圣诞节休战_生活英语

圣诞节休战

文章来源：未知文章作者：enread 发布时间：2021-02-28 02:06 字体： [大中小]　进入论坛

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It happened 100 years ago this week: tired young men jumped out of their muddy trenches¹ on the Western Front of the First World War and fraternised with the enemy. Soldiers exchanged small gifts and some even played football together in no-man's-land.

This extraordinary event, which came to be known as The Christmas Truce², took place between British and German troops. Michael Jurgs, the author of The Small Peace in the Great War, says there was much more to this spontaneous³ ceasefire than just the Christmas spirit. The historian⁴ believes soldiers of both sides were simply fed up with the war.

Jurgs says the soldiers had been promised they would be home by Christmas, but after a few months of war, there were already a million dead and there was no sign the conflict would end any day soon. The bad weather made everybody even more miserable⁵. The first move towards the truce came from the German side. Jurgs is from Germany and he finds this surprising because his country "has started or joined many wars" - but the German soldiers began to sing the Christmas carol, 'Silent Night, Holy Night' and that's how it all began.

The tune⁶ helped to break the ice, because it was recognised by the British and the news spread quickly along the trenches.

Captain G.B. Jameson of the Northumberland Hussars Yeomanry was there when it happened. He remembered, during an interview in 1991, that a comrade told him that some German soldiers were walking outside the trenches. He thought his friend was joking but it turned out to be true. Jameson said that nobody was fighting and people were just wandering around the top talking, having a great time.

The soldiers chatted, smoked, exchanged gifts and even played football together in no-man's-land. But the truce was never going to last. The high command placed a ban on this type of behaviour, and, in spite⁷ of some isolated⁸ outbreaks of goodwill⁹ the following year, it was not repeated.

It sounds like a good Christmas story for a movie but... it's good to remember: it really did happen. Merry Christmas!

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1 trenches
深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )；战壕
参考例句：
life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活 The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

2 truce
n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束
参考例句：
The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。 She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

3 spontaneous
adj.自发的，不由自主的
参考例句：
The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。 Spontaneous applause broke out as soon as she finished speaking.她一讲完，大家不约而同都鼓起掌来。

4 historian
n.历史学家，编史家
参考例句：
As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。 He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

5 miserable
adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的
参考例句：
It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。 Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

6 tune
n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整
参考例句：
He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。 The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

7 spite
n.（用于短语）虽然，不顾，尽管
参考例句：
He has modern ideas in spite of his great age.尽管他年事很高，但思想观念却很入时。 In spite of his anger,his remarks were restrained.他尽管生气，说的话还是有节制的。

8 isolated
adj.与世隔绝的
参考例句：
His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。 Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

9 goodwill
n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉
参考例句：
His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。 We paid ￡10,000 for the shop,and ￡2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店，两千英镑买下了它的信誉。

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