No Other Choice—别无选择（乔治·布莱克）（第四章~Section 5）
Next day I left for the Parachute Training School at Ringway with three young Dutch agents for a week's course in parachute training. Agents of different nationalities were trained at Ringway and the various groups had to be kept strictly apart. One of the duties of the conducting officers was to see that they did not mix.
【第二天，我和三个年轻的荷兰特工前往降落伞训练学校，参加为期一周的降落伞训练课程。特工在林威受训，不同国籍的特工必须严格分开。指挥军官的职责之一就是防止他们混在一起。】
When our initial training was completed three of us, including myself, who had never flown before, were taken up for a short preliminary flight. This by itself I found quite exciting. But then we were taken up for the actual jump. With an air of deliberate unconcern we installed ourselves in the long narrow cabin of the Lancaster and had our parachutes hooked on to the wire which ran along it. Soon after that the voice of the pilot on the intercom warned us that we were circling over the dropping ground and that he was about to start running-in.
【当最初的训练结束时，我们三个从来没有飞行过的人，开始了一次短暂的初步飞行。这件事让我很兴奋。之后我们又被叫去进行真正的跳伞。我们装出一副平静的样子，在兰开斯特号又长又窄的舱室里坐了下来，把降落伞挂在沿着舱室的电线上。不久之后，对讲机里传来飞行员的声音，提醒我们说，我们正在降落地上空盘旋，他就要开始悬停了。】
The first man to jump was our trainer. I was next. I looked down at my feet dangling in the hole and saw the earth rush past deep down underneath them. I gripped the edge more firmly, afraid that I might fall too soon, and kept my eyes fixed on the red light.
【第一个跳下去的人是我们的教练。我是下一个。我低头看了看自己在舱门外晃来晃去的双脚，看到脚下的泥土从深处冲过。我抓得更紧了，生怕自己会掉得太快，眼睛一直盯着那道红灯。】
Suddenly it was no longer red but green. At the same moment I heard the voice of the despatcher loud in my ear, shouting 'Go', I felt a push as I lifted myself off and closed my eyes. I expected the sinking feeling of a long drop, but it was nothing like that. Instead, there was a strong push backwards as the slipstream under the aircraft caught me, followed almost immediately by a sharp pull upwards, caused by the opening of the parachute. Then I felt myself gently rocking in the air. It was an unforgettable moment. The relief that the parachute had opened, the light, floating feeling as if I was without weight, the country stretching far away in all directions, all this blended into a unique sensation. I thought this is what angels must feel like when they fly through the heavens. I did not have long to enjoy my descent, for suddenly the earth seemed to rush up towards me. I braced myself for the fall, and the next instant hit the ground with a fair thud. I had done it. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.
【突然，它不再是红色，而是绿色。就在这时，我听到发信人的声音在我耳边响亮地喊着“走”，我感到有人推了我一下，我抬起身，闭上了眼睛。我预料到会有长时间落差的感觉，但事实并非如此。相反，当飞机下方的滑流抓住我的时候，有一个强大的向后推力，紧接着是一个由降落伞打开引起的向上的急剧拉力。然后我感到自己在空中轻轻摇晃。那是一个难忘的时刻。降落伞打开时的那种放松，那种轻盈飘浮的感觉，仿佛我失去了重量，下面的乡村向四面八方伸展，所有都融合在一种独特的感觉中。我认为这就是天使在天堂飞翔时的感觉。没有多久，我就享受了降落的乐趣，因为突然间，地面似乎向我冲了过来。我做好跌倒的准备，紧接着就重重地摔在地上。我成功了。那是我一生中最愉快的经历之一。】
In the evenings we were free and would go to the nearby village where there was a cinema and a dance hall. I got on well with my three companions. They had arrived in England not very long before by various routes and had passed through many adventures. In a few months from now they would be sent to an underground organisation as W/T operators to replace those who had been arrested. Having reached freedom, they had opted to return to the gloom and oppression, to the hardship and privations of occupied Holland. They would lead a life of constant danger. They would not be able to contact their parents or their friends but live a restricted existence in hiding, passed on, together with their equipment, from safe house to safe house in an attempt to evade the prowling radio-location vans ever searching for clandestine operators. Every time they went on the air to pass intelligence or receive instructions, they were drawing the enemy's attention to themselves as surely as a hidden machine-gun post when it opens fire. And then when they had tempted their luck too long, when the sinister grey vans had closed in around them and pin-pointed their hideout, when the SS had surrounded the house and there was no escape, what bitter fate awaited them? Torture to force them to give away their comrades, followed by death at the hands of a firing squad or, worse perhaps, the slow agony of a concentration camp. Yet now, preparing for such a life they were carefree and happy, dating the rosy-cheeked Lancashire girls, determined to enjoy life while it lasted.
【晚上我们有空，就去附近有电影院和舞厅的村子。我和我的三个同伴相处得很好。他们不久前通过各种途径来到英国，经历了许多冒险。几个月后，他们将被送往一个地下组织，作为W/T操作员，取代那些被逮捕的人。在获得自由后，他们选择回到被占领的荷兰，面对那里的黑暗和压迫，回到困苦和贫困。他们将过着危险不断的生活。他们无法与父母或朋友取得联系，只能过着捉迷藏的生活，和他们的设备一起，从一个安全的住所转移到另一个安全的住所，试图躲避潜伏一直在寻找秘密操作人员的无线电定位车。每次他们通过广播传递情报或接受指示时，他们都在吸引敌人的注意力，就像开火时隐藏的机枪阵地一样。然后，当他们运气不再时，当邪恶的灰色货车包围了他们，把他们的藏身之处包围得密密的时，当党卫军包围了他们的藏身地，他们无处可逃的时候，等待他们的是怎样悲惨的命运呢?酷刑迫使他们出卖自己的战友，然后死于行刑队之手？或者更糟糕的是，在集中营里慢慢忍受痛苦。然而现在，在为这样的生活做准备的时候，他们无忧无虑，快乐地和漂亮的荷兰女孩约会，决心在生活还在的时候享受生活。】
Our first jump was followed by others under differing conditions, such as jumping with a heavy pack, jumping at night and coming down in the water. This was especially important for people to be dropped over Holland, so much of which is water. It required a special technique in that one had to get out of one's harness while still in the air and remain hanging on to it by one's hands until letting go just before hitting the water.
【在不同的条件下，我们的第一次跳跃是由其他人跟随的，比如背着沉重的背包跳跃、夜间跳跃和跳入水中。这对人们从荷兰上空降落尤为重要，因为荷兰大部分都是水。这需要一种特殊的技术，因为人必须在空中静止时解开安全带，用手紧紧抓住安全带，直到落水前松开安全带。】
I returned to London, looking back with satisfaction on the ten days at Ringway. Parachute jumping had been an exciting interlude. Contrary to expectations, however, I soon found myself immersed in desk work to a far greater extent than had originally been intended. The reason was shortage of staff.
【我回到伦敦，满意地回忆起在林威的十天。跳伞是一段令人兴奋的插曲。然而，出乎意料的是，我很快发现自己沉浸在办公室工作中的程度远远超出了最初的预期。其原因是人手不足。】
Very shortly after I joined the section, two officers had to be detached to set up an advance station in the Southern Netherlands. The Allied armies, pushing up through France and Belgium after the D-Day landings, had now reached the estuary of the Rhine and Meuse, which separates the Northern from the Southern Netherlands. Here their advance had been halted by this formidable natural barrier, made even more formidable by large areas flooded by the Germans. P8 took advantage of this situation to set up a field station in the liberated part of the Netherlands, with the task of sending agents across the rivers into the territory still occupied by the enemy. This reduced the London staff to Major Seymour, Commander Child and myself. Day and night a flow of telegrams poured in from our agents in Holland, containing urgent and valuable information on German troop dispositions and the locations of headquarters and other military objects. In fact about 80 per cent of the intelligence produced by P8 was received in this way. Only bulky material such as maps, plans and statistics were sent by courier routes, mostly via Switzerland or Sweden.
【我刚加入这个部门不久，就有两名军官被派去荷兰南部建立一个先遣站。盟军在诺曼底登陆后，一路推进，穿过法国和比利时，现在已经到达莱茵河和默兹河的河口，这是荷兰北部和南部的分界线。在这里，他们前进的步伐被这道令人生畏的天然屏障阻挡了，而德国人大量涌入使这道屏障更加令人生畏。P8利用这种情况，在荷兰被解放的地区建立了一个野战站，其任务是派遣特务渡过河流进入仍然被敌人占领的领土。这样一来，伦敦的参谋就只剩下西摩少校、查尔德指挥官和我了。我们在荷兰的特工人员日以继夜地发来大量电报，其中载有关于德国军队部署、总部和其他军事目标位置的紧急而有价值的信息。事实上，P8产生的大约80%的情报都是通过这种方式接收的。只有地图、计划和统计数据等体积庞大的资料是通过快递路线发送的，主要途经瑞士或瑞典。】
These telegrams were sent in code and received at the large W/T transmitting and deciphering centre at Bletchley, where they were decoded and sent to SIS Headquarters by teleprinter. The reception was often bad due to atmospherics. They had been written, encoded and transmitted in a hurry, under dangerous conditions and as a result the text was frequently badly mutilated, with words and even whole strings of words missing. It needed a lot of time and patience and a thorough knowledge of Dutch to try and restore these mutilated messages so that they made sense. I was given this job.
【这些电报是用密码发送的，在布莱切利的大型W/T传输和解码中心接收，在那里它们被解码，然后用电传打印机发送到特情局总部。由于危险的环境，接收信号常常很差。它们是在危险的条件下匆忙编写、编码和传送的，结果文本经常被严重破坏，有些字甚至整串字都没有。这需要大量的时间和耐心，以及对荷兰语的全面了解，才能试图还原这些残破的信息，让它们变得有意义。我得到了这份工作。】
Any time of the day or night an important telegram might arrive requiring immediate action. It might be a message reporting that a German general had just set up his HQ in some castle or country house in Eastern Holland. Its location had to be pinpointed on the map and the information together with co-ordinates and other relevant details, telephoned to the Air Ministry, for inclusion as a target in the next day's operations of the Tactical Air Force. Or it might be a message informing us that an important member of one of our networks had just been arrested. A warning would have to be sent immediately to several agents in the field to keep away from certain addresses which had become compromised by the arrest. So it was that I spent most nights on a camp bed in the office, on call to go to the teleprinter room as soon as something urgent came in.
【白天或晚上的任何时候都可能收到需要立即处理的重要电报。这可能是一条消息，说一位德国将军刚刚在荷兰东部的某个城堡或乡间别墅设立了他的司令部。它的位置必须在地图上被精确定位，信息连同坐标和其他相关细节一起被打电话给空军部，作为战术空军第二天行动的目标。或者它可能是一条消息，通知我们一个网络的重要成员刚刚被捕，警告必须立即发送给几名外勤特工，使他们远离因逮捕而暴露的某些地址。因此，大多数晚上我都是在办公室的行军床上度过的，只要有紧急情况，我就随时待命前往电传打印机室。】
Commander Child had a small flat in Petty France, about three minutes' walk from the office. He suggested that I should leave my lodgings and come and live with him. I would be more comfortable and within easy reach of the teleprinter room. It worked very well, especially as we led a kind of Box and Cox existence and were seldom at home together. He was frequently away supervising the training courses, and organising dropping operations of agents and stores. I now helped in this as much as my office work allowed, rather than the other way round as had originally been intended. We were especially busy at the period of the new moon. Conditions were most favourable then for dropping and landing operations and we tried as much as possible to concentrate all operations in this short period.
【查尔德指挥官在佩蒂法有一间小公寓，距离办公室步行约三分钟。他建议我离开办公室，到他那里去住，这样我会更舒服，而且离电传打印机室很近。我们相处得很好，尤其是我们过着一种“轮流”式的生活，很少在一起。他经常外出监督培训课程，组织代理和机构的撤换业务。现在，我在办公室工作允许的范围内尽可能多地在这方面提供帮助，而不是像最初打算的那样反过来。我们在新月期间特别忙。当时的条件对空降作战是最有利的，我们尽可能在短时间内集中作战。】
Major Seymour was also away from the office a great deal. Much of his time was taken up with consultations with his chiefs and conferences with the Dutch Secret Service and other intelligence organisations. The regular conferences with SOE, the wartime organisation responsible for organising sabotage and guerilla activities in the enemy occupied countries, were of especial importance. Constant care had to be taken that there would be no line-crossing, i.e. that an underground group working for one organisation should not become involved in the work of a group working for the other. In a country as small as Holland this was a real danger and SIS was most anxious to avoid it.
【西摩少校也经常不在办公室。他的大部分时间都花在了与他的领导们磋商，以及与荷兰特勤局和其他情报组织的会议上。与SOE(战时负责在敌占国组织破坏和游击活动的组织)的定期会议尤为重要。必须时刻注意不要有任何越界行为，即为一个组织工作的地下小组不应参与为另一个组织工作的小组的工作。在像荷兰这样的小国家，这是非常危险的，特情局最急于避免它。】
