第三学期 - 大学英语3 - Unit - 2

北京工商大学 专升本 会计学专业 大学英语3 电子版复习课件 整理:王和平 QQ 359076395 如果有发现错误或补充请联系我.谢谢大家 mail:wangli12a@163.com

UNIT 2

Aunt Bettie is faced with a difficult decision. A wounded Union soldier is found hiding in a farmhouse near her home. She has to decide whether to help him or let him be captured. What will she choose to do?

The Woman Who Would Not Tell

Janice Keyser Lester

\

That's how my great-aunt Bettie began her story. I heard it many times as a child, whenever my family visited Aunt Bettie in the old house in Berryville, Virginia. Aunt Bettie was almost 80 years old then. But I could picture her as she was in the story she told me - barely 20, pretty, with bright blue eyes.

Bettie Van Metre had good reason to hate the Civil War. One of her brothers was killed at Gettysburg, another taken prisoner. Then her young husband, James, a Confederate officer, was captured and sent to an unknown prison camp somewhere.

One hot day in late September Dick Runner, a former slave, came to Bettie with a strange report. He had been checking a farmhouse half a mile away from the Van Metre home, a farmhouse he thought was empty. But inside, he heard low groans. Following them to the attic, he found a wounded Union soldier, with a rifle at his side.

When Aunt Bettie told me about her first sight of the bearded man in the stained blue uniform, she always used the same words. \was like walking into a nightmare: those awful bandages, that dreadful smell. That's what war is really like, child: no bugles and banners. Just pain and filth, futility and death.\

To Bettie Van Metre this man was not an enemy but rather a suffering human being. She gave him water and tried to clean his terrible wounds. Then she went out into the cool air and leaned against the house, trying not to be sick as she thought of what she had seen - that smashed right hand, that missing left leg.

The man's papers Bettie found in the attic established his identity: Lt. Henry Bedell, Company D, 11th Vermont Volunteers, 30 years old. She knew that she should report the presence of this Union officer to the Confederate army. But she also knew that she would not do it. This is how she explained it to me: \waiting, and hoping, and not knowing - just as I was. It seemed to me that the only thing that mattered was to get her husband back to her.\

Slowly, patiently, skillfully, James Van Metre's wife fanned the spark of life that flickered in Henry Bedell. Of drugs or medicines she had almost none. And she was not willing to take any from the few supplies at the Confederate hospital. But she did the best she could with what she had.

As his strength returned, Bedell told Bettie about his wife and children in Westfield, Vermont. And Bedell listened as she told him about her brothers and about James. \knew his wife must be praying for him,\for James, It was strange how close I felt to her.\

The October nights in the valley grew cold. The infection in Bedell's wounds flared up. With Dick and his wife, Jennie, helping, she moved the Union officer at night, to a bed in a hidden loft above the warm kitchen of her own home.

北京工商大学 专升本 会计学专业 大学英语3 电子版复习课件 整理:王和平 QQ 359076395 如果有发现错误或补充请联系我.谢谢大家 mail:wangli12a@163.com

But the next day, Bedell had a high fever. Knowing that she must get help or he would die, she went to her long- time friend and family doctor Graham Osborne.

Dr. Osborne examined Bedell, then shook his head. There was little hope, he said, unless proper medicine could be found.

\.\The doctor told her she was mad. The Union headquarters were almost 20 miles away. Even if she reached them, the Yankees would never believe her story.

\-stained paper bearing the official War Department seal. \said. \

She made the doctor write out a list of the medical items he needed. Early the next morning she set off.

For five hours she drove, stopping only to rest her horse. The sun was almost down when she finally stood before the commanding officer at Harpers Ferry.

Gen. John D. Stevenson listened, but did not believe her. \death was reported to us.\

\out.\aside Bettie's thanks. \not.\

With the medicines that Bettie carried to Berryville, Dr. Osborne brought Bedell through the crisis. Ten days later Bedell was hobbling on a pair of crutches that Dick had made for him. \. I'd like to go back as soon as possible.\

So it was arranged that Mr. Sam, one of Bettie's neighbors and friends, should go and help Bettie deliver Bedell to Union headquarters at Harpers Ferry in his wagon.

They hitched Bettie's mare alongside Mr. Sam's mule. Bedell lay down in an old box filled with hay, his rifle and crutches beside him.

It was a long, slow journey that almost ended in disaster. Only an hour from the Union lines, two horsemen suddenly appeared. One pointed a pistol, demanding money while the other pulled Mr. Sam from the man with the pistol fell to the ground dead. A second shot, and the other man went sprawling. It was Bedell shooting! Bettie watched him lower the rifle and brush the hay out of his hair. \on, Mr. Sam,\he said. \keep moving.\

At Harpers Ferry, the soldiers stared in surprise at the old farmer and the girl. They were even more amazed when the Union officer with the missing leg rose from his hay- filled box.

Bedell was sent to Washington. There he told his story to Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Stanton wrote a letter of thanks to Bettie and signed an order to free James Van Metre from prison. But first James had to be found. It was arranged for Bedell to go with Bettie as she searched for her husband.

Records showed that a James Van Metre had been sent to a prison camp in Ohio. But when the ragged prisoners were paraded before Bettie. James was not there. A second prison was checked, with the same result. Bettie Van Metre fought back a chilling fear that her husband was dead.

北京工商大学 专升本 会计学专业 大学英语3 电子版复习课件 整理:王和平 QQ 359076395 如果有发现错误或补充请联系我.谢谢大家 mail:wangli12a@163.com

Then at Fort Delaware, near the end of the line of prisoners a tall man stepped out and stumbled into Bettie's arms. Bettie held him, tears streaming down her face. And Henry Bedell, standing by on his crutches, wept, too.

贝蒂姨婆面临一个坚难的决定。 一名受伤的联邦政府士兵被发现隐藏在她的家附近一幢农舍里。 她必须决定是帮助他还是让他被逮捕。 她将选择什么做？

不肯告发的女人

\我从未憎恶那些北方佬。我憎恶的是战争。... \

那是我的姨婆贝蒂总是这样开始她的故事。我听到它很多次当我还是小孩的时候，每当我的家庭拜访住在贝里维尔，弗吉尼亚的老房子里的姨婆时。 贝蒂姨婆那时是将近80岁。 但是我能想象她告诉我的故事里她当时的样子-仅仅20，漂亮，有明亮的蓝眼睛。

贝蒂.范.米特有好的理由憎恶内战。她的一个兄弟在葛底斯堡被另外一名囚犯杀死了。当时，她年青的丈夫，詹姆斯，邦联的军官，被逮捕并且在送到一个知道在哪里的监狱。

迪克.朗纳，一个农场的工人，在9月末非常热的一天，告诉贝蒂姨婆一件奇怪的事情。他检查一幢距离米特家半英里远的农舍时，他想农舍是空的。但是在里面，他听到很低的呻吟声。然后阁楼上，他发现一个受伤的联邦士兵，在他的身边有一支步枪。 当贝蒂姨婆告诉我她第一次看到那个穿着脏蓝色制服有胡子的男人时的情景，她总是说相同的话。“它看起来就是一场恶梦，那些糟糕的绷带，那可怕的气味，那才是真实的战争，孩子：没有军号和旗帜。只有痛苦和肮脏，受伤和死亡。”

对贝蒂.范.米特来说这个人不是敌人，而是一个受伤的人。她给他水喝并且努力清洁他可怕的伤口。 然后，她走出去倚靠着房子呼吸着外边凉爽的空气，试图不去想让她恶心的事-右手断了，左腿没了。

贝蒂在阁楼上发现那个男人的文件，证明了他的身份：陆军中尉 亨利.贝德尔,D连，第十一批志愿兵,30岁。她知道她应该报告南部联邦军队的这名北部军官的存在。 但是她知道她将不会这样做。她对我解释说:\我一直想知道他在有一位妻子在某一个地方，等待他，希望他回家，并且不知道他在哪 - 正象我一样。 在我看来唯一重要的事情是把她的丈夫送回她。\

詹姆斯.范.米特的妻子慢慢地、耐心地、巧妙地煽燃了亨利.贝德尔身上那闪烁不定的生命火花。关于各种药物，她几乎一无所有。她也不愿意从南部邦联医院那少有的供给中获取一点点。不过，她尽了自己最大的能力，用去她仅有的一点药品。

当贝德尔恢复了气力后，他向贝蒂讲述了他在韦斯菲德的佛蒙特的妻子和孩子。贝德尔也听她讲他的兄弟和她的詹姆斯。“我知道他的妻子或许正在为他祈祷，”贝蒂姨婆对我说：“正象我在为詹姆斯祈祷一样。难怪我和贝德尔妻子的感情是那么接近。”

在十月，河谷的夜晚逐渐变冷。贝德尔伤口的炎症恶化起来。在迪克和他老婆詹妮的帮助下，在夜里把这名联邦军官搬到她自己家暖和的厨房阁楼上的一张床上，隐藏起来。

但是第二天，贝德尔发了高烧。她知道必须找人援助，否则他会死去，于是她就去找多年的好友及她的家庭医生格雷厄姆.奥斯本。

奥斯本医生检查了贝德尔后摇了摇头。他说，要是弄不到好药，就没什么希望了。 “那好吧，”贝蒂说：“我将到哈珀斯渡口的北方佬那里去搞药。”

北京工商大学 专升本 会计学专业 大学英语3 电子版复习课件 整理:王和平 QQ 359076395 如果有发现错误或补充请联系我.谢谢大家 mail:wangli12a@163.com

医生说她是发疯了。联邦司令部几乎在20英里之外。即使她到了那里，北方佬们也不会相信她的话。

“我将带上证件，”贝蒂说。她爬上阁楼取来一份血迹斑斑的文件，文件上有作战部的官印。“这是他最后一次提拨的档案。”她说，“我拿出这个时，他们将不得不相信我。”

她要求医生开写了贝德尔所需的药单。第二天一大早她就出发了。 她驾了五个小时的车，只停下歇歇马。当她最终在哈珀斯渡口找到指挥官时，太阳要落山了。

约翰.D.史蒂文森将军听了她的讲述，但不相信，“夫人，”他说，“贝德尔已经死亡，我们已接到了报告。”

“他还活着，”贝蒂固执地说：“但他不可能活多长时间了，除非他得到单子上的这些药。”

“好吧，”这位将军终于说，“我不打算冒着一支巡逻队生命的危险去弄清楚。”他转向一位部下，“落实一下范.米特夫人要的那些药物。”他不在意贝蒂的谢意，只是说：“不管你讲的是真还是假，你是位勇敢的妇女。” 有了贝蒂拿到贝里维尔的各种药物，奥斯本医生使贝德尔渡过了危险。十天之后贝德尔能用迪克为他制作的拐杖一瘸一拐地行走了。“我不能继续让你冒险了，”贝德尔对贝蒂说：“我有足够的力气行走了，我要尽快回去。”

于是，他们安排了萨姆先生，贝蒂的一位邻居与朋友去帮助贝蒂用他的马车把贝德尔送到哈珀斯渡口联邦司令部。

他们把贝蒂的马和萨姆先生的骡一起套上车。贝德尔躺在一辆装满干草的旧车厢内，他的步枪和拐杖在身旁。

这是一段漫长而缓慢的旅程，并差点功亏一溃。离联邦防线仅有一小时路程时，突然出现了两个骑马人。一个举着手枪，胁迫钱财，而另一个把萨姆从马车上拉了下来。接着只听一声枪响，持手枪的歹徒倒在地上，一命呜呼。又是一声枪响，另一个歹徒也瘫在地上。这是贝德尔放的枪!贝蒂看着他放下步枪理了一下头发上的干草。“走吧，萨姆先生，”他说，“让我们继续赶路吧。”

在哈珀斯渡口，士兵们惊奇地疑视着老农和这们姑娘。当缺了一条腿的联邦军官从装满干草的车厢内站起来时，他们愈发惊愕不已。

贝德尔被送到了华盛顿。在那里他向陆军部长埃德温.M.斯坦顿叙说事情经过。斯坦顿向贝蒂写了一封感谢信，并莶发了一项命令释放詹姆斯.范.米特。但首先必须找到詹姆斯。当贝蒂寻夫时，安排贝德尔与她同行。

档案显示一名叫詹姆斯.范.米特的曾被到俄亥俄某集中营。但当那些衣衫褴褛的囚犯，列队从贝蒂面前走过时，她没有看到詹姆斯。检查了第二个监狱，结果同样如此。贝蒂强忍着内心的恐惧，害怕丈夫已经死去。最后在特拉华堡。从一队囚犯的尾端，一个高个子男囚走出了队列，颤颤趔趔地扑在贝蒂的怀里。贝蒂抱着他，眼泪夺眶而出。亨利.贝德尔拄着拐杖站在一旁也哭了。