 但他秘密地与游击队合作——帮助他们策划任务，把他们藏在他的谷仓里，为他们提供食物和来自外面的消息。 马克斯和泽娜吃完饭后，列夫在桌子上摊开了一张地图。 他追踪他们回到森林的路线。 如果幸运的话，他们可以在明晚日落前到达营地。 他们还谈到了战争，在地图上给马克斯和泽娜指出了最近的战斗地点。 在犹太人区，报纸和收音机是被禁止的。 没有人真正知道铁丝网外面发生了什么。 纳粹总是让人觉得他们正在粉碎他们的敌人，而且希特勒总有一天会成为整个世界的领袖。 但是现在马克斯和泽娜得知了一个惊人的事实——德国正在输掉这场战争!纳粹仍然控制着欧洲的大部分国家，但他们的控制正在下滑。 美国

and British forces were battering them in France and other areas to the west. But the real trouble for the Nazis was on the other side of the map, in Russia. Lev pointed to that giant country, which stretched out to Poland's east. "Hitler has sent millions of German soldiers to Russia," Lev said. "He figured the Russians would surrender within a few weeks." But the Russians were determined fighters, and the battles dragged on and on. By now, German troops were running low on weapons, food, and warm clothes. The Nazis kept loading up trains with supplies. But few of these trains made it to Russia. "We're blowing them all up," Martin said, flashing a smile. Different partisan groups were targeting trains all over the east. Lately they'd been destroying hundreds of trains every week.

英国军队在法国和其他西部地区对他们进行了打击。 但纳粹真正的麻烦在地图的另一边，在俄罗斯。 列夫指着这个一直延伸到波兰东部的大国。 “希特勒向俄罗斯派遣了数百万德国士兵，”列夫说。 “他认为俄国人会在几周内投降。” 但是俄国人是坚定的战士，战斗一直拖着。 这时，德军的武器、食物和保暖衣物都快用完了。 纳粹一直在往火车上装补给品。 但这些列车很少能到达俄罗斯。 “我们要把他们都炸了。”马丁笑着说。 不同的党派组织在东部各地袭击火车。 最近，他们每周都要摧毁数百列火车。

"But tonight's train was one of the most important," Lev told them. It had more than thirty railcars, packed with machine guns, tons of ammunition, and winter uniforms. But most important: Panzer tanks. "There were twenty of them," Martin added. Max shuddered as he remembered the enormous steel beasts rumbling through the streets of Esties, their guns powerful enough to blast away an entire building in one shot. For weeks after the invasion, Max had nightmares that a Panzer was chasing him. He'd wake up drenched in sweat, his arms and legs aching as though he'd been running for his life. To destroy the train, Aunt Hannah, Lev, and Martin had carried a fifty-pound explosive from their base in the forest. They traveled in the dead of night, dodging Nazi soldiers guarding the tracks. They climbed onto a train bridge that stretched across two high ridges, and tied the bomb to the underside of the tracks.

“但今晚的火车是最重要的一次，”列夫告诉他们。 它有三十多节火车车厢，装满了机枪、成吨的弹药和冬季制服。 但最重要的是:装甲坦克。 “有二十个人，”马丁补充说。 当马克斯想起那些巨大的钢铁野兽隆隆地穿过埃斯蒂斯的街道时，他打了个寒颤，他们的枪威力强大，足以一枪炸毁整座建筑。 入侵后的几个星期，麦克斯一直做噩梦，梦见一辆坦克在追他。 他醒来时浑身是汗，胳膊和腿都很疼，好像他一直在逃命。 为了摧毁火车，汉娜姨妈、列弗和马丁从他们在森林里的基地带了一个50磅重的炸药。 他们在夜深人静的时候旅行，躲避看守铁轨的纳粹士兵。 他们爬上一座横跨两座高脊的火车桥，把炸弹绑在铁轨的下面。

Then they hid behind a rock, readied the bomb's detonator, and waited for the train. Hours passed. But then, finally… Whoooooooooooooooo! Whoooooooooooooooo! The train barreled toward the bridge. Black smoke belched from the stack of the massive locomotive. A Nazi flag glowed in the moonlight. And there were the Panzer tanks, each sitting on its own flatbed railcar. Behind them, an endless line of railcars was packed with supplies for the Nazi troops. The train approached the bridge. With a flick of a finger, Lev triggered the blast. Kaboom! The bomb exploded in a massive ball of fire. In a flash, the bridge crumbled, its wooden supports snapping like toothpicks. The train's locomotive seemed to hang helplessly in the air for a moment. And then it

然后他们躲在一块石头后面，准备好炸弹的雷管，等待火车。 几个小时过去了。但是，最后……呜呜呜呜呜呜呜!Whoooooooooooooooo !火车向桥飞驰而去。 巨大的火车头烟囱冒出黑烟。 一面纳粹旗帜在月光下闪闪发光。 还有坦克，每辆都开在自己的平板车上。 在他们身后，一排无尽的火车车厢装满了纳粹军队的补给。 火车驶近了桥。 莱弗用手指轻轻一弹，引爆了爆炸。 大爆炸!炸弹爆炸成一个巨大的火球。 刹那间，桥倒塌了，它的木制支撑像牙签一样折断了。 火车的火车头似乎在空中无助地悬了一会儿。 然后