美国学生历史 第44期:从邦克山到特伦顿(1)

 　　CHAPTER 14 第14章

　　BUNKER HILL TO TRENTON 从邦克山到特伦顿
　　133.Advantages of the British. 133．不列颠的优势
　　At first sight it seems as if the Americans were very foolish to fight the British. 看起来美洲人与英国开战似乎非常愚蠢。
　　There were five or six times as many people in the British Isles 1 as there were in the continental 2 colonies. 在人口数量上，不列颠群岛相当于大陆殖民地的五六倍；
　　The British government had a great standing 3 army. 英国政府拥有一支庞大的陆军常备军，
　　The Americans had no regular army. 美洲人没有正规的军队；
　　The British government had a great navy. 英国政府有一支强大的海军，
　　The Americans had no navy. 美洲人没有海军；
　　The British government had quantities of powder, guns, and clothing, while the Americans had scarcely any military stores of any kind. 英国政府有大量弹药、枪炮和衣物，而美洲人几乎没有多少相应的军用物资储备.
　　Indeed, there were so few guns in the colonies that one British officer thought if the few colonial gunsmiths could be bribed 4 to go away, the Americans would have no guns to fight with after a few months of warfare 5. 实际上，殖民地居民手中的枪支非常有限，一个英国军官甚至认为，如果可能的话，通过贿赂弄走殖民地少得可怜的枪械工人，用不了几个月，美洲人就没有枪支来打仗。
　　134.Advantages of the Americans. 134．美洲人的优势
　　All these things were clearly against the Americans. But they had some advantages on their side. 所有这些显然都不利于美洲人，但是，他们自身也有一些优势。
　　In the first place, America was a long way off from Europe. 首先，美洲距离欧洲路途遥远，
　　It was very difficult and very costly 6 to send armies to America, and very difficult and very costly to feed the soldiers when they were fighting in America. 派军队到美洲打仗非常困难且花费高昂，
　　In the second place, the Americans usually fought on the defensive 7 and the country over which the armies fought was made for defense 8. 而且士兵在美洲打仗期间的食品和衣物供给非常困难也要花费大量钱。其次，美洲人通常为防御而战，而开展的战场是乡村，美洲人把乡村当做防御工事；
　　In New England hill succeeded hill. 新英格兰群山相连，
　　In the Middle states river succeeded river. 中部各州河网密布，
　　In the South wilderness 9 succeeded wilderness. 南部则是望不到边的荒野。
　　In the third place, the Americans had many great soldiers. 再次，美洲人有许多英勇的战士，
　　Washington, Greene, Arnold, Morgan, and Wayne were better soldiers than any in the British army. 英国军队中找不到像华盛顿、格林、阿诺德、摩根和韦恩这样的优秀战士。
　　135.Disunion among the Americans. 135．美洲人之间的分裂
　　We are apt to think of the colonists 10 as united in the contest with the British. 尽管我们倾向于认为殖民地居民在与英国的斗争中是一个统一的整体，
　　In reality the well-to-do, the well-born, and the well-educated colonists were as a rule opposed to independence. 而实际上，那些生活富足、出身良好且受过良好教育的殖民地居民是一股反对独立势力。
　　The opponents of the Revolution were strongest in the Carolinas, and were weakest in New England. 大革命的反对者在卡罗莱纳较为猖獗，在新英格兰则相对薄弱。
　　136.Siege of Boston. 136．包围波士顿
　　It was most fortunate that the British army was at Boston when the war began, for Boston was about as bad a place for an army as could be found. 万幸的是，英国军队在战争开始之际是到波士顿打仗，因为波士顿大概是对部队运作最为糟糕的地方，
　　In those days Boston was hardly more than an island connected with the mainland by a strip of gravel 11. 这一时期波士顿几乎变成一座仅有一条碎石路与大陆相连的孤岛，
　　Gage 12 built a fort across this strip of ground. 盖奇在这个碎石路上建了一座堡垒，
　　The Americans could not get in. 阻止美洲人过来。
　　But they built a fort at the landward end, and the British could not get out. 但是，他们在向陆地的一端构筑这个堡垒，这使得英国人也出不来。
　　On either side of Boston was a similar peninsula. 波士顿两边是两个类似的半岛，
　　One of these was called Dorchester Heights; the other was called Charlestown. Both overlooked Boston. 一边是多尔切斯特高地，另一边是查理斯顿，二者都可以俯瞰波士顿。
　　To hold that town, Gage must possess both Dorchester and Charlestown. 为了占领波士顿，盖奇必须同时占领多尔切斯特和查理斯敦。
　　If the Americans could occupy only one of these, the British would have to abandon Boston. 美洲人只要占领其中一，英国人就必须放弃波士顿。
　　At the same moment Gage made up his mind to seize Dorchester, and the Americans determined 13 to occupy the Charlestown hills. 盖奇决定夺取多尔切斯特，几乎与此同时，美洲人决定占领查理斯顿的那些山岗。
　　The Americans moved first, and the first battle was fought for the Charlestown hills. 美洲人首先开拔，第一场战斗是为查理斯顿高地而战。