作者：（美）莱曼•弗兰克•鲍姆(L. Frank Baum)
出版社：中国国际广播出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
美国少女成长系列：前线救援（中文导读英文版）试读：
序言
《前线救援》是“纯爱英文馆·美国少女成长”系列的第十本。第一次世界大战爆发了，简姨妈的两位侄女——帕齐与贝丝都十分焦急地渴望了解战况。琼斯结束了海洋旅行，前来看望大家。次日，莫德也与大家会合了。久别重逢的喜悦充溢在每一个人的心间。然而，莫德做出的决定却着实令大家大吃一惊。她竟然想到前线当一名护士！尽管美国是战争中立国家，但这样的立场无法阻止几个女孩心里对无辜者深深的同情。战争是那样残酷而无情，许多伤员在战火纷飞的战场上因受伤而死去。她们多么渴望能为那些伤员做点什么啊！帕齐与贝丝受到莫德的感染，决定与她同赴战场。考虑到战争的危险，约翰叔叔极力反对，琼斯则支持女孩们的决定，愿意与她们一同前往，并邀请大家乘坐他的“阿拉贝拉”快艇启程。见大家心意已决，约翰叔叔也只好同意与大家同行。他通过老朋友巴罗找到了一位符合条件的医生——戈瑞医生。戈瑞医生的能力果真不可小觑。很快，他就将漂亮的快艇改造成了一艘十分专业的医务船，并且将各种医用设备及物品都准备齐全。
桅杆上飘动着美国国旗和红十字会旗帜的“阿拉贝拉”快艇终于驶入了英吉利海峡。战场上的情景令女孩们震撼不已，战士们的脸上满是灰土，帽子早已不见踪影，衣服也破烂不堪，有些人不禁在寒风中瑟瑟发抖。在一次爆炸中，大家救下了一名名叫莫里的伤员。看到大家在救援中一时找不到对地形熟悉的司机，康复之后的莫里自告奋勇地当起了司机。几个女孩努力地照料着受伤的战士，然而弥漫在四周的死亡气息却令她们感到痛苦。帕齐照顾的一位名为安德鲁·丹顿的伤员伤势严重，将要不久于人世了。帕齐被丹顿与妻子之间深深的情谊打动了，决定无论如何也要去寻找他的妻子，把她带到丹顿的病床前。
在路上，一行人被德国官员认为是间谍，因此滞留了多日。滞留期间，大家在霍尔茨中尉的帮助下托人去寻找丹顿的妻子。然而，这位被找来的女人又胖又丑，还领着三个不懂规矩、令人厌烦的孩子，与照片上年轻瘦削的丹顿之妻绝非一人。在比利时城市沙勒罗伊的皇都酒店，大家向老板的女儿们打听起丹顿夫人伊丽莎白的下落，得知也许她此刻在沃格古堡。虽然感觉不可思议，但抱着一线希望的大家还是急匆匆地驱车奔向那里……
帕齐勇敢、热心、直率、执著的性格在这部小说中得到了进一步的发展。她应伤员丹顿的要求读起妻子写给他的信，透过文字仿佛见到这位思妇正在月下倚窗远眺，盼望着那征战沙场的丈夫早早归来。帕齐被这“同心而离居”的情感深深打动，泪水顺着她的脸庞轻轻滴落。她决定冒着战火去寻找他的妻子，让他们得以见彼此最后一面。大家反对她的做法，因为战况十分危险，何况还有那么多伤员需要照料。帕齐用她的坚持说服了大家，戈瑞医生找来助手，大家终于一同踏上了寻找之路。
贝丝的善良、诚恳与细心，莫德的坚强、沉着与理智在小说中也得到了更充分的体现。一天深夜，帕齐与莫德安慰着不住颤抖哭泣的贝丝。原来，贝丝照顾的一位战士在一小时前去世了。对死亡的恐惧令贝丝感到害怕和窒息，对伤员离世的惋惜又令贝丝感到痛苦与绝望。莫德对贝丝说，我们只有让自己变得冷酷一些才得以面对一位又一位伤员的离去。我们所能做的，就是尽力减少他们的痛苦，并让他们在平静中离开。
戈瑞医生是整部小说中一个很有特色的人物。初次见面，他就给约翰叔叔留下了极为深刻且特别的印象。来到戈瑞医生的实验室，约翰叔叔感到有一种恐怖的气氛笼罩在整个房间里。医生的脸布满了青灰色的伤痕，歪着的嘴角仿佛在狰狞地微笑，一只眼睛闭着，而另一只竟然是用玻璃制成的！在前线，戈瑞医生的面庞令许多病人感到恐怖，于是贝丝建议他戴上面具为病人们治疗。戈瑞医生同意了，但心里却隐隐作痛。他曾经历了太多的苦痛，也曾花了很多时间让自己渐渐习惯将面庞呈现于他人惊异的目光之中。他的医术令所有人折服，但他的行为有时却令人困惑不解。
卡格船长沉稳、坚毅、忠诚的特点也令人难以忘怀。一次偶然的谈话中，他得知伤员阿尔伯尔竟然是他失散多年的兄弟，他便开始尽全力去保护这位兄弟。法国军官决定把阿尔伯尔带到政府医院去，除非有人保证这位伤员不会逃走。看着虚弱的阿尔伯尔，卡格船长坚定地说他可以担保，出了任何问题都由他本人承担。然而，阿尔伯尔却声称他一定会逃走。平日里，卡格船长是那样尽职尽责地履行着一个船长的职责。面对这样的问题，他会如何选择？
三个女孩勇敢而无私的行为，约翰叔叔和琼斯对她们的全力支持，戈瑞医生对病人的全力诊治，卡格船长的尽职尽责，以及大家对战争的种种思考，都使全书散发着超越国界的人道主义光芒。莫里与克拉瑞特之间纠缠不清、相互怨恨的感情，丹顿与伊丽莎白之间的深深思念与绵绵情意，还有卡格船长与兄弟阿尔伯尔之间职责与情感的博弈，都会令读者陷入关于人性与情感的思索之中。
跌宕起伏、节奏紧凑、悬念丛生的情节，精心安排的伏笔，随着故事发展而渐渐产生变化的人物，都令人忍不住想去了解接下来发生的故事。与故事情节相应的是，这本小说有着相对沉稳、平实的写作风格，但同时也会偶尔闪现出美国文学特有的轻松与明快，这显示出鲍姆驾驭语言的能力。虽然整部小说是以第一次世界大战作为写作背景的，但并没有散发出绝望、无奈的气息，相反，其中充溢着勇气与希望，充溢着美国人特有的乐观与期待。
内心充满梦幻感的鲍姆不忘为这部充盈着残酷战争氛围的小说设计一座精致的古堡。古堡里的家具古色古香，墙上挂满了画作，描绘着花纹的盘子里盛满了可口的小点心，还有一位女伯爵接待了大家。这样一座仿佛没有受到一丝战争侵扰的古堡，是否在这本小说中有着特殊的寓意？伊丽莎白真的会在这座古堡里吗？气若游丝的丹顿能等到伊丽莎白赶来与他相见吗？那就登上“阿拉贝拉”快艇，与书中的人物一同起程吧！Chapter 1THE ARRIVAL OF THE BOY第一次世界大战期间，帕齐和贝丝都十分焦急地渴望了解战况，于是约翰叔叔向她俩娓娓道来。谈话之际门铃乍响，一个男孩前来看望大家。见到这个男孩，帕齐不禁兴奋地叫了起来。这位突然而至的访客究竟是谁呢？
"What's the news, Uncle? " asked Miss Patricia Doyle, as she entered the cosy breakfast room of a suite of apartments in Willing Square. Even as she spoke she pecked a little kiss on the forehead of the chubby man addressed as "Uncle"—none other, if you please, than the famous and eccentric multimillionaire known in Wall Street as John Merrick—and sat down to pour the coffee.
There was energy in her method of doing this simple duty, an indication of suppressed vitality that conveyed the idea that here was a girl accustomed to action. And she fitted well into the homely scene:short and somewhat "squatty" of form, red-haired, freckle-faced and pug-nosed. Wholesome rather than beautiful was Patsy Doyle, but if you caught a glimpse of her dancing blue eyes you straightway forgot her lesser charms.
Quite different was the girl who entered the room a few minutes later. Hers was a dark olive complexion, face of exquisite contour, great brown eyes with a wealth of hair to match them and the flush of a rose in her rounded cheeks. The poiseof her girlish figure was gracious and dignified as the bearing of a queen.
"Morning, Cousin Beth, " said Patsy cheerily.
"Good morning, my dear, " and then, with a trace of anxiety in her tone:"What is the news, Uncle John? "
The little man had ignored Patsy's first question, but now he answered absently, his eyes still fixed upon the newspaper:
"Why, they're going to build another huge skyscraper on Broadway, at Eleventh, and I see the political pot is beginning to bubble all through the Bronx, although—"
"Stuff and nonsense, Uncle! " exclaimed Patsy. "Beth asked for news, not for gossip."
"The news of the war, Uncle John, " added Beth, buttering her toast.
"Oh; the war, of course, " he said, turning over the page of the morning paper. "It ought to be the Allies'day, for the Germans won yesterday. No—by cracky, Beth—the Germans triumph again; they' ve captured Maubeuge. What do you think of that? "
Patsy gave a little laugh.
"Not knowing where Maubeuge is, " she remarked, "my only thought is that something is wrong with the London press bureau. Perhaps the cables got crossed—or short circuited or something. They don't usually allow the Germans to win two days in succession."
"Don' t interrupt, please, " said Beth, earnestly. "This is too important a matter to be treated lightly. Read us the article, Uncle. I was afraid Maubeuge would be taken."
Patsy accepted her cousin's rebukewith her accustomed good nature. Indeed, she listened as intently as Beth to the thrilling account of the destruction of Maubeuge, and her blue eyes became quite as serious as the brown ones of her cousin when the tale of dead and wounded was recounted.
"Isn't it dreadful! " cried Beth, clasping her hands together impulsively.
"Yes, " nodded her uncle, "the horror of it destroys the interest we naturally feel in any manly struggle for supremacy."
"This great war is no manly struggle, " observed Patsy with a toss of her head. "It is merely wholesale murder by a band of selfish diplomats."
"Tut-tut! " warned Mr. Merrick; "we Americans are supposed to be neutral, my dear. We must not criticize."
"That does not prevent our sympathizing with the innocent sufferers, however, " said Beth quietly. "My heart goes out, Uncle, to those poor victims of the war's cruelty, the wounded and dying. I wish I could do something to help them! "
Uncle John moved uneasily in his chair. Then he laid down his paper and applied himself to his breakfast. But his usual merry expression had faded into one of thoughtfulness.
"The wounded hauntme by day and night, " went on Beth."There are thousands upon thousands of them, left to suffer terrible pain—perhaps to die—on the spot where they fell, and each one is dear to some poor woman who is ignorant of her loved one's fate and can do nothing but moan and pray at home."
"That's the hard part of it, " said Patsy, her cousin. "I think the mothers and wives and sweethearts are as much to be pitied as the fallen soldiers. The men know what has happened, but the women don't. It isn' t so bad when they're killed outright; the family gets a medal to indicate that their hero has died for his country. But the wounded are lost sight of and must suffer in silence, with no loving hands to soothetheir agony."
"My dears! " pleaded Uncle John, plaintively, "why do you insist upon flavoring our breakfast with these horrors? I—I—there! take it away; I can't eat."
The conversation halted abruptly. The girls were likewise unnerved by the mental pictures evolved by their remarks and it was now too late to restore cheerfulness to the morning meal. They sat in pensivesilence for a while and were glad when Mr. Merrick pushed back his chair and rose from the table.
As Beth and Patsy followed their uncle into the cosy library where he was accustomed to smoke his morning cigar, the little man remarked:
"Let's see; this is the seventh of September."
"Quite right, Uncle, " said Patsy.
"Isn't this the day Maud Stanton is due to arrive? "
"No, " replied Beth; "she will come to-morrow morning. It's a good four days' trip from California to New York, you know."
"I wonder why she is coming here at this time of year, "said Patsy reflectively, "and I wonder if her Aunt Jane or her sister Flo are with her."
"She did not mention them in her telegram, " answered Beth. "All she said was to expect her Wednesday morning. It seems quite mysterious, that telegram, for I had no idea Maud thought of coming East."
"Well, we will know all about it when she arrives, "observed Uncle John. "I will be glad to see Maud again, for she is one of my especial favorites."
"She's a very dear girl! " exclaimed Patsy, with emphasis."It will be simply glorious to—"
The doorbell rang sharply. There was a moment's questioning pause, for it was too early for visitors. The pattering feet of the little maid, Mary, approached the door and next moment a boyish voice demanded:
"Is Mr. Merrick at home, or the young ladies, or—"
"Why, it's Ajo! " shouted Patsy, springing to her feet and making a dive forthe hallway.
"Jones? " said Mr. Merrick, looking incredulous.
"It must be, " declared Beth, for now Patsy's voice was blended with that of the boy in a rapid interchange of question and answer. Then in she came, dragging him joyously by the arm.
"This is certainly a surprise! " said Mr. Merrick, shaking the tall, slender youth by the hand with evident pleasure.
"When did you get to town? " asked Beth, greeting the boy cordially. "And why didn' t you let us know you were on the way from far-off Los Angeles? "
"Well, " said Jones, seating himself facing them and softly rubbing his lean hands together to indicate his satisfaction at this warm reception, "it's a long, long story and I may as well tell it methodicallyor you' ll never appreciate the adventurous spirit that led me again to New York—the one place I heartily detest."
"Oh, Ajo! " protested Patsy. "Is this the way to retain the friendship of New Yorkers? "
"Isn't honesty appreciated here? " he wanted to know.
"Go ahead with your story, " said Uncle John. "We left you some months ago at the harbor of Los Angeles, wondering what you were going to do with that big ship of yours that lay anchored in the Pacific. If I remember aright, you were considering whether you dared board it to return to that mysterious island home of yours at—at—"
"Sangoa, " said Patsy.
"Thank you for giving me a starting-point, " returned the boy, with a smile. "You may remember that when I landed in your country from Sangoa I was a miserable invalid. The voyage had ruined my stomach and wrecked my constitution. I crossed the continent to New York and consulted the best specialists—and they nearly put an end to me. I returned to the Pacific coast to die as near home as possible, and—and there I met you."
"And Patsy saved your life, " added Beth.
"She did. First, however, Maud Stanton saved me from drowning. Then Patsy Doyle doctored me and made me well and strong. And now—"
"And now you look like a modern Hercules, " asserted Patsy, gazing with some pride at the bronzed cheeks and clear eyes of the former invalid and ignoring his slight proportions."Whatever have you been doing with yourself since then? "
"Taking a sea voyage, " he affirmed.
"Really? "
"An absolute fact.For months I dared not board the Arabella, my sea yacht, for fear of a return of my old malady; but after you deserted me and came to this—this artificial, dreary, bewildering—"
"Never mind insulting my birthplace, sir! "
"Oh! were you born here, Patsy? Then I' ll give the town credit. So, after you deserted me at Los Angeles—"
"You still had Mrs. Montrose and her nieces, Maud and Flo Stanton."
"I know, and I love them all. But they became so tremendously busy that I scarcely saw them, and finally I began to feel lonely. Those Stanton girls are chock full of business energy and they hadn' t the time to devote to me that you people did. So I stood on the shore and looked at the Arabella until I mustered up courageto go aboard. Surviving that, I made Captain Carg steam slowly along the coast for a few miles. Nothing dreadful happened. So I made a day's voyage, and still ate my three squares a day. That was encouraging."
"I knew all the time it wasn' t the voyage that wrecked your stomach, " said Patsy confidently.
"What was it, then? "
"Ptomaine poisoning, or something like that."
"Well, anyhow, I found I could stand ocean travel again, so I determined on a voyage. The Panama Canalwas just opened and I passed through it, came up the Atlantic coast, and—the Arabella is at this moment safely anchored in the North River! "
"And how do you feel? " inquired Uncle John.
"Glorious—magnificent! The trip has sealed my recovery for good."
"But why didn' t you go home, to your Island of Sangoa? "asked Beth.
He looked at her reproachfully.
"Yo u were not there, Beth; nor was Patsy, or Uncle John. On the other hand, there is no one in Sangoa who cares a rap whether I come home or not. I'm the last of the Joneses of Sangoa, and while it is still my island and the entire population is in my employ, the life there flows on just as smoothly without me as if I were present."
"But don't they need the ship—the Arabella? "questioned Beth.
"Not now. I sent a cargo of supplies by Captain Carg when he made his last voyage to the island, and there will not be enough pearls found in the fisheries for four or five months to come to warrant my shipping them to market. Even then, they would keep. So I'm a free lance at present and I had an idea that if I once managed to get the boat around here you folks might find a use for it."
"In what way? " inquired Patsy, with interest.
"We might all make a trip to Barbadoes, Bermudaand Cuba. Brazil is said to be an interesting country. I' d prefer Europe, were it not for the war."
"Oh, Ajo, isn' t this war terrible? "
"No other word expresses it. Yet it all seems like a fairy tale to me, for I' ve never been in any other country than the United States since I made my first voyage here from Sangoa—the island where my eyes first opened to the world."
"It isn' t a fairy tale, " said Beth with a shudder. "It's more like a horrible nightmare."
"I can't bear to read about it any more, " he returned, musingly. "In fact, I' ve only been able to catch rumors of the progress of the war in the various ports at which I' ve touched, and I came right here from my ship. But I' ve no sympathy with either side. The whole thing annoys me, somehow—the utter uselessness and folly of it all."
"Maubeuge has fallen, " said Beth, and went on to give him the latest tidings. Finding that the war was the absorbingtopic in this little household, the boy developed new interest in it and the morning passed quickly away.
Jones stayed to lunch and then Mr. Merrick's automobile took them all to the river to visit the beautiful yacht Arabella, which was already, they found, attracting a good deal of attention in the harbor, where beautiful yachts are no rarity.
The Arabella was intended by her builders for deep sea transit and as Patsy admiringly declared, "looked like a baby liner." While she was yacht-built in all her lines and fittings, she was far from being merely a pleasure craft, but had been designed by the elder Jones, the boy's father, to afford communication between the Island of Sangoa, in the lower South Seas, and the continent of America.
Sangoa is noted for its remarkable pearl fisheries, which were now owned and controlled entirely by this youth; but his father, an experienced man of affairs, had so thoroughly established the business of production and sale that little remained for his only son and heir to do, more than to invest the profits that steadily accruedand to care for the great fortune left him. Whether he was doing this wisely or not no one—not even his closest friends—could tell. But he was frank and friendly about everything else.
They went aboard the Arabella and were received by that grim and grizzled old salt, Captain Carg, with the same wooden indifference he always exhibited. But Patsy detected a slight twinkle in the shrewd gray eyes that made her feel they were welcome. Carg, a seaman of vast experience, was wholly devoted to his young master. Indeed, the girls suspected that young Jones was a veritable autocrat in his island, as well as aboard his ship. Everyone of the Sangoans seemed to accept his dictation, however imperative it might be, as a matter of course, and the gray old captain—who had seen much of the world—was not the least subservient to his young master.
On the other hand, Jones was a gentle and considerate autocrat, unconsciously imitating his lately deceased father in his kindly interest in the welfare of all his dependents. These had formerly been free-born Americans, for when the Island of Sangoa was purchased it had no inhabitants.
This fortunate—or perhaps unfortunate—youth had never been blessed with a given name, more than the simple initial "A." The failure of his mother and father to agree upon a baptismal namefor their only child had resulted in a deadlock; and, as the family claimed a direct descent from the famous John Paul Jones, the proud father declared that to be "a Jones" was sufficient honor for any boy; hence he should be known merely as "A. Jones." The mother called her child by the usual endearing pet names until her death, after which the islanders dubbed the master's son—then toddling around in his first trousers—"Ajo, " and the name had stuck to him ever since for want of a better one.
With the Bohemian indifference to household routine so characteristic of New Yorkers, the party decided to dine at a down-town restaurant before returning to Willing Square, and it was during this entertainment that young Jones first learned of the expected arrival of Maud Stanton on the following morning. But he was no wiser than the others as to what mission could have brought the girl to New York so suddenly that a telegram was required to announce her coming.
"You see, I left Los Angeles weeks ago, " the boy explained, "and at that time Mrs. Montrose and her nieces were busy as bees and much too occupied to pay attention to a drone like me. There was no hint then of their coming East, but of course many things may have happened in the meantime."
The young fellow was so congenial a companion and the girls were so well aware of his loneliness, through lack of acquaintances, that they carried him home with them to spend the evening. When he finally left them, at a late hour, it was with the promise to be at the station next morning to meet Maud Stanton on her arrival.Chapter 2THE ARRIVAL OF THE GIRL莫德的到来令大家十分高兴。然而，她的决定却令所有人大吃一惊。她竟然想到前线当一名护士！帕齐和贝丝受到莫德的感染，也想随她同去，约翰叔叔则极力反对。琼斯决定支持女孩们的决定，和她们一同到前线去，并邀请大家乘坐他的快艇启程。大家真的会去前线吗？
A sweet-faced girl, very attractive but with a sad and anxious expression, descended from the Pullman and brightened as she found her friends standing with outstretchedarms to greet her.
"Oh, Maud! " cried Patsy, usurpingthe first hug, "how glad I am to see you again! "
Beth looked in Maud Stanton's face and forboreto speak as she embraced her friend. Then Jones shook both hands of the new arrival and Uncle John kissed her with the same tenderness he showed his own nieces.
This reception seemed to cheer Maud Stanton immensely. She even smiled during the drive to Willing Square—a winning, gracious smile that would have caused her to be instantly recognized in almost any community of our vast country; for this beautiful young girl was a famous motion picture actress, possessing qualities that had endearedher to every patron of the better class photo-dramas.
At first she had been forced to adopt this occupation by the stern necessity of earning a livelihood, and under the careful guidance of her aunt—Mrs. Jane Montrose, a widow who had at one time been a favorite in New York social circles—Maud and her sister Florence had applied themselves so intelligently to their art that their compensation had become liberal enough to enable them to save a modest competence.
One cause of surprise at Maud's sudden journey east was the fact that her services were in eager demand by the managers of the best producing companies on the Pacific Coast, where nearly all the American pictures are now made. Another cause for surprise was that she came alone, leaving her Aunt Jane and her sister Flo—usually her inseparable companion—in Los Angeles.
But they did not question her until the cosy home at Willing Square was reached, luncheon served and Maud installed in the "Guest Room." Then the three girls had "a good, long talk" and presently came trooping into the library to enlighten Uncle John and Ajo.
"Oh, Uncle! What do you think? " cried Patsy. "Maud is going to the war! "
"The war! " echoed Mr. Merrick in a bewildered voice."What on earth can—"
"She is going to be a nurse, " explained Beth, a soft glow of
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