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In 1859, during the war for the liberation of Lombardy, a few days after the battle of Solfarino and San Martino, won by the French and Italians over the Austrians, on a beautiful morning in the month of June, a little band of cavalry of Saluzzo was proceeding at a slow pace along a retired path, in the direction of the enemy, and exploring the country attentively. The troop was commanded by an officer and a sergeant, and all were gazing into the distance ahead of them, with eyes fixed, silent, and prepared at any moment to see the uniforms of the enemy's advance-posts gleam white before them through the trees. In this order they arrived at a rustic cabin, surrounded by ash-trees, in front of which stood a solitary boy, about twelve years old, who was removing the bark from a small branch with a knife, in order to make himself a stick of it. From one window of the little house floated a large tricolored flag; there was no one inside: the peasants had fled, after hanging out the flag, for fear of the Austrians. As soon as the lad saw the cavalry, he flung aside his stick and raised his cap. He was a handsome boy, with a bold face and large blue eyes and long golden hair: he was in his shirt-sleeves and his breast was bare.
一八五九年，在解放伦巴第的战争期间，法意联军大胜奥地利军的那次索尔费里诺-圣马蒂诺战役之后几天，一个美丽的六月的清晨，萨卢佐的一支骑兵队在一条幽静的小路上向着敌军的方向缓慢前行，小心地侦察敌情。这支部队由一位军官和一名军士指挥，全都凝望着远远的前方，眼神专注，屏声噤气，随时准备发现敌军前哨在前面的树林中闪烁着白光的制服。就这样，他们来到了被白蜡树包围的一间小木屋前。那里站着一个小男孩，大约十二岁光景，正在用小刀刮一根小树枝上的树皮，想给自己做根木棍。这间小屋的一扇窗户间飘动着一大面三色旗，屋里空无一人：农民们害怕奥军来袭，挂出了国旗，就逃走了。这个男孩一看见这队骑兵，就把木棍丢在一边，举起了他的帽子。他是个英俊的男孩，英勇的脸庞上长着大大的蓝眼睛和金黄的长发。他敞开着衬衫，露出胸脯。
"What are you doing here?" the officer asked him, reining in his horse. "Why did you not flee with your family?"
“你在这里做什么？”军官勒绳停住马，问道，“你怎么不和家人一起逃走呢？”
"I have no family," replied the boy. "I am a foundling. I do a little work for everybody. I remained here to see the war."
“我没有家人，”男孩说，“我是个弃儿。我想为大家做点儿事情。我想留下来看打仗。”
"Have you seen any Austrians pass?"
“你见到奥军经过没有？”
"No; not for these three days."
“没有，这三天没有见到。”
The officer paused a while in thought; then he leaped from his horse, and leaving his soldiers there, with their faces turned towards the foe, he entered the house and mounted to the roof. The house was low; from the roof only a small tract of country was visible. "It will be necessary to climb the trees," said the officer, and descended. Just in front of the garden plot rose a very lofty and slender ash-tree, which was rocking its crest in the azure. The officer stood a brief space in thought, gazing now at the tree, and again at the soldiers; then, all of a sudden, he asked the lad:—
军官停下来深思了一会儿，然后跳下马，把士兵们留在原地观察敌方。他进到屋内，爬上了屋顶。房屋很低，从屋顶上也只能望见敌方的一小片土地。“非爬上树去不可。”军官说，然后下了屋顶。园地前正好耸立着一棵高大修长的白蜡树，树顶的枝叶在碧空中摇摆着。军官站着考虑了一小会儿，一下子盯着树看，一下子又盯着士兵们看。突然，他对那个男孩说：
"Is your sight good, you monkey?"
“你的视力好吗，小伙子？”
"Mine?" replied the boy. "I can spy a young sparrow a mile away."
“我的视力吗？”男孩回答，“我从一英里外就能看到小麻雀呢。”
"Are you good for a climb to the top of this tree?"
“你能爬上这树顶吗？”
"To the top of this tree? I? I'll be up there in half a minute."
“这棵树的树顶吗，我吗？我半分钟就可以爬上去。”
"And will you be able to tell me what you see up there—if there are Austrian soldiers in that direction, clouds of dust, gleaming guns, horses?"
“那你能告诉我，你在上面看到的情况吗——那个方向有没有奥军，有没有团团尘埃、闪亮的枪管或马匹？”
"Certainly I shall."
“我保证会的。”
"What do you demand for this service?"
“做这事你想要多少钱？”
"What do I demand?" said the lad, smiling. "Nothing. A fine thing, indeed! And then—if it were for the Germans, I wouldn't do it on any terms; but for our men! I am a Lombard!"
“我想要多少钱？”男孩笑着说，“分文不取。这实在是件好作为！假如是德国人叫我做，我是断然不肯做的，但是这是为我们自己的同胞做的啊！我是伦巴第人！”
"Good! Then up with you."
“好样的！那么你上去吧。”
"Wait a moment, until I take off my shoes."
“稍等片刻，让我先脱了皮鞋。”
He pulled off his shoes, tightened the girth of his trousers, flung his cap on the grass, and clasped the trunk of the ash.
他脱掉了鞋，绑紧了裤管，把帽子扔到草丛上，紧抱住白蜡树的树干。
"Take care, now!" exclaimed the officer, making a movement to hold him back, as though seized with a sudden terror.
“小心点儿！”军官喊道，好像突然受到了惊吓一样，作势要抱他回来。
The boy turned to look at him, with his handsome blue eyes, as though interrogating him.
男孩转回头，用他美丽的蓝眼睛看着他，好像在询问他什么。
"No matter," said the officer; "up with you."
“没事，”军官说，“你上去吧。”
Up went the lad like a cat.
男孩像猫一样地爬上去了。
"Keep watch ahead!" shouted the officer to the soldiers.
“注意监视前方！”军官对士兵们喊道。
In a few moments the boy was at the top of the tree, twined around the trunk, with his legs among the leaves, but his body displayed to view, and the sun beating down on his blond head, which seemed to be of gold. The officer could hardly see him, so small did he seem up there.
不一会儿，男孩就爬到了树顶。他身体缠绕着树干，双腿被树叶遮住了，但是上身仍然可见。阳光直直地照他金黄色的脑袋上，看上去就像是真金一样。军官几乎快看不到他了，他在那么高的地方，身体变得很小了。
"Look straight ahead and far away!" shouted the officer.
“直直地朝前方看，朝远处看！”军官喊道。
The lad, in order to see better, removed his right hand from the tree, and shaded his eyes with it.
男孩为了看得更清楚，右手放开树干，遮在眼睛上面望。
"What do you see?" asked the officer.
“你看到了什么？”军官问。
The boy inclined his head towards him, and making a speaking-trumpet of his hand, replied, "Two men on horseback, on the white road."
男孩头朝下对着军官，双手在嘴巴上圈成喇叭状，回答说：“两个骑马的人，在路上。”
"At what distance from here?"
“离这里多远？”
"Half a mile."
“半英里路。”
"Are they moving?"
“他们在走动吗？”
"They are standing still."
“他们一动不动地站着。”
"What else do you see?" asked the officer, after a momentary silence. "Look to the right." The boy looked to the right. Then he said: "Near the cemetery, among the trees, there is something glittering. It seems to be bayonets."
“你还看到什么？”军官沉默了片刻，又问道，“向右看。”男孩往右边望去。随后他说：“公墓附近，树林中，有什么东西在闪光。看上去像是刺刀。”
"Do you see men?"
“你看见人了吗？”
"No. They must be concealed in the grain."
“没有。他们肯定藏在稻田中。”
At that moment a sharp whiz of a bullet passed high up in the air, and died away in the distance, behind the house.
就在这时，“飕”的一声，一颗子弹从高空中掠过，消失在木屋后面的某处。
"Come down, my lad!" shouted the officer. "They have seen you. I don't want anything more. Come down."
“下来，我的孩子！”军官大喊，“他们看见你了。不需要更多情报了。下来吧。”
"I'm not afraid," replied the boy.
“我不怕。”男孩回答。
"Come down!" repeated the officer. "What else do you see to the left?"
“下来！”军官又喊，“左边你又看到什么？”
"To the left?"
“左边吗？”
"Yes, to the left."
“是的，左边。”
The lad turned his head to the left: at that moment, another whistle, more acute and lower than the first, cut the air. The boy was thoroughly aroused. "Deuce take them!" he exclaimed. "They actually are aiming at me!" The bullet had passed at a short distance from him.
男孩把头转向左边。就在那时，另一声“飕飕”地划破天空，比先前那次更刺耳，飞得更低。男孩完全激动了。“见鬼！”他嚷道，“他们真的是瞄准我的！”子弹从他身旁飞过，距离很近。
"Down!" shouted the officer, imperious and irritated.
“下来！”军官急躁地吼着命令道。
"I'll come down presently," replied the boy. "But the tree shelters me. Don't fear. You want to know what there is on the left?"
“我立刻下来。”男孩回答，“但是有树掩护我。我不怕。你想知道左边情况怎样吗？”
"Yes, on the left," answered the officer; "but come down."
“是的，左边，”军官说，“但是你要下来。”
"On the left," shouted the lad, thrusting his body out in that direction, "yonder, where there is a chapel, I think I see—"
“左边，”男孩身体往左倾，大声道，“左边，有座小教堂，我想我看见——”
A third fierce whistle passed through the air, and almost instantaneously the boy was seen to descend, catching for a moment at the trunk and branches, and then falling headlong with arms outspread.
第三发子弹穿过空中，几乎在同时，男孩身体开始下落，被树干和树枝暂时拦截了一会儿，然后张开双臂猛地摔到了地上。
"Curse it!" exclaimed the officer, running up.
“该死！”军官嚷道，跑上前去。
The boy landed on the ground, upon his back, and remained stretched out there, with arms outspread and supine; a stream of blood flowed from his breast, on the left. The sergeant and two soldiers leaped from their horses; the officer bent over and opened his shirt: the ball had entered his left lung. "He is dead!" exclaimed the officer.
男孩脸朝天躺在地上，还保持着向外伸展的姿势，双臂张开着，手掌心朝上，一股鲜血从他的左胸迸出。军士和两个士兵跳下了马；军官弯下身，解开了他的衬衫：子弹射入了他的左肺。“他死了！”军官喊道。
"No, he still lives!" replied the sergeant.— "Ah, poor boy! brave boy!" cried the officer. "Courage, courage!" But while he was saying "courage," he was pressing his handkerchief on the wound. The boy rolled his eyes wildly and dropped his head back. He was dead. The officer turned pale and stood for a moment gazing at him; then he laid him down carefully on his cloak upon the grass; then rose and stood looking at him; the sergeant and two soldiers also stood motionless, gazing upon him: the rest were facing in the direction of the enemy.
“不，他还活着！”军士回答。“啊，可怜的孩子！勇敢的孩子！”军官哭喊着，“勇敢些，勇敢些！”正当他说着“勇敢些”的时候，他用手帕按压住男孩的伤口。男孩眼珠飞速滚了滚，头向后垂了下去。他死了。军官脸色发白，站在那里睁睁地看着他好一会儿；接着小心翼翼地把男孩横倒在铺在草丛上的他的外衣上，然后站起来看着他；军士和两个士兵也一动不动地站着，看着他。其他的士兵面朝敌方。
"Poor boy!" repeated the officer. "Poor, brave boy!"
“可怜的孩子！”军官重复说道，“可怜的，勇敢的孩子！”
Then he approached the house, removed the tricolor from the window, and spread it in guise of a funeral pall over the little dead boy, leaving his face uncovered. The sergeant collected the dead boy's shoes, cap, his little stick, and his knife, and placed them beside him.
随后他走向木屋，将窗户上的三色旗取下，铺开来盖在死去的男孩身上做柩衣，只露出男孩的脸。军士集拢了死去的男孩的鞋、帽子、小木棍和刀，把它们放在他身旁。
They stood for a few moments longer in silence; then the officer turned to the sergeant and said to him, "We will send the ambulance for him: he died as a soldier; the soldiers shall bury him." Having said this, he wafted a kiss with his hand to the dead boy, and shouted "To horse!" All sprang into the saddle, the troop drew together and resumed its road.
他们又在静默中站了良久，然后军官转向军士，对他说：“我们要抬担架来，他是作为士兵牺牲的，士兵们该好好地葬他。”说完这些，他用手献了一吻给死去的男孩，喊道：“上马！”全体上了马，整齐队伍重新上路。
And a few hours later the little dead boy received the honors of war.
几小时之后，这个死去的小男孩就被授予了战争的勋章。
At sunset the whole line of the Italian advance-posts marched forward towards the foe, and along the same road which had been traversed in the morning by the detachment of cavalry, there proceeded, in two files, a heavy battalion of sharpshooters, who, a few days before, had valiantly watered the hill of San Martino with blood. The news of the boy's death had already spread among the soldiers before they left the encampment. The path, flanked by a rivulet, ran a few paces distant from the house. When the first officers of the battalion caught sight of the little body stretched at the foot of the ash-tree and covered with the tricolored banner, they made the salute to it with their swords, and one of them bent over the bank of the streamlet, which was covered with flowers at that spot, plucked a couple of blossoms and threw them on it. Then all the sharpshooters, as they passed, plucked flowers and threw them on the body. In a few minutes the boy was covered with flowers, and officers and soldiers all saluted him as they passed by: "Bravo, little Lombard!" "Farewell, my lad!" "I salute thee, gold locks!" "Hurrah!" "Glory!" "Farewell!" One officer tossed him his medal for valor; another went and kissed his brow. And flowers continued to rain down on his bare feet, on his blood-stained breast, on his golden head. And there he lay asleep on the grass, enveloped in his flag, with a white and almost smiling face, poor boy! as though he heard these salutes and was glad that he had given his life for his Lombardy.
日落时分，意军的前哨沿着早晨这支骑兵的分遣队走过的道路，整体向敌军进发。那是一整营的神枪手，列成两队，不久前曾英勇地血洗了圣马丁山。士兵们离开营地以前，男孩死去的消息就已经传遍了。这条侧面有小溪流过的道路，与木屋相距只有几步。当营内第一队军官看到躺在白蜡树下、盖着三色旗的小小身躯时，他们挥剑对他行了军礼。其中有一位军官来到遍布鲜花的溪岸边，俯身采摘了几朵鲜花，抛撒在尸体上。随后，当经过此地时，所有的神枪手们都摘了鲜花向尸体上抛撒。不一会儿，男孩身上盖满了鲜花，军官和士兵们经过时都高呼道：“做得好，小伦巴第人！”“永别了，我的孩子！”“我向你致敬，金发男孩！”“好哇！”“好家伙！”“永别了！”一位军官把自己的英勇勋章向他抛去，另一位前去亲吻了他的额头。鲜花继续如雨点般落在他的光脚上、他血染的胸膛上，还有他金色的头上。他躺在草丛上沉睡，包裹在国旗里，露出苍白的几乎在微笑的脸，可怜的孩子！好像他能听到这些致敬的言语，并且很欣慰能为他的伦巴第捐躯。