许国璋,现代英语第一册 Lesson5

Lesson five

Dinners and Negotiations

That evening(November 28, 1943)Roosevelt was host at a steak and baked potato dinner prepared by his Filipino mess boys. Roosevelt mixed the pre-dinner cocktails himself. He put a large quantity of vermouth both sweet and dry, into a pitcher of ice, added a smaller amount of gin, stirred the concoction rapidly, and poured it out. It was a ceremony he enjoyed.

During the conversation, the President brought up the question of access to the Baltic Sea, but through a mistake in translation Stalin thought the President was referring to the Baltic States. Stalin said that if he understood the question rightly, he was in favour of assuring free navigation to and from the Baltic Sea.

Roosevelt was about to say something when in the flick of an eye great drops of sweat began beading off his face and he put a shaky hand to his forehead. The President had made no complaint, and none of us had detected on sign of discomfort Hopkins had the president wheeled to his room, where the White House doctor, Rear Admiral Ross T.Mcintire, made a quick examination. Hopkins came back and, to the relief of everybody, reported nothing more than a mild attack of indigestion.

After Roosevelt had retired, Churchill raised the question of Poland, illustrating with three matches what he hoped would happen to that country’s borders. He moved all three matches from east to west and said that was what should be done—meaning that much of the new Poland should be carved out of Germany and that the Soviet Union should retain the Polish territory seized on the basis of the Nazi-Soviet pact.

The next day, November 29, Roosevelt seemed alert as ever. Roosevelt and Stalin met privately again, primarily to discuss military operations. The conversation soon turned to the plan for a general world organization, an idea which Roosevelt had cherished for quite some time.

Although Stalin was always cautions about committing himself to any particular type of organization, he never showed any antagonism to the idea of a world body. Quite obviously he felt that it would be much more dangerous for the Soviet Union to be outside any world organization that to be in it, provided it, could block actins it did not like.

At the second plenary meeting, there was a real question whether the conference was going to be a success At a meeting of the military chiefs a few hours earlier, the British, at first hesitant, were raising additional objections to fixing

the date for the invasion of northern France, known by the code name Overlord. The debate was over whether to go ahead with Overlord in the spring of 1944, as the Russians and Americans favoured, or possibly to postpone the invasion for the sake of operations in the Mediterranean, as the British proposed.

Stalin pressed for a decision to launch Overlord in May, saying,“I don’t care if it is the 1st,15th, or 20th, but a definite date is important.”

Churchill, pausing to relight his cigar, said that he did not feel that the points of view were as far apart as they seemed. He said the British government was anxious to begin Overlord as soon as possible but did not want to neglect the great possibilities in the Mediterranean merely for avoiding a delay of a month or two.

When Churchill completed his argument, Stalin leaned forward and said he wanted to ask an indiscreet question:“Do the British really believe in Overlord, or are you only saying so to reassure the Russians?”

When Churchill glowered, chomped on his cigar, and refused to commit himself, the meeting ended without a decision.

The Russian dinner that evening was an unbelievable quantity of food. Stalin drank very little vodka and seemed to

prefer wine, which was understandable for a man from Georgia, a wine-producing land. Behind him stood an enormous Russian, about six foot four, in the white coat of a Russian waiter.

The dinner over, Hopkins went to see Churchill. He made clear the United States view on the assault across the Channel, which he said had been a firmly fixed view for many months past. The next morning, November 30, the British announced their agreement.

With the Overlord dispute settled, Churchill attempted to draw Stain out on the Far East, but the Russian was reluctant.

When the conference was over I was told by the President to hand out cigars and small favours to the staff that had helped us, and of course I hadn’t forgotten the Russian head waiter. But when I went into his room, a carton of cigarettes in my hand,I discovered the “head waiter” in the uniform of a Major General. I retired without indicating to that security officer what I had come for.

第五课

宴会和谈判

1943年12月28日那天晚上,罗斯福总统主持由他的菲律宾厨师准备的宴会。总统亲自调配宴前喝的鸡尾酒。他把足量带甜味与不带甜味的苦艾酒倒入放有冰块的酒壶里,又放入少量的杜松子酒,然后利索地将其搅匀,倒入酒杯。调酒是他很喜欢的节礼。

会谈中,总统提出了进入波罗的海的问题,但由于翻译差错,斯大林认为总统指的是波罗的海国家。斯大林说,如果他对此问题理解正确的话,他赞成在波罗的海自由通航。

罗斯福总统正要说什么,突然间豆大的汗珠开始从他的脸上滚落下来,他用一只颤抖的手按着前额。总统在此之前并没提过自己有什么病症,也没有任何人觉察出他有什么不舒服的迹象。霍普斯金立即差人把总统送到屋里,由白宫医生罗斯-T·麦金泰尔海军少将迅速作了检查。霍普斯金回来报告说,总统只不过有点消化不良,大家这才松了口气。

罗斯福总统回去休息后,邱吉尔提出了波兰问题,用三根火柴来比划波兰边界该如何划定。他把三根火柴由东向西挪动,说波兰的边界问题就该这样解决一一也就是说,新波兰的相当一部分领土应从德国划出,并根据纳粹一苏联条约划归苏联。

第二天,即叫29日,罗斯福似乎重又精神百倍。他和斯大林又举行了秘密会谈,主要是讨论军事行动问题。谈话很快就转到建立一个世界性组织问题,罗斯福总统早就有这个想法。

虽然斯大林总是小心翼翼,不对建立任何特定形式的组织表态,但他从未对建立一个世界组织的想法表示过反对。显而易见,斯大林觉得,如果苏联能够否决其不赞同的行动,那么置苏联于任何世界组织之外将比加入进去危险得多。

在第二次全会上,出现了有关会议能否成功的问题。在几个小时前举行的军事首脑会议上,英国人起初有点踌躇,后又反对确定代号为"霸王"的攻击法国北部的行动日期。争论的焦点在于:是按照苏联和美国的意见,在1944年春实施“霸王”计划,还是按照英国的主张,鉴于地中海的军事行动,推迟进攻法国的日期。

斯大林竭力要求在5月份实施“霸王”行动。他说,“我不在乎时间定在5月1日,15日还是2O日,重要的是得有个确定的日期。",

邱吉尔停下来,重新点燃了他的雪茄烟,接着说,他认为各方意见并不象表面上那样看上去相距甚远。他说,英国政府急于想尽早开始"霸王"行动,但并不愿仅仅为了避免推迟一两个月而忽略了在地中海采取军事行动的大好机会。

邱吉尔发表完意见后,斯大林凑近身子说,想问他一个考虑欠周的问题,"英国人对‘霸王'计划是确有信心,还是说说而已,用以安慰俄国人呢?"

邱吉尔怒目而视,咬着他的雪茄烟,拒绝表态,会议不欢而散。

那天晚上俄国人主持的宴会相当丰盛。斯大林似乎更喜欢葡萄酒，他只喝了少量伏特加，对于一个来自葡萄酒之乡格鲁吉亚的人来讲,是可以理解的。斯大林座后站着一个身材魁梧的俄国人,身高大约六尺四,穿着俄国侍者那种白罩衫。

宴会完毕之后;霍普斯金去见邱吉尔。他表明美国横渡英吉利海峡进行突击的主张早在好几个月之前就已确定。第二天,即11月30日,英国宣布同意美国计划。

“霸王”计划争论解决后,邱吉尔试探斯大林关于远东的看法,但这位俄国人不愿表态。

会议结束后,罗斯福总统要我把雪茄烟和小礼物分给那些帮助过我们的工作人员,我当然不会忘记那个领班侍者。但当我手里拿着一条香烟走进他的房间时,发现"领班侍者"穿着一套少将制服。于是我退了出来,也没向这位保安官员说明我的来意。