美国语文第五册 第105期:马萨诸塞州的监狱叛乱(5)(在线收听

   Major Wainright was requested to order his men to fire down upon the convicts through the little windows,  韦恩赖特海军少将接到请求,请求下令手下陆战队员通过那些窄小窗口迅速向罪犯们开火,

  first with powder and then with ball, till they were willing to retreat; 先用炸药,然后实弹射击,直到囚犯们愿意退却;
  but he took a wiser as well as a bolder course, relying upon the effect which firm determination would have upon men so critically situated. 少将却采取一种更为睿智大胆的方案,即依赖坚不可摧的攻心战使这些暴徒陷入危境。
  He ordered the door to be again opened, and marched in at the head of twenty or thirty men, who filed through the passage, 韦恩赖特少将命令再次打开餐厅大门,带领二三十名列队士兵率先冲了进去,
  and formed at the end of the hall opposite to the crowd of criminals huddled together at the other. 然后在餐厅另侧,面对拥挤成团的暴徒呈“一”字形迅速排开。
  He stated that he was empowered to quell the rebellion, that he wished to avoid shedding blood, 少将对囚犯们开始喊话,说他奉命前来平息叛乱,希望能够避免流血,
  but that he would not quit that hall alive till every convict had returned to his duty. 但他不会放弃餐厅里所有生者,直至每个罪犯愿意重新履行自身职责。
  They seemed balancing the strength of the two parties, and replied that some of them were ready to die, 似乎衡量一番双方力量后,囚犯们最后回答,他们中已有人决心赴死,
  and only waited for an attack to see which was the more powerful; 只有等到最后时刻,才能看出究竟哪一方更为强势。
  swearing that they would fight to the last, unless the punishment was remitted, for they would not submit to any such punishment in the prison. 他们发誓要血战到最后一个人,除非狱方解除对犯人的惩罚,否则他们不会屈从任何类似刑罚。
  Major Wainright ordered his marines to load their pieces, and, that they might not be suspected of trifling, 韦恩赖特少将命令陆战队员们子弹上膛,当然,他们手中的枪并非拨火棒。
  each man was made to hold up to view the bullet which he afterward put in his gun. 士兵们端起枪口严阵以待,同时看着少将将他的子弹最后推入枪膛。
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