欧美文化博览 希特勒的黑暗魅力—暗黑君王希特勒(16)

And the dominant¹ thought in Chamberlain's mind was the memory of this the First World War.

张伯伦脑海里最深刻的记忆来自于第一次世界大战。

The bloodiest² war in British history.

英史上最血腥的战争。

And the worst killing³ fields were here,in the valley of the River Somme.

死伤最惨重的战役发生于此索姆河山谷。

On 1st July 1916,the first day of the Battle of the Somme,nearly 20,000 British soldiers lost their lives,more than on any other single day in the history of the British Army.

1916年7月1日，索姆河战役的首日，接近两万英军阵亡，超过英军史上任何单日阵亡人数。

"Surely," thought Chamberlain, "no leader of a major European state "wanted something like this to happen again."

张伯伦想,当然没有一位 欧盟领导人想这一幕重现。

But British leaders already had an idea of Hitler's true character,because Lord Halifax had met Hitler the year before,in November 1937, at Berchtesgaden.

但英方领袖早已看出希特勒的真面目，因为哈利法克斯于1937年11月在贝希特斯加登与希特勒会晤。

During the meeting, Hitler had said the British could solve any problems they had in India by shooting the Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi.

会晤期间,希特勒曾说，英国可通过枪毙印度圣雄甘地来解决所有问题。

And, if that didn't work,they should shoot a dozen members of his Congress party,and if there were still problems, shoot 200 more and so on until order was established.

若然无效就应该枪毙一打国会众议员，依旧解决不了的话,枪毙两百个或更多，直至达到目的。

Lord Halifax was not impressed.

哈利法克斯大为不悦。

He certainly didn't succumb⁴ to Hitler's charisma⁵.

他当然不会屈服于希特勒的做法。

1 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

2 bloodiest   

adj.血污的( bloody的最高级 )；流血的；屠杀的；残忍的

参考例句：

• The Russians were going to suffer their bloodiest defeat of all before Berlin. 俄国人在柏林城下要遭到他们的最惨重的失败。 来自辞典例句
• It was perhaps the bloodiest hour in the history of warfare. 这也许是战争史上血腥味最浓的1个小时。 来自互联网

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 succumb   

v.屈服，屈从；死

参考例句：

• They will never succumb to the enemies.他们决不向敌人屈服。
• Will business leaders succumb to these ideas?商业领袖们会被这些观点折服吗？

5 charisma   

n.(大众爱戴的)领袖气质，魅力

参考例句：

• He has enormous charisma. He is a giant of a man.他有超凡的个人魅力，是个伟人。
• I don't have the charisma to pull a crowd this size.我没有那么大的魅力，能吸引这么多人。