2-14

 

14.

At times I worried that I was actually missing out on the real war. Was I perhaps sitting in thewar’s waiting room? The real war, I feared, was just down the valley; I could see the thick puffs¹ ofsmoke, the plumes² from explosions, mostly in and around Garmsir. A place of tremendousstrategic importance. Critical gateway³, river port through which supplies, especially guns, flowedto the Taliban. Plus, an entry point for new fighters. They’d be issued an AK-47, a fistful ofbullets, and told to head towards us through their maze⁴ of trenches⁵. This was their initiation⁶ test,which the Taliban called their “blooding.”

Were Sandy and Tiggy working for the Taliban?

It happened often. A Taliban recruit would pop up, fire at us, and we’d return fire with twentytimes the force. Any Taliban recruit who survived that barrage⁷ would then be promoted, sent tofight and die in one of the bigger cities, like Gereshk, or Lashkar Gah, which some called LashVegas. Most, however, didn’t survive. The Taliban left their bodies to rot. I watched dogs the sizeof wolves chew many a recruit off the battlefield.

I began pleading with my commanding officers: Get me out of here. A few guys made thesame plea, but for different reasons. I was begging to go closer to the front. Send me to Garmsir.

Finally, on Christmas Eve 2007, my request was approved. I was to replace an outgoing FACat Forward Operating Base Delhi, which was inside an abandoned Garmsir school.

Small gravel⁸ courtyard, corrugated⁹ tin roof. Someone said the school had been an agriculturaluniversity. Someone else said it had been a madrassa. For the moment, however, it was a part ofthe British Commonwealth¹⁰. And my new home.

It was also home to a company of Gurkhas.

Recruited from Nepal, from the remotest villages along the foothills of the Himalayas, theGurkhas had fought in every British war of the last two centuries, and distinguished¹¹ themselves ineach one. They scrapped¹² like tigers, never gave up, and as a result they held a special place in theBritish Army—and in my heart. I’d been hearing about the Gurkhas since I was a boy: one of thefirst uniforms I’d ever worn was a Gurkha uniform. At Sandhurst the Gurkhas always played theenemy in military exercises, which always felt a bit ridiculous because they were beloved.

After the exercises a Gurkha would invariably walk up to me and offer me a cup of hotchocolate. They had a solemn reverence¹³ for royalty¹⁴. A king, to their minds, was divine. (Theirown king was believed to be the reincarnated¹⁵ Hindu god Vishnu.) A prince, therefore, wasn’t faroff. I’d felt this growing up, but now felt it again. As I walked through Delhi, the Gurkhas allbowed. They called me saab.

Yes, saab. No, saab.

I pleaded: Don’t. I’m just Lieutenant¹⁶ Wales. I’m just Widow Six Seven.

They laughed. No chance, saab.

Neither would they have dreamed of allowing me to go anywhere by myself. Royal personsrequired royal escort. Often I’d be headed to the mess, or the loo, and suddenly become aware of ashadow on my right. Then another on my left. Hello, saab. It was embarrassing, albeit¹⁷ touching¹⁸. Iadored them, as did the local Afghans, who sold the Gurkhas many chickens and goats and evenbantered with them about recipes. The Army talked a lot about winning Afghan “hearts andminds,” meaning converting locals to democracy and freedom, but only the Gurkhas seemed to beactually doing it.

When they weren’t escorting me, the Gurkhas were intent on fattening¹⁹ me up. Food was theirlove language. And while each Gurkha thought himself a five-star chef, they all had the samespeciality. Goat curry²⁰.

I remember one day hearing rotors overhead. I looked up. Everyone on the base looked up. Achopper slowly descending²¹. And hanging from the skids²², wrapped in a net, was a goat. Christmaspresent for the Gurkhas.

In a great burst of dust the helicopter touched down. Out jumped a man, bald, blondish, thepicture of a British officer.

He was also vaguely²³ familiar.

I know this bloke, I said aloud.

I snapped my fingers. It’s good old Bevan!

He’d worked for Pa for a few years. He’d even chaperoned us one winter in Klosters. (Irecalled him skiing in a Barbour jacket, so quintessentially aristocratic.) Now, apparently²⁴, he wasthe brigade commander’s number two. And thus, delivering goats on behalf of the commander tothe beloved Gurkhas.

I was floored to bump into him, but he was only mildly surprised—or interested. He was toopreoccupied with those goats. Besides the one in the net, he’d cradled one between his knees onthe whole flight, and he now guided this little fellow on a lead, like a cocker spaniel, over to aGurkha.

Poor Bevan. I could see how he’d bonded²⁵ with that goat, how unprepared he was for what wascoming.

The Gurkha took out his kukri and lopped off its head.

The tan, bearded face dropped to the ground like one of the taped-up loo rolls we used forrugby balls.

The Gurkha then neatly²⁶, expertly collected the blood in a cup. Nothing was to be wasted.

As for the second goat, the Gurkha handed me the kukri, asked if I’d like to do the honors.

Back home I had several kukris. They’d been gifts from Gurkhas. I knew how to handle one.

But no, I said, no, thank you, not here, not just now.

I wasn’t sure why I said no. Maybe because there was enough killing²⁷ all around me withoutadding more. I flashed back to telling George that I absolutely didn’t want to snip²⁸ off any balls.

Where did I draw the line?

At suffering, that’s where. I didn’t want to go all Henry VIII on that goat mainly because Iwasn’t skilled in the art, and if I missed or miscalculated the poor thing would suffer.

The Gurkha nodded. As you wish, saab.

He swung the kukri.

Even after the goat’s head hit the ground, I remember, its yellow eyes kept blinking.

 

1 puffs   

n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• We sat exchanging puffs from that wild pipe of his. 我们坐在那里，轮番抽着他那支野里野气的烟斗。 来自辞典例句
• Puffs of steam and smoke came from the engine. 一股股蒸汽和烟雾从那火车头里冒出来。 来自辞典例句

2 plumes   

羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物

参考例句：

• The dancer wore a headdress of pink ostrich plumes. 那位舞蹈演员戴着粉色鸵鸟毛制作的头饰。
• The plumes on her bonnet barely moved as she nodded. 她点点头，那帽子的羽毛在一个劲儿颤动。

3 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

4 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

5 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

6 initiation   

n.开始

参考例句：

• her initiation into the world of marketing 她的初次涉足营销界
• It was my initiation into the world of high fashion. 这是我初次涉足高级时装界。

7 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

8 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

9 corrugated   

adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• a corrugated iron roof 波纹铁屋顶
• His brow corrugated with the effort of thinking. 他皱着眉头用心地思考。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

11 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

12 scrapped   

废弃(scrap的过去式与过去分词)； 打架

参考例句：

• This machine is so old that it will soon have to be scrapped. 这架机器太旧，快报废了。
• It had been thought that passport controls would be scrapped. 人们曾认为会放开护照管制。

13 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

14 royalty   

n.皇家，皇族

参考例句：

• She claims to be descended from royalty.她声称她是皇室后裔。
• I waited on tables，and even catered to royalty at the Royal Albert Hall.我做过服务生， 甚至在皇家阿伯特大厅侍奉过皇室的人。

15 reincarnated   

v.赋予新形体，使转世化身( reincarnate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They believe humans are reincarnated in animal form. 他们相信人死后转生为动物。
• She was reincarnated as a snake. 她化身为一条蛇。 来自辞典例句

16 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

17 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

18 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

19 fattening   

adj.（食物）要使人发胖的v.喂肥( fatten的现在分词 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值

参考例句：

• The doctor has advised him to keep off fattening food. 医生已建议他不要吃致肥食物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We substitute margarine for cream because cream is fattening. 我们用人造黄油代替奶油，因为奶油会使人发胖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 curry   

n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革

参考例句：

• Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
• Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。

21 descending   

n. 下行 adj. 下降的

参考例句：

• The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
• The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置，然后再下山。

22 skids   

n.滑向一侧( skid的名词复数 )；滑道；滚道；制轮器v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的第三人称单数 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区

参考例句：

• The aging football player was playing on the skids. 那个上了年纪的足球运动员很明显地在走下坡路。 来自辞典例句
• It's a shame that he hit the skids. 很遗憾他消沉了。 来自辞典例句

23 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

24 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

25 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

26 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

27 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。

28 snip   

n.便宜货，廉价货，剪，剪断

参考例句：

• He has now begun to snip away at the piece of paper.现在他已经开始剪这张纸。
• The beautifully made briefcase is a snip at £74.25.这个做工精美的公文包售价才74.25英镑，可谓物美价廉。