1-54

 

54.

Every day, upon waking at five a.m., we were forced to down a huge bottle of water. The bottlewas Army-issued, black plastic, a leftover¹ from the Boer War. Any liquid inside tasted of first-generation plastic. And piss. Plus, it was piss warm. So, after the guzzling², moments before settingout on our morning run, some of us would fall to the ground and vomit³ the water straight back up.

No matter. Next day, you had to guzzle⁴ that plastic piss water again, from the same waterbottle, and then get out there for another post-vomit run.

Oh, the running. We ran constantly. We ran around a track. We ran along a road. We ranthrough deep woods. We ran across meadows. Sometimes we ran with 40 kilograms on our backs,sometimes carrying a huge log. We ran and ran and ran until we passed out, which we sometimesdid while still running. We’d lie there, half conscious, legs still pumping, like sleeping dogschasing squirrels.

In between the runs we’d drag our bodies up ropes, or hurl⁶ them at walls, or ram⁵ them againsteach other. At night something more than pain would creep into our bones. It was a deep,shuddering throb⁷. There was no way to survive that throb except to dissociate from it, tell yourmind that you were not it. Sunder⁸ yourself from yourself. The color sergeants⁹ said this was part oftheir Grand Plan. Kill the Self.

Then we’d all be on the same page. Then we’d truly be One Unit.

As the primacy of Self fades, they promised, the idea of Service takes over.

Platoon, country, that’ll be all you know, cadets. And that’ll bloody¹⁰ well be enough.

I couldn’t tell how the other cadets felt about all this, but I bought in, all the way. Self? I wasmore than ready to shed that dead weight. Identity? Take it.

I could understand, for someone attached to their self, their identity, that this experience mightbe harsh. Not me. I rejoiced as slowly, steadily¹¹, I felt myself being reduced to an essence, theimpurities removed, only the vital stuff remaining.

A little like what happened in Tooloombilla. Only more so.

It all felt like an enormous gift, from the color sergeants, from the Commonwealth¹².

I loved them for it. At night, before blacking out, I gave thanks.

 

1 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

2 guzzling   

v.狂吃暴饮，大吃大喝( guzzle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The kids seem to be guzzling soft drinks all day. 孩子们似乎整天都在猛喝汽水。
• He's been guzzling beer all evening. 整个晚上他都在狂饮啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

4 guzzle   

v.狂饮，暴食

参考例句：

• Melissa had guzzled gin and tonics like they were lemonade.梅利莎像喝柠檬汽水一样大口地喝着加奎宁水的杜松子酒。
• Pigs guzzle their food.猪总是狼吞虎咽地吃东西。

5 ram   

(random access memory)随机存取存储器

参考例句：

• 512k RAM is recommended and 640k RAM is preferred.推荐配置为512K内存，640K内存则更佳。

6 hurl   

vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂

参考例句：

• The best cure for unhappiness is to hurl yourself into your work.医治愁苦的最好办法就是全身心地投入工作。
• To hurl abuse is no way to fight.谩骂决不是战斗。

7 throb   

v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动

参考例句：

• She felt her heart give a great throb.她感到自己的心怦地跳了一下。
• The drums seemed to throb in his ears.阵阵鼓声彷佛在他耳边震响。

8 sunder   

v.分开；隔离；n.分离，分开

参考例句：

• Lightning tore the tree in sunder.闪电把树劈成两半。
• Nothing can sunder our friendship.什么也不能破坏我们的友谊。

9 sergeants   

警官( sergeant的名词复数 )； （美国警察）警佐； （英国警察）巡佐； 陆军（或空军）中士

参考例句：

• Platoon sergeants fell their men in on the barrack square. 排长们在营房广场上整顿队伍。
• The recruits were soon licked into shape by the drill sergeants. 新兵不久便被教育班长训练得象样了。

10 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

11 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

12 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。