現代大學英語精讀第二版（第三冊）學習筆記（原文及全文翻譯）——10B - Mercy at Appomattox（阿波馬托克斯的寬恕）

Unit 10B - Mercy at Appomattox

Mercy at Appomattox

William Zinsser

I'm not a Civil War buff. I've never heard the old battlefields like Gettysburg and Chickamauga calling to me to walk over them and re-enact what happened there. The story is just too sad.

But one Civil War site did keep beckoning to me—not one where the armies fought but the one where they stopped fighting: Appomattox.

To see it I flew to Richmond and drove west across southern Virginia, choosing a route that would take me over terrain that Gen. Robert E. Lee covered with his Confederate army in its last week.

For nine months Lee's Army of Northern Virginia had been dug in near Petersburg, south of Richmond. On April 2, his railroad lifeline cut by the North, Lee retreated. But Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was in close pursuit, and by April 6 it was all over. Union troops routed almost a fifth of Lee's army at Sayler's Creek and took some 7000 prisoners. Hearing the news, Lee said, "My God! Has the army been dissolved?" It largely had. Hungry and exhausted, huge numbers of soldiers had dropped out, and the army was down to 30,000 men when Lee, hurrying west, received a note from Grant calling on him to surrender.

Outnumbered and almost encircled, Lee considered his dwindling options. One officer suggested that the troops could disperse and carry on as guerrillas.

Lee refused; further fighting, he explained, would only inflict needless pain on regions of the South that had been spared the havoc of war. "There is nothing left me but to go and see General Grant," he said, "and I would rather die a thousand deaths." On April 9, Lee sent his aide, Lt. Col. Charles Marshall, into the nearby village of Appomattox Court House to find a suitable place for the two men to meet.

My schoolboy memory was that Grant and Lee actually met in a courthouse. They didn't, as I learned on my visit; in the 19th-century southern Virginia, certain towns that served as the county seat had the words Court House appended to their name. But in fact, when Colonel Marshall rode into town it was Palm Sunday and the courthouse was closed. Almost nothing was stirring. Only about 100 people—half of them slaves—lived in the village, and many white homeowners, hearing the rumble of armies, had left. One who remained, a merchant named Wilmer McLean, was persuaded by Colonel Marshall to allow his home to be used for the surrender.

Lee arrived first, wearing full dress uniform, with a sash and a presentation sword. Grant, who had outraced his baggage wagon, was in his customary field uniform, with muddy trousers tucked into muddy boots.

Seated in McLean's parlor, the two men chatted amiably about their Army days in the Mexican War. Finally, Lee brought up "the object of our present meeting." Grant took out a pencil, rapidly wrote out the terms of surrender, and handed the paper to Lee.

This will have a very happy effect on my army, Lee said after reading the terms, which, far from hounding the enemy with reprisals, simply let them all go home. Lee mentioned that many of his men owned their horses and asked if those horses could be kept. Grant agreed. He said he assumed that most of the men were small farmers, and without their horses he doubted that they would be able to put in a crop to get through the next winter.

This will do much toward conciliating our people, Lee replied. In parting, he told Grant that he would be returning some Union prisoners because he didn't have any provisions for them—or, in fact, for his own men. Grant said he would send 25,000 rations to Lee's army.

When word of the surrender reached the nearby Union headquarters it touched off a spree of cannon firing. Grant put an end to it. "The war is over—the rebels are our countrymen again," he told his staff. He felt that he couldn't exult in the downfall of a foe who had fought so long and valiantly. Catching the clemency of the moment, the Union troops decided not to wait for the official delivery of food to the defeated enemy.

They went to the Confederate camps and emptied their haversacks of the beef, bacon, sugar and other delicacies that the rebels had long gone without.

On April 12, four years to the day after the attack on Fort Sumter which started the war, Lee's Confederate troops marched into the village and stacked their arms. Here the final act of healing that runs through the whole Appomattox story took place, set in motion by another remarkable figure—Joshua L. Chamberlain, the Union general designated to receive the surrender. A Bowdoin College professor who left to enlist in the army, Chamberlain won a battlefield commission for repeated acts of bravery and was wounded six times, once so severely that an army doctor gave him up for dead.

Now, with his soldiers standing at attention, General Chamberlain watched the first ragged Confederate soldiers coming up the road, led by Gen. John B. Gordon.

The momentous meaning of this occasion impressed me deeply, Chamberlain later wrote. "I resolved to mark it by some token of recognition: which could be no other than a salute of arms. I was well aware of the criticisms that would follow. My main reason, however, was one for which I sought no authority nor asked forgiveness. Before us in proud humiliation stood the embodiment of manhood: men whom neither toils and sufferings, nor the fact of death, nor disaster, nor hopelessness could bend from their resolve; standing there before us, thin, worn and famished, but erect, and with eyes looking level into ours, waking memories that bound us together as no other bond. Was not such manhood to be welcomed back into a Union so tested and assured?"

Responding to his command, "instantly our whole line, regiment by regiment, gave the soldier's salutation, from the 'order arms' to the old 'carry' - the marching salute. Gordon, at the head of the column, riding with heavy spirit and downcast face, caught the sound of shifting arms, looked up and, taking the meaning, wheeled superbly, making with himself and with his horse one uplifted figure, with profound salutation as he dropped the point of his sword to the boot toe; then facing to his own command, he gave word for his successive brigades to pass us with the same position... honor answering honor. On our part, not a sound of trumpet more, nor roll of drum; not a cheer, nor word nor whisper of vain glorying, but an awed stillness rather, and breath-holding, as if it were the passing of the dead!"

From early morning until late afternoon the saluting soldiers of the South marched past the saluting Union soldiers, stacked their rifles and tattered Confederate flags and started for home. Counting the Union troops, almost 100,000 men had been in Appomattox Court House.

A few days later they were all gone.

After the surrender the village went right back into its cocoon, I was told by Ron Wilson, historian of Appomattox Court House, which is now a National Park Service site consisting of the reconstructed McLean house and courthouse and more than 20 smaller buildings. He and I were sitting on the porch of the restored Clover Hill Tavern where printing presses ordered by Grant had printed 28,231 parole passes for the Confederate soldiers. We were looking across a vista of overwhelming stillness. The road that the surrendering rebels took into the village climbed across countryside so recognizable from 19th-century paintings that I almost expected to see them coming down the road again.

Today the site gets roughly 110,000 tourists a year. "They come to Appomattox because they really want to—it's off the usual path," said superintendent John B. Montgomery. "They're looking for inspiration. The story we try to tell is not the final battle. It's the reconciliation of the country and the generous terms offered by Grant. He didn't play the conquering hero."

That theme of forgiveness and reconciliation kept booming in my ears through the stillness at Appomattox.

Grant and Lee had to look far into the future, said Wilson. "They knew that the energies that had been given to divisions for so many years would have to be devoted to rebuilding the country. There was no vindictiveness."

Three people were strongly alive to me there. Two of them, Lee and Grant, continued to radiate powerful qualities that Americans still honor: one, symbolizing nobility and the aristocratic tradition of the old South, and the other symbolizing the self-made common man of the new North, Midwest and West.

The third person was the inescapable Lincoln. Appomattox was, finally, his show. I could almost see him standing over the little table in the McLean house where Grant sat scribbling his terms. I knew that Lincoln had often spoken of wanting a merciful peace, but I didn't know whether he and Grant had found time to discuss it. Ron Wilson said they had met just two weeks earlier—on the River Queen, in the James River—and had talked at length about the rapidly approaching end of the war and the disarray it was bound to bring.

You just know, Wilson told me, "that Lincoln said, 'Let'em down easy.'"

參考譯文——阿波馬托克斯的寬恕

阿波馬托克斯的寬恕

威廉·津澤

我不是内戰迷，也從未聽到過葛底斯堡和奇克莫加那些老戰場的召喚而去那裡走一走，重溫一下在那兒發生的一切。那個戰事的确是太令人傷心了。

但是有一處内戰的遺址一直吸引着我——它不是軍隊作戰的地方，而是他們停火的地方——阿波馬托克斯。

為了參觀阿波馬托克斯，我乘飛機到了裡士滿，然後驅車西行穿過南弗吉尼亞，選擇的這條路線能使我經過當年羅伯特·E.李将軍和他的南方盟軍在最後一周走過的地帶。

九個月來，李的北弗吉尼亞大軍一直駐紮在裡士滿南部的彼得斯堡附近。4月2日，他的鐵路生命線被北方軍切斷，李撤退了。但尤利塞斯·S.格蘭特将軍緊追不舍，到了4月6日，一切都結束了。在塞勒灣，北方聯軍使李損失了将近五分之一的軍隊，并捕獲其7，000名戰俘。聽到這個噩耗，李說上帝啊！我的軍隊就這樣垮了嗎？”在很大程度上的确如此。裡于饑餓、疲勞，許多戰士做了逃兵，軍隊人數銳減至3萬，就在此時，匆忙西行的李收到了來自格蘭特的勸降信。

敵衆我寡，又幾近被包圍，李考慮到他的選擇範圍正在縮小。一個軍官建議他分散兵力以遊擊的形式繼續作戰。

李拒絕了；他解釋道，如果繼續作戰隻會使那些沒有遭受戰争破壞的南方地區蒙受無須承受的戰亂之苦。“我别無選擇，隻能去見見格蘭特将軍，”他說，“其實我甯願死一千次也不願意這麼做。”4月9日，李派他的副官陸軍上校査爾斯·馬歇爾到附近的阿波馬托克斯鎮的村莊找一個适宜兩人見面的地方。

在我兒時的記憶中，格蘭特和李将軍是在縣法院見的面。但據我在路途中得知事實并非如此。19世紀的弗吉尼亞南部，一些作為縣首府的小鎮在其名稱後都加上“法院”二字。事實上，當馬歇爾上校騎馬來到鎮上的時候，正值棕枝主日，縣法院大門緊閉。幾乎沒有什麼令人興奮的事。隻有大約100人——其中半數都是奴隸——住在村子裡。聽到軍隊的隆隆炮火聲，許多白人莊園主早已逃走了。留下來的人當中有一個叫威爾默·麥克萊恩的商人，他在上校馬歇爾的勸說下，同意把他家作為舉行受降儀式的場所。

那天，是李将軍先到的，他身着整齊的軍裝，佩戴着飾帶和軍劍。格蘭特的行李車還未到達，是以他隻穿了平常的作戰服，滿是泥巴的褲子被塞進了泥靴子裡。

兩人在麥克萊恩的客廳裡落座，親切地聊着墨西哥戰争時的軍旅生活。最後，李提出“商談我們此行的目的”。格蘭特拿出一支鉛筆，很快地寫下了投降的條款，遞給了李。

“這将對我的軍隊大有好處。”李看後說。受降條款裡并沒有報複性的迫害，而是讓所有人都回家。李提到許多士兵有馬，并詢問是否可以保留這些馬。格蘭特同意了。他說他知道大多數士兵都是小農場主，沒有馬他們種不了莊稼，很難度過明年冬天。

“這将大大撫慰我們的人民。”李回答道。分别時，他告訴格蘭特他将釋放一些聯軍戰俘，因為他沒有糧食供給他們。事實上他連供給自己人的糧食都沒有。格蘭特承諾他會給李的軍隊送去25，000人的口糧。

當投降的消息傳到附近的聯軍總部時，人們開始鳴炮慶祝。格蘭特指令他們停止慶祝。“戰争結束了——叛軍重新成為我們的同胞。”格蘭特告訴他的軍隊。與自己頑強作戰多年的敵人戰敗了，他不能表現得歡欣喜悅。聯軍士兵領悟到統帥的寬厚和仁慈，決定不等給敗軍送的糧食到達，他們直接來到南方盟軍營地，傾其所有，從幹糧袋裡倒出叛軍短缺已久的牛肉、熏肉、糖和其他美味。

4月12日，李的盟軍進入阿波馬托克斯，放下了武器。而四年前的這一天，對薩姆特堡的進攻引發了内戰。在這裡貫穿于整個阿波馬托克斯故事核心、愈合戰争創傷的一幕上演了，這一幕是由聯軍另一位卓越的人物——喬舒亞.L.張伯倫将軍開始的，他奉命接受投降張伯倫原是鮑登大學的教授，後來投筆從戎，并因多次英勇作戰而榮獲戰地指揮官軍銜。他曾先後六次負傷，最嚴重的一次，軍醫都已經放棄了，以為他必死無疑。

此刻，他的士兵正立正站好，張伯倫将軍看見了第一隊衣衫褴褛的南方軍士兵沿路走來，領頭的是約翰·B.戈登将軍。

“那個場合的深遠意義令我印象深刻，”張伯倫後來寫道，“我決定用某種象征敬意的舉動來紀念這一時刻，那隻能是行軍禮。我很清楚批判會接踵而至。然而，我這樣做既不想得到上級的準許，也不想尋求諒解。站在我們面前的是雖受屈辱卻保持高傲的男子氣概的化身：勞苦、死亡、災難、無望都不能屈服他們的意志；站在我們面前的是瘦弱、疲憊、饑餓但卻挺直腰杆與我們平等對視的人們。他們喚醒我們心中将我們緊緊團結在一起的那些記憶。難道這些人不應受到歡迎，回到曆經考驗而更牢固的聯邦中來嗎？”

随着他的指令，“所有士兵，以團為機關向行進中的南方軍行軍禮，從‘立正持槍’到舊式的‘持槍禮’。戈登騎馬走在隊伍的最前面，心事重重，面容沮喪，聽到操作槍支的聲音，他擡頭看了看，明白這意思後便氣宇軒昂地轉身，騎在馬上，顯示出高大的形象，他把劍端指向靴頭，深深緻意。然後面向自己的部隊，指令後面的旅同樣以行軍禮的方式通過……用軍禮回敬我們。而我們的軍隊沒有号聲，沒有戰鼓，沒有歡呼，沒有一句炫耀的言語和耳語，隻有敬畏的沉默，使你屏住呼吸，就像目送死者的葬儀。”

從清晨到傍晚，行着軍禮的南方士兵從同樣行着軍禮的聯軍士兵面前走過，放下武器和破爛的軍旗，啟程回家。包括聯軍士兵在内，将近10萬人來到阿波馬托克斯。

幾天後，他們都走了。

“投降之後，村莊又恢複了往日的甯靜。”阿波馬托克斯的曆史學家羅恩·威爾遜告訴我。現在的阿波馬托克斯是一個國家公園軍事遺址，包括重建的麥克萊恩的房子、縣法院大樓和20多個小型建築物。我和他坐在重建的克洛弗山酒店的前廳，在那裡格蘭特曾下令為南方軍隊士兵印制了28，231份釋放通行證。我們看着遠方無比寂靜的景色。降軍進入村莊的那條路在19世紀的繪畫中清晰得一眼可辨，我甚至以為他們又從那條路上走來了。

如今，每年大約有11萬旅遊者來此觀光。“他們來到阿波馬克斯，因為他們真心想來這裡看看——這裡很偏僻，”管理者約翰·B.蒙哥馬利說，“他們來尋找靈感，我們所要講述的故事并不是最後的戰役，而是國家的和解和格蘭特提出的寬宏大量的條款，他并沒有以一個征服者自居。”

在寂靜的阿波馬托克斯，寬恕與和解的主題始終在我耳邊回蕩。

“格蘭特和李一定是着眼于未來的，”威爾遜說，“他們知道多年來分裂國家的力量必将用來重建這個國家。他們彼此都沒有仇恨。”

在我看來，有三個人發揮了重要作用。其中兩位，李和格蘭特，他們身上仍然散發着美國人民至今仍引以為榮的人格魅力：一個象征着尊嚴和古老南方貴族的傳統，而另外一個象征着新北部、中西部以及西部普通群眾的自立、自強。

第三個人無疑就是林肯，阿波馬托克斯的和解最終是他策劃的。我仿佛看見他正站在麥克萊恩的小桌旁，格蘭特就坐在那兒，潦草地寫着條款。我知道林肯經常提到渴望一個仁慈的和平，但我不知道他和格蘭特是否找時間讨論過此事。羅恩·威爾遜說他們在受降前兩周見過面——在詹姆斯河的“大河女王”号輪船上——曾長時間讨論過戰争即将結束和可能帶來的混亂。

“你要知道，”威爾遜告訴我，“林肯說過‘讓他們有尊嚴地投降!’”

Key Words:

grant      [grɑ:nt]  

n. 授予物，補助金; 同意，給予

n. 财産

mercy     ['mə:si]   

n. 憐憫，寬恕，仁慈，恩惠

surrender      [sə'rendə]      

v. 投降，讓與，屈服

n. 投降，屈服，放棄

disperse  [dis'pə:s]

vt. 分散，傳播，散開

vi. 分散

route      [ru:t]      

n. 路線，(固定)線路，途徑

creek      [kri:k]     

n. 小灣，小溪 Creek n. 克裡克族，克裡克人，

terrain    ['terein]  

n. 地帶，地域，地形

grant      [grɑ:nt]  

n. 授予物，補助金; 同意，給予

n. 财産

needless ['ni:dlis]  

adj. 不需要的，無用的

havoc     ['hævək]

n. 大破壞，混亂 vt. 破壞

presentation  [.prezen'teiʃən]     

n. 陳述，介紹，贈與

n. [美]講課，報告

surrender      [sə'rendə]      

v. 投降，讓與，屈服

n. 投降，屈服，放棄

certain    ['sə:tn]    

adj. 确定的，必然的，特定的

trousers  ['trauzəz]

n. 褲子

wagon    ['wægən]

n. 四輪馬車，貨車

v. 用四輪馬車運

uniform  ['ju:nifɔ:m]     

n. 制服

adj. 一緻的，統一的

inflict      [in'flikt]  

vt. 施以，加害，使遭受，折磨

clemency       ['klemənsi]    

n. 仁慈，（氣候）溫和，和藹

delivery  [di'livəri] 

n. 遞送，傳遞，分娩

grant      [grɑ:nt]  

n. 授予物，補助金; 同意，給予

n. 财産

touched  [tʌtʃt]     

adj. 受感動的 adj. 精神失常的

exult       [ig'zʌlt]   

vi. 歡欣鼓舞，狂喜

surrender      [sə'rendə]      

v. 投降，讓與，屈服

n. 投降，屈服，放棄

assumed [ə'sju:md]      

adj. 假裝的；假定的

humiliation    [hju:.mili'eiʃən]      

n. 恥辱，丢臉

bend      [bend]   

v. 彎曲，使彎曲，屈服，屈從

n. 彎曲，彎

momentous   [məu'mentəs]

adj. 重要的，重大的

enlist      [in'list]    

v. 徵募，參與，支援

remarkable    [ri'mɑ:kəbl]    

adj. 顯著的，異常的，非凡的，值得注意的

designated     ['deziɡ,neitid]

adj. 特指的；指定的

surrender      [sə'rendə]      

v. 投降，讓與，屈服

n. 投降，屈服，放棄

recognition    [.rekəg'niʃən] 

n. 認出，承認，感覺，知識

authority [ə'θɔ:riti] 

n. 權力，權威，職權，官方，當局

disaster   [di'zɑ:stə]      

n. 災難

figure     ['figə]     

n. 圖形，數字，形狀; 人物，外形，體型

salutation       [.sælju'teiʃən]

n. 招呼，緻敬，問候 n. (信函開頭)稱呼語

superbly [sju:'pə:bli]     

adv. 壯麗地，極度地

column   ['kɔləm]  

n. 柱，圓柱，柱形物，專欄，欄，列

assured  [ə'ʃuəd]  

adj. 确實的，保障的，有自信的 動詞assure的過

sword     [sɔ:d]     

n. 劍，刀

bond      [bɔnd]    

n. 債券，結合，粘結劑，粘合劑

vt. 使結

whisper  ['wispə]  

n. 低語，竊竊私語，飒飒的聲音

vi. 低聲

downcast       ['daunkæst]  

adj. 氣餒的，悲哀的，垂下的

drum      [drʌm]   

n. 鼓，鼓聲，鼓狀物

restored  [ri'stɔ:d]  

adj. 精力充沛的；精力恢複的 v. 修複（resto

reconciliation [.rekənsili'eiʃən]    

n. 調和，和解

n. [會]對賬

surrender      [sə'rendə]      

v. 投降，讓與，屈服

n. 投降，屈服，放棄

cocoon   [kə'ku:n] 

n. 繭，繭狀物， vt. 包圍，包裹

stillness   ['stilnis]  

n. 靜止，沉靜

generous       ['dʒenərəs]    

adj. 慷慨的，寬宏大量的，豐盛的，味濃的

inspiration     [.inspə'reiʃən]

n. 靈感，吸入，鼓舞人心(的東西)

theme     [θi:m]     

n. 題目，主題

vista ['vistə]    

n. 街景，展望，回想

devoted  [di'vəutid]      

adj. 投入的，深愛的 v. 投入 vbl. 投入

radiate    ['reidieit]

v. 放射，散發，輻射

disarray  [.disə'rei]

vt. 弄亂，使混亂 n. 無秩序，雜亂，不整齊的衣服

參考資料：

1. 現代大學英語精讀(第2版)第三冊:U10B Mercy at Appomattox(1)_大學教材聽力 - 可可英語
2. 現代大學英語精讀(第2版)第三冊:U10B Mercy at Appomattox(2)_大學教材聽力 - 可可英語
3. http://www.kekenet.com/daxue/201706/51238shtml
4. 現代大學英語精讀(第2版)第三冊:U10B Mercy at Appomattox(4)_大學教材聽力 - 可可英語
5. 現代大學英語精讀(第2版)第三冊:U10B Mercy at Appomattox(5)_大學教材聽力 - 可可英語
6. 現代大學英語精讀(第2版)第三冊:U10B Mercy at Appomattox(6)_大學教材聽力 - 可可英語

現代大學英語精讀(第2版)第三冊:U10B Mercy at Appomattox(7)_大學教材聽力 - 可可英語