Kevin读原著：在战壕中升级成父亲 「巨人陨落」选读09

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CHAPTER SIX

On the 24th of December Fitz was at British headquarters in St.-Omer, in a gloomy frame of mind. He remembered how glibly he and others had told the men they would be home for Christmas. Now it looked as if the war could go on for a year or even more. The opposing armies sat in their trenches day after day, eating bad food, getting dysentery, lice and trench foot, and killing the rats that thrived on the dead bodies littering no-man's-land.

On Christmas Day, every soldier was to receive a gift from Princess Mary, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the king and queen. It was an embossed brass box containing tobacco and cigarettes, a picture of the princess, and a Christmas card from the king. There were different gifts for nonsmokers, Sikhs, and nurses, all of whom would get chocolate or candy instead of tobacco.

In the morning there was a freezing fog and the ground underfoot was hard. Fitz and Murray, who had been promoted a captain, gave out the princess's gifts at first light. Some of the men were huddled around braziers, trying to get warm, but they said they were grateful for the frost, which was better than the mud. 

The German line, four hundred yards away, was hidden by a morning mist. Fitz heard faint music: the Germans were singing carols. Fitz thought he recognized "Silent Night." 

He returned to the dugout for a grim breakfast of stale bread and tinned ham with the other officers. Afterwards he stepped outside to smoke. He had never been quite so miserable in all his life. He longed for clean underwear, a crisply ironed shirt, and to sit by the blazing coal fire with nothing better to do than read the stupid jokes in Punch magazine. 

Murray followed him out of the dugout: "You're wanted on the telephone, Major. It's headquarters.”

With a worried frown Fitz ducked inside and picked up the field telephone. "Fitzherbert." 

"Good morning, Major," said a voice he did not recognize. "Captain Davies here. I've been asked to pass you a message from home. Your wife has given birth to a bouncing baby boy, sir. Mother and son are both doing fine." 

"Oh!" Fitz sat down suddenly on a box. Fitz had a son, and the earldom had an heir.

"As it's Christmas, sir, we thought the news might cheer you up." 

"It does, I can tell you!" 

"May I be the first to offer my congratulations." 

"Most kind," Fitz said. "Thank you." But Captain Davies had already hung up. 

Fitz realized the other officers in the dugout were staring at him in silence. Finally one of them said: "Good news or bad?" 

"Good!" said Fitz. "Wonderful, in fact. I have become a father." 

They all shook his hand and slapped his back. Murray got out the whisky bottle, and they drank the baby's health. "What'll he be called?" Murray asked. 

"Viscount Aberowen, while I'm alive," Fitz said, then he realized that Murray was not asking about the baby's title, but his name. "George, for my father, and William for my grandfather. Bea's father was Peter Nikolaevich, so perhaps we'll add those as well.”

Murray seemed amused. "George William Peter Nicholas Fitzherbert, Viscount Aberowen," he said. "Quite enough names to be going on with!" 

Fitz was bursting with pride and good cheer. "I might go along to the front line," he said when they had finished their whisky. "Pass out a few cigars to the men." 

He left the dugout and walked along the communication trench. He felt euphoric. There was no gunfire, and the air tasted crisp and clean. He found himself thinking not about Bea but about Ethel. Was she happy in her house? He hoped she would deliver her baby safely, as Bea had.

船长英音朗读工具：原文划线处都可以处理成重音。根据这个提示，你就能将这篇高难度的练习材料地道地用英音表达出来。

glibly /ɡlɪbli/ : adv. 流利地、满口（保证）

dysentery /ˈdɪs.ən.tər.i/: n.痢疾

lice /laɪs/：n. louce的复数  虱子

embossed /ɪmˈbɒst/：adj. 浮雕的、凸印的

音标来源/ Longman Pronunciation Dictionary & Cambridge English Pronunciation Dictionary