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His son had been a volunteer in the army when he died: this is the reason why the head-master always goes to the Corso to see the soldiers pass, when we come out of school. Yesterday a regiment of infantry was passing, and fifty boys began to dance around the band, singing and beating time with their rulers on their bags and portfolios. We were standing in a group on the sidewalk, watching them: Garrone, squeezed into his clothes, which were too tight for him, was biting at a large piece of bread; Votini, the well-dressed boy, who always wears Florence plush; Precossi, the son of the blacksmith, with his father's jacket; and the Calabrian; and the "little mason"; and Crossi, with his red head; and Franti, with his bold face; and Robetti, too, the son of artillery captain, the boy who saved the child from the omnibus, and who now walks on crutches. Franti burst into a derisive laugh, in the face of a soldier who was limping. But all at once he felt a man's hand on his shoulder: he turned round; it was the head-master. "Take care," said the master to him; "jeering at a soldier when he is in the ranks, when he can neither avenge himself nor reply, is like insulting a man who is bound: it is baseness."
校长的儿子死的时候正在军队里当志愿兵，这就是为什么我们放学的时候，他常常走去科索大街看军队通过。昨天一支步兵联队经过，五十个男孩开始围着列队又唱又跳，还一边用尺子在书包和文件夹上打着拍子。我们聚集在人行道上，看着他们：卡隆缩在对他来说太紧的衣服里，啃着一大块面包；衣着考究的男孩华梯尼，总是穿着佛罗伦萨长毛绒；铁匠的儿子泼来可西穿着他父亲的夹克；还有那个卡拉布里亚男孩、“小石匠”、红头发的克洛西、长着宽脸的弗兰蒂，还有炮兵上尉的儿子洛佩谛，就是从公共马车下救人的男孩，他现在要拄着拐杖行走。弗兰蒂当着一个跛行的士兵的面，爆发出一声嘲笑。突然，他感到有人拍了他的肩头。他回过头一看，发现是校长。“当心啊，”校长对他说，“嘲笑一名行进队伍中的士兵，他既没法报复也不能回答，就好像侮辱一个被绑住的人一样，是一种卑鄙的做法。”
Franti disappeared. The soldiers were marching by fours, all perspiring and covered with dust, and their guns were gleaming in the sun. The head-master said:—
弗兰蒂消失了。士兵们分作四列行进，身上满是汗水和灰尘，枪支在阳光下闪闪发光。校长说：
"You ought to feel kindly towards soldiers, boys. They are our defenders, who would go to be killed for our sakes, if a foreign army were to menace our country Tomorrow. They are boys too; they are not many years older than you; and they, too, go to school; and there are poor men and gentlemen among them, just as there are among you, and they come from every part of Italy. See if you cannot recognize them by their faces; Sicilians are passing, and Sardinians, and Neapolitans, and Lombards. This is an old regiment, one of those which fought in 1848. They are not the same soldiers, but the flag is still the same. How many have already died for our country around that banner twenty years before you were born!"
“你们应该喜爱士兵们，孩子们。他们是我们的保卫者。明日若是有敌军来犯，他们愿意为保护我们献出生命。他们也还只是孩子，比你们大不了几岁；他们也上学；你们中间有穷人也有绅士，他们也是一样。他们来自意大利的每寸土地。看看你们能不能从他们的脸认出他们来自哪里。西西里人走过去了，还有撒丁人、那不勒斯人，和伦巴第人。这是一支老联队，是曾经参与一八四八年的战争的一支队伍。士兵们已不是当年的士兵，但旗帜仍是当年的那面旗帜。在你们出生二十年以前，有多少士兵为了保卫我们的国家在军旗下战死啊！”
"Here it is!" said Garrone. And in fact, not far off, the flag was visible, advancing, above the heads of the soldiers.
“军旗来了！”卡隆说。真的，不远处，军旗在士兵们的头顶飘扬着前进。
"Do one thing, my sons," said the head-master; "make your scholar's salute, with your hand to your brow, when the tricolor passes."
“大家做一件事，我的孩子们，”校长说，“当三色旗经过时，大家手举到额前，向它行个军礼。”
The flag, borne by an officer, passed before us, all tattered and faded, and with the medals attached to the staff. We put our hands to our foreheads, all together. The officer looked at us with a smile, and returned our salute with his hand.
一位士官手扛着军旗从我们面前经过，那旗已经破裂且褪色了，旗杆上挂着许多勋章。我们一齐把手举向前额。那位士官对我们投以微笑，并用手向我们回礼。
"Bravi, boys!" said some one behind us. We turned to look; it was an old man who wore in his button-hole the blue ribbon of the Crimean campaign—a pensioned officer. "Bravi!" he said; "you have done a fine deed."
“做得好，孩子们！”后面有人说道。我们转过身去看，发现一位退休军官——他的扣眼里系着克里米亚战役的蓝色缎带。“做得好啊！”他说，“你们做了件高尚的事情。”
In the meantime, the band of the regiment had made a turn at the end of the Corso, surrounded by a throng of boys, and a hundred merry shouts accompanied the blasts of the trumpets, like a war-song.
就在这时，联队在科索大街的尽头转了方向，他们被一群孩子们簇拥着，成百上千快乐的呼声伴着小号的鸣响，就像是一支战歌。
"Bravi!" repeated the old officer, as he gazed upon us; "he who respects the flag when he is little will know how to defend it when he is grown up."
“做得好啊！”那位老军官边看着我们边重复道，“那些小时候懂得尊敬军旗的人，长大了也会懂得去捍卫它的。”