No Other Choice—别无选择（乔治·布莱克）（第三章~Section 3）
From my mother and sisters I had no news. We heard that on the day of the surrender several British and Dutch destroyers had left the Hook of Holland with refugees on board. Some of these had been sunk. We could not, therefore, be certain that they had reached England safely.
【我没有得到任何关于母亲和姐姐消息。我们听说在荷兰投降那天，几艘英国和荷兰的驱逐舰离开了荷兰，船上有难民。其中一些已经沉没。因此，我们不能肯定她们是否已安全抵达英国。】
Early in October, I moved to the farm. Though I gave a helping hand with the farmwork, my existence there would have been dull had it not been for certain developments which made that period of my life one of the more exciting ones and predetermined, to a considerable extent, the course it was going to take.
【十月初，我搬到了农场。我在农活上帮了忙，但如果不是因为某些经历，我在那里的生活本来会很沉闷。这些经历使我的那段人生成为了一段激动人心的时期，并在相当大程度上决定了我人生的道路。】
I continued to be a regular churchgoer and my religious opinions at that time put me firmly in what is called today the fundamentalist camp. Already I had decided for myself that, when the war was over, I would try to become a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, a calling for which I felt strong attraction and for which, it seemed to me, apart from faith, I had certain abilities.
【我仍然是一个定期去教堂的人，我当时的宗教观点使我坚定地站在今天所谓的原教旨主义阵营。我自己心中决定，战争结束后，我将努力成为荷兰归正教会的一名牧师。我对这一召唤感到强烈的吸引力，对这一召唤，我觉得除了信仰之外，还因为我具有一定的能力胜任这个位置。】
Meanwhile, when the first shock of defeat had worn off, the will to resist began to manifest itself among the Dutch people. As the war continued the food shortages became greater, the German terror and pressure to impose national-socialism on an unwilling nation increased and the persecution of the Jews started, and this will to resist began to spread to ever wider sections of the population. To the majority of the people Queen Wilhelmina became the symbol of freedom and a rallying point for resistance. She was a woman of considerable dignity and authority to whom people felt they still owed allegiance and who was directing affairs from a country which was continuing the struggle. That fact kept alive the hope that one day the tide would turn and the invader be driven out. This hope was an essential factor in the will to resist, giving it purpose and meaning.
【与此同时，当第一次失败的打击过去后，抵抗的意志开始在荷兰人民中显现出来。随着战争的继续，食物短缺变得越来越严重，德国的恐怖主义和对一个不情愿的国家施加纳粹主义的压力增加了，对犹太人的迫害开始了，这种反抗的意愿开始蔓延到更广泛的人群中。对大多数人来说，威廉明娜女王成了自由的象征和反抗的集结点。她是一个相当有尊严和权威的女人，人们仍然对她忠诚，她在一个仍在进行斗争的国家里指挥着事务。这一事实使人们仍然抱有希望，希望总有一天形势会逆转，侵略者会被驱逐出去。这种希望是抵抗意志的一个基本因素，赋予了它目的和意义。】
I too hated the Germans, felt passionately pro-British and my thoughts also began to turn to resistance. It seemed to me that I was in an ideal position to do this kind of work. I had already gone underground, was living under a false identity, did not have to go to school or to work and did not have to give account of my movements to anyone. I began to look for ways to make contact with an underground organisation.
【我也憎恨德国人，强烈地亲英，我的思想也开始转向反抗。在我看来，我正处于做这种工作的理想位置。我已经转入地下，用假身份生活，不必上学或工作，也不必向任何人说明我的行踪。我开始寻找与一个地下组织联系的方法。】
In Zutphen, I had become acquainted with Dominee Padt, a well-known local minister. I had attended his confirmation classes and on several occasions he had invited me to his house to have tea with his family. He was an inspiring preacher who, with subtle allusions to biblical figures and events, would castigate the enemy and keep alive the hope in his congregation, which was always vast, that one day he would be defeated and the country free again. Among his friends it was generally believed that he was in contact with people in the underground movement.
【在祖特芬，我认识了多米妮·帕德，一位当地有名的牧师。我参加过他的礼班，有几次他邀请我去他家和他的家人一起喝茶。他是一位鼓舞人心的牧师，他巧妙地引用圣经中的人物和事件，严厉谴责敌人，并在他的教众中保持营造一种巨大的希望，那就是总有一天纳粹会被打败，这个国家会重新获得自由。他的朋友们普遍认为他与地下运动的人有联系。】
One day in the early spring of 1941 I decided to go and see him to talk to him of the possibility of offering my services to a resistance group.
【1941年早春的一天，我决定去看他，和他谈谈我为一个抵抗组织服务的可能性。】
He was a slender, ascetic looking man with very dark eyes and a soft voice which under the high vaults of his church, which before the Reformation had been a Catholic cathedral, acquired unexpected power and intensity. He listened to me with sympathy, but did not give a direct answer and asked me to come and see him again the following week. When I called again, he told me that he had spoken about me to a friend of his, who had expressed a wish to meet me. Could I accompany him to Deventer, a .large provincial town some thirty miles north of Zutphen, in three days' time. I naturally agreed at once.
【他身材瘦削，一副苦行僧的模样，一双黑眼睛，声音柔和，在他那座宗教改革以前还是天主教堂的高大的穹顶下，他的声音获得了意想不到的力量和感染力。他耐心地听了我的话，但没有给我一个直接的回答，而是要求我下个星期再去看他。当我再次打电话时，他告诉我，他已经向他的一个朋友谈到了我，他的朋友表示希望见到我。我能否在三天之内陪他去德文特尔，那是一个在祖特芬以北三十英里的省城。我自然立刻同意了。】
On the appointed day we travelled together to Deventer. There we made our way to the market square where we sat down on the terrace of a large cafe and ordered a cup of the concoction of barley and chicory which in those days passed for coffee. After about ten minutes, we were joined by a man who greeted Dominee Padt as an old friend. He had a pleasant, open face and, though his short grey beard indicated that he must have been well into middle age, his lively blue eyes, compact, well-knit body and quick movements gave his personality something young. He was introduced to me by the name of Max and that was all I ever knew about him.
【在约定的那一天，我们一起去了德文特尔。我们来到集市广场，在一家大咖啡馆的露台上坐了下来，点了一杯大麦和菊苣的混合物，在那个年代，这就是所谓的咖啡。大约十分钟后，一个男人坐在旁边，他把多米妮·帕特当作老朋友欢迎。他有一张和蔼、开朗的脸，虽然他那短短的灰胡子表明他一定已经到了中年，但他那双活泼的蓝眼睛、结实、结实的身体和敏捷的动作使他的性格显得有些年轻。他被介绍给我的名字是马克斯，这就是我对他的全部了解。】
He asked me to tell him about myself and listened attentively as I told him my story in broad outlines. I had brought my British passport with me which I showed him to convince him of my bona fides. He studied it carefully and then nodded, apparently satisfied. He said he needed an assistant; I would do. My job would be to act as a courier. I would have to visit various places all over Holland to collect and deliver parcels and messages. I was to travel the following Monday to the village of Heerden, north of Deventer. There I was to go to the local grocer, whose name and address he gave me, and say that I had come from 'Piet' to collect the groceries. I would then receive further instructions from the grocer.
【他让我给他讲讲自己的情况，并仔细地听我概述自己的经历。我带了我的英国护照，我把护照拿给他看，以使他相信我的诚意。他仔细地看了看，然后点点头，显然很满意。他说他需要一个助手，这便是我要做的事情。我的工作将是充当信使。我得去荷兰的各个地方收集和递送包裹和信件。接下来的星期一，我要去德文特尔北部的Heerden村。在那里，我要去当地的杂货店，他给了我店名和地址，告诉我说我是从“皮特”来取杂货的。然后我就会收到杂货商的进一步指示。】
Having settled this, we talked for a while about the war situation. Persistent rumours were going around that the Germans were preparing to attack the Soviet Union. Max had heard of several cases of German officers, stationed in Holland, who had been ordered to leave for Poland where large German forces were being concentrated. He added thoughtfully that if Hitler did attack the Soviet Union he would find that he had bitten off more than he could chew.
【解决了这个问题后，我们谈了一会儿战争局势。关于德国人正准备进攻苏联的谣言一直在流传。马克斯听说过几起驻扎在荷兰的德国军官接到命令前往波兰的案件，因为那里聚集了大批德国军队。他若有所思地补充说，如果希特勒真的进攻苏联，他会发现自己错了。】
When the following Monday afternoon I entered the small grocer's in the village street not far from the station, there was nobody in the shop. In answer to the bell which rang as I opened the door, a man with silver grey hair, a high complexion and steel-rimmed spectacles, dressed in a white coat, emerged from a room behind the shop and asked me what I wanted. When I said I had come from Piet to collect the groceries, he at once asked me to follow him into the back room. It was a cosily furnished living-room where his wife, a jolly looking, stout, middle-aged woman, was sitting at the table busy with the administration of the coupons, an important element in a shop-keeper's work in those days. When her husband told her I had come from Piet, she expressed no surprise and at once got up and offered me a cup of tea and a biscuit. I remember this well for it was real tea, something rare in those times of shortages. The grocer told me that I would have to spend the night in their house and the next morning early take the train for Assen, a large town in the north of Holland, where I had to deliver a parcel to a local dentist. I would be given an envelope which I was to take back to them the same day. The grocer and his wife turned out a very friendly, warm-hearted couple who had no children of their own. They evidently took a liking to me, as I did to them, and we spent a very pleasant evening together. I subsequently stayed frequently in their hospitable house which served as a kind of base where I received my instructions and to which I reported back. My work consisted of travelling all over Holland, partly by train, partly by bicycle, depending on the distance, carrying parcels with illegal literature and delivering messages. If I could not return home in time for the curfew, I would stay at the house of a member of the group or at the grocer's. About once a month I would meet Max at some pre-arranged place when he would give me new instructions and some money for my travelling expenses. I look back on that time as one of the most interesting periods of my life. I met many wonderful people, whose names I do not remember and often did not know and who did not know mine, but with whom I felt a strong bond forged by the knowledge that we were doing a dangerous job in a cause in which we all believed. By opposing the authority of the hated invader we had set ourselves free from that authority and had become free men again, even though we lived in occupied territory.
【第二天星期一下午，当我走进离车站不远的村街上的一家小杂货店时，店里一个人也没有。我开门时，门铃响了，一个银灰色头发、面色高大、戴着钢框眼镜、身穿一件白色外套的人从商店后面的一个房间里出来，问我要干什么。当我说我从皮埃来取杂货时，他立刻叫我跟他到后面的房间去。这是一间布置得很舒适的客厅，他的妻子，一个眉开眼笑的胖墩墩的中年妇女，正坐在桌子旁忙着管理折价券，这在当时是一个店主工作的重要组成部分。当她丈夫告诉她我从皮埃来的时候，她没有表现出惊讶，立即站起来给我端来一杯茶和一块饼干。我记得很清楚，因为这是真正的茶，在货荒时期是很罕见的。杂货店老板告诉我，我将在他们家过夜，第二天一早乘火车去荷兰北部的一个大城市阿森，在那里我要给当地的牙医送一个包裹。他们会给我一个信封，让我当天就把它还给他们。杂货店老板和他的妻子是一对非常友好、热心的夫妇，他们自己没有孩子。他们显然喜欢上了我，正如我喜欢他们一样，我们在一起度过了一个非常愉快的夜晚。后来，我经常住在他们温馨的房子里，那里就像一个基地，我在那里接受指示，并向他们汇报情况。我的工作包括在荷兰各地“旅行”，根据距离的不同，部分乘火车，部分骑自行车，携带装有非法文件的包裹，传递信息。如果我不能在宵禁前赶回家，我就会呆在地下组织成员家里或杂货店里。大约每个月，我都会在某个预先安排好的地方与马克斯见面一次，那时他会给我一些新的指示，并给我一些资金。我回想起来，那是我生命中最有趣的时期之一。我遇到了许多了不起的人，他们的名字我不记得了，他们也不知道我的名字，但我和他们之间产生了一种强烈的联系，因为我知道我们正在从事一项我们都相信的事业中危险的工作。通过反对可恨的侵略者的权威，我们把自己从这个权威中解放出来，重新成为自由人，就算是我们生活在被占领的领土上。】
