18 The Letter

CHAPTER 18 The Letter The troop was standing at attention at the side of a road, waiting for the command to march. Suddenly Henry remembered the little packet wrapped in a faded yellow envelope that Wilson had given him the other day. "Wilson," Henry called to his friend. "What?" Wilson was staring down the road. For some strange reason, the look on his face at that moment made him appear very frightened. Henry felt that he should change

部队立正站在路边，等待行军的命令。 突然，亨利想起了威尔逊前几天给他的那个装在褪色的黄色信封里的小包裹。 “威尔逊，”亨利对他的朋友喊道。 “什么?”威尔逊盯着马路。 出于某种奇怪的原因，那一刻他脸上的表情使他显得非常害怕。 亨利觉得他应该改变

the subject. "Oh, nothing," Henry said. He decided not to remind him of the other day, when Wilson had felt so scared and certain that he was going to die that he gave Henry the envelope. To remind him of that moment of fear would just be mean. Henry used to be afraid of Wilson, for it used to be so easy to upset him. But now, Henry had a new plan. If Wilson asked him about what had really happened the previous day—if he discovered that Henry had actually run from battle—then Henry would bring out the little envelope and remind him of how scared he had been. It was like a weapon he could use to protect himself from being laughed at. In a rare weak moment, Wilson had spoken with sobs of his own death. He had given Henry the envelope, which probably held keepsakes for his relatives. Now Henry felt

这个话题。“哦，没什么，”亨利说。 他决定不让他想起那天的事，那天威尔逊感到非常害怕，确信自己会死，于是他把信封给了亨利。 提醒他那一刻的恐惧太刻薄了。 亨利过去很怕威尔逊，因为过去很容易惹他生气。 但现在，亨利有了一个新计划。 如果威尔逊问他前一天到底发生了什么事——如果他发现亨利真的从战场上逃跑了——亨利就会拿出那个小信封，提醒他他是多么害怕。 这就像一件武器，他可以用来保护自己不被嘲笑。 在罕见的虚弱时刻，威尔逊啜泣着讲述了自己的死亡。 他把信封给了亨利，里面可能装着给他亲戚的纪念品。 现在亨利觉得

that he was better than his friend. He even felt sorry for Wilson. Henry now had his pride back. Yes, he had made mistakes, but no one would ever know about them. He was still a man. He did not think about the battles that were coming soon. He would not have to plan how he would deal with them. He had learned yesterday that he would not be punished for avoiding his duties. Besides, he was now feeling confident. He had more faith in himself. He was now a man of experience. He had been in danger, had seen the worst that could happen, and now believed that it was not that bad. Anyway, Henry thought, how could they kill him when it was obvious that he had been chosen for greatness? How else could he have survived everything that had happened already? He remembered how some of the other

他比他的朋友好。 他甚至为威尔逊感到难过。 亨利现在又找回了他的自尊。 是的，他犯过错误，但没有人会知道。 他还是个男人。他没有想到即将到来的战斗。 他不必计划如何对付他们。 他昨天得知他不会因为逃避职责而受到惩罚。 此外，他现在感到很自信。 他对自己更有信心了。 他现在是一个有经验的人了。 他一直处于危险之中，看到了可能发生的最坏的情况，现在他相信情况并没有那么糟糕。 无论如何，亨利想，他们怎么能在他被选为伟大人物的时候杀了他呢？ 否则他怎么能从已经发生的一切中幸存下来呢？ 他想起了其他的一些

men had run from the battle. As he thought about their terror-filled faces, he felt that he didn't like them. They had been weak and had run too quickly, when everyone could see them. He had run secretly and with pride. Wilson coughed loudly and brought him back from his daydreaming. "Henry," he said. "What?" asked Henry. Wilson coughed again. He moved around as if he was uncomfortable. "Well," he said at last. His face was red. "I guess you can give me back that letter." "All right, Wilson," Henry said after a few moments. He opened his jacket and removed the letter from his inside pocket. He gave it to Wilson, who was so embarrassed that he couldn't even look at Henry. Henry had done this slowly because he was

人们从战场上逃跑了。 当他想到他们充满恐惧的面孔时，他觉得自己不喜欢他们。 他们太弱了，跑得太快了，大家都看见了。 他偷偷地、骄傲地跑了。 威尔逊大声咳嗽，把他从白日梦中拉了回来。 “亨利，”他说。“什么？”亨利问。 威尔逊又咳嗽了一声。他走来走去，好像感到很不舒服。 “嗯，”他最后说。他的脸涨得通红。 “我想你可以把那封信还给我。” “好吧，威尔逊，”亨利过了一会儿说。 他打开夹克，从里面的口袋里取出那封信。 他把它递给威尔逊，威尔逊尴尬得连看都不敢看亨利一眼。 亨利做得很慢，因为他

thinking of something to say about the letter. But he couldn't think of anything to say, so instead he decided he would be nice and not tease his friend. After this, Henry thought again about the battles he had seen so far. He was sure that he could now return home and make people's hearts glow with stories of war. He could see himself in a room telling tales to listeners. He saw his audience imagining him as the hero in all kinds of blazing scenes.

我在想关于这封信要说些什么。 但他不知道该说什么，所以他决定表现得好一点，不取笑他的朋友。 在这之后，亨利再次回想起他迄今为止所看到的战斗。 他确信他现在可以回家了，用战争的故事让人们的心发光。 他可以想象自己在一个房间里给听众讲故事。 他看到观众把他想象成各种激烈场面中的英雄。