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the red badge of courage(红色英勇勋章)-第34部分

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this   pursuit。    But   they   were   plodding   in   ragged   array;   discussing   with 

quick tongues the accomplishments of the late battle。 

     〃Oh; if a man should come up an' ask me; I'd say we got a dum good 

lickin'。〃 

     〃Lickin'in yer eye!         We ain't licked; sonny。 We're goin' down here 

aways; swing aroun'; an' come in behint 'em。〃 

     〃Oh; hush; with your comin' in behint 'em。 I've seen all 'a that I wanta。 

Don't tell me about comin' in behint〃 

     〃Bill Smithers; he ses he'd rather been in ten hundred battles than been 

in   that   heluva   hospital。   He   ses   they   got   shootin'   in   th'   night…   time;   an' 

shells dropped plum among 'em in th' hospital。                 He ses sech hollerin' he 

never see。〃 



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     〃Hasbrouck?        He's    th'  best  off'cer   in  this  here   reg'ment。    He's    a 

whale。〃 

     〃Didn't I tell yeh we'd come aroun' in behint 'em?             Didn't I tell yeh so? 

We〃 

     〃Oh; shet yeh mouth!〃 

     For   a  time   this  pursuing     recollection   of   the  tattered   man   took   all 

elation from the youth's veins。          He saw his vivid error; and he was afraid 

that it would stand before him all his life。          He took no share in the chatter 

of his comrades; nor did he look at them or know them; save when he felt 

sudden suspicion that they were seeing his thoughts and scrutinizing each 

detail of the scene with the tattered soldier。 

     Yet gradually he mustered force to put the sin at a distance。                 And at 

last his eyes seemed to open to some new ways。                 He found that he could 

look back upon the brass and bombast of his earlier gospels and see them 

truly。   He was gleeful when he discovered that he now despised them。 

     With   this   conviction   came   a   store   of   assur…   ance。  He   felt   a   quiet 

manhood; nonassertive but of sturdy and strong blood。                  He knew that he 

would no more quail before his guides wher… ever they should point。                     He 

had been to touch the great death; and found that; after all; it was but the 

great death。     He was a man。 

     So it came to pass that as he trudged from the place of blood and wrath 

his   soul   changed。   He   came   from   hot   plowshares   to   prospects   of   clover 

tranquilly;   and   it   was   as   if   hot   plowshares   were   not。 Scars   faded     as 

flowers。 

     It   rained。   The   procession   of   weary   soldiers   became   a   bedraggled 

train; despondent and muttering; marching with churning effort in a trough 

of liquid brown mud under a low; wretched sky。                  Yet the youth smiled; 

for he saw that the world was a world for him; though many discovered it 

to be   made   of   oaths   and  walking   sticks。    He   had   rid himself of   the   red 

sickness of battle。      The sultry nightmare was in the past。 He had been an 

animal blistered and sweating in the heat and pain of war。               He turned now 

with    a   lover's   thirst   to   images   of   tranquil   skies;   fresh   meadows;  cool 

brooksan existence of soft and eternal peace。 

     Over the river a golden ray of sun came through the hosts of leaden 



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                                             The Red Badge of Courage 



rain clouds。 



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