介绍:
(点击右边黑三角下拉有中英配文）
At four in the afternoon they had lowered Kip into the pit in a harness until he was waist-deep in the muddy water, his body draped around the body of the Esau b0mb. The casing from fin to tip ten feet high, its nose sunk into the mud by his feet. Beneath the brown water his thighs braced the metal casing, much the way he had seen s0ldiers holding women in the corner of NAAFI dance floors.
下午四点，他们用绳子把基普放进坑中，直到他落人齐腰深的泥浆水中。他的身子贴着以扫zha弹的弹体。从尾翼到翼梢的弹壳长有十英尺，弹头陷入他脚旁的泥里。在黄泥水下，他的大腿抵着铁壳。他曾见过当兵的就像这样，在三军协会舞厅的角落抱着女人。
The $appers had dug the pit around the Esau and set up the wood-shaft walls before he had
arrived on the site. In 1941, Esau b0mbs with a new Y fuze had started coming in; this was his second one.
工兵们在以扫炸弹的周围挖了这个坑，在他到达现场之前，搭起了木梁。在一九四一年，带有新型Y引信的以扫弹开始出现，这是他碰到的第二枚以扫zha弹。
It was decided during planning sessions that the only way around the new fuze was to immunize it. It was a huge b0mb in ostrich posture. He had come down barefoot and he was already sinking slowly, being caught within the clay, unable to get a firm hold down there in the cold water.
在开会期间，他们决定惟一的办法是拆除zha弹的新型引信。这是一枚弹头朝下的重磅zha弹。他赤脚下去。身体已经开始摇晃了。由于陷在粘土里，他在冷水中无法稳住身子。
He laid his left cheek against the metal casing, trying to think himself into warmth, concentrating on the small touch of sun that reached down into the twenty-foot pit and fell on the back of his neck. What he embraced could expl0de at any moment. There was no magic or X ray that would tell anyone when some small capsule broke, when some wire would stop wavering.
他的左脸颊贴着铁壳，试图想象自己得到了温暖。他一心想着阳光射人二十英尺深的坑中，照在他的颈后。他所抱住的东西随时可能baozha。没有任何魔力或X光可以告诉人们什么时候某个密封小容器会裂开，什么时候某个金属线会停止摇摆。
What town was he in? He couldn’t even remember. He heard a voice and looked up. Hardy passed the equipment down in a satchel at the end of a rope, and it hung there while Kip began to insert the various clips and tools into the many pockets of his tunic.
他住在哪个小镇?他甚至都想不起来了。他听到一个声音，于是抬起头。哈弟把工具包系在绳子的一头，然后放下绳子。这时，基普开始把各种夹子和工具装进外衣上众多的口袋里。
He wiped the area of fuze head dry and began moulding a clay cup around it. Then he unstopped the jar and poured the liquid oxygen into the cup. He taped the cup securely onto the metal. Now he had to wait again.
他擦干引信头所在部位，开始在它的周围捏了一个泥杯。接着他停了下来，往那个泥杯里倒人液态氧。他把泥杯粘在铁壳上，现在他必须再等一会儿。
There was so little space between him and the b0mb he could feel the change in temperature already. If he were on dry land he could walk away and be back in ten minutes. Now he had to stand there beside the b0mb. They were two suspicious creatures in an enclosed space.
他与炸弹之间没有多大空隙，他已经感觉到温度的变化。如果他在干地上，他可以走开，十分钟后回来。但是现在他得和zha弹待在一起。在这个禁闭的空间里，他与这个zha弹一样可疑。
Kip dipped cotton wool into the muddy water and touched it to the casing about twelve inches away from the fuze. It fell away, so it meant he had to wait longer. When the cotton wool stuck, it meant enough of the area around the fuze was frozen and he could go on. He poured more oxygen into the cup.
基普把棉花塞进泥浆水里，碰到了离引信约十二英寸的弹壳。没有冻住，这就意味着他必须再等一会儿。等到棉花粘住以后，就意味引信周围有足够的区域已冻结，他可以继续干
了。他往泥杯里倒进更多的液态氧。
The growing circle of frost was a foot in radius now. A few more minutes. He had by now been in the shaft with the b0mb for more than an hour. He continued feeding in the liquid oxygen. At shoulder height, just to his right, was a hose pumping down normal air to prevent him from becoming giddy with oxygen. He tried the cotton wool again and this time it froze on. He had about twenty minutes. After that the battery temperature within the b0mb would rise again. But for now the fuze was iced up and he could begin to remove it.
结霜的圆圈处越来越大，现在直径已有一英尺。又过了几分钟。他已在坑里与那枚zha弹僵持了一个多小时。他继续倒人液态氧。就在他的右手与肩同高的地方。有一根管子送来正常的空气，防止他吸人过量的氧气而头晕。他又摸了摸棉花，这一次棉花冻住了。约在二十分钟之后，zha弹的电池温度就会再次上升。但是就目前而言，引信被冻结了，他可以开始动手拆除它。
“It’s a two-thousand-pound b0mb, sir. Esau.” Hardy’s voice from the top of the mud pit.
“Type-marked fifty, in a circle, B. Two fuze pockets, most likely. But we think the second one is probably not armed.
Okay?”
“是一枚二千磅重的zha弹，长官。以扫zha弹。”哈弟在泥坑上头说道。
“型号五十，在一个圆圈内，B圈。可能有两个引信包，但是我们认为第二引信包很可能没有装上，对吗?”
They had discussed all this with each other before, but things were being confirmed, remembered for the final time.
“Put me on a microphone now and get back.” Kip said.
“Okay, sir.”
他们以前讨论过这个问题，但直到情况得到证实了，他们才想了起来。
“给我一个话筒。然后回去。”
“好的，长官。”
Kip smiled. There was always hesitation by the soldiers to call him “sir,” but Hardy barked it out loud and enthusiastically. He was working fast now to prise out the fuze, all the batteries inert.
基普微微一笑。其他的士兵喊他“长官”时，总是迟疑不决，但是哈弟喊他时，总是声音洪亮，充满了热情。他正在加紧工作，趁着电池全都冻结了，好撬开引信。
“Can you hear me? Whistle.... Okay, I heard it. A last topping up with oxygen. Will let it bubble for thirty seconds. Then
start. Freshen the frost. Okay, I’m going to remove the dam,... Okay, dam gone.”
“你能听见我的声音吗?吹口哨……好了，我听到了。最后加一次氧，让它冒泡三十秒，随后动手，除霜。好了，我这就卸下，该死……好了，那东西没了。”
----每周一/三/五晚更---- 【文本翻译均为电台英伦好声音读给你听所有，转载请联系播主并注明】
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