The rebellion started with World War I.
青年人的叛逆行为是随着第一次世界大战而开始的。
The prolonged stalemate of 1915-1916, the increasing insolence of Germany toward the United States, and our official reluctance to declare our status as a belligerent were intolerable to many of our idealistic citizens,
1915-1916年间那旷日持久的僵持局面。德国对美国所表现出的越来越傲慢无礼的态度，以及我国政府迟迟不愿宣布参战的作法，都使我们理想主义的公民觉得无法忍受。
and with typical American adventurousness enhanced somewhat by the strenuous jingoism of Theodore Roosevelt, our young men began to enlist under foreign flags.
我们的青年，本身已怀着典型的美国式冒险精神，又多少受到西奥多·罗斯福的狂热沙文主义思想的怂恿，于是便开始在外国旗帜下入伍参战。
In the words of Joe Williams, in John Dos Passos'U. S. A., they "wanted to get into the fun before the whole thing turned belly up."
用约翰·多斯·帕索斯的《美利坚合众国》中的人物乔·威廉斯的话说，他们"是想趁着战争还没结束就参加到这场游戏中去"。
For military service, in 1916-1917, was still a romantic occupation.
因为在1916-1917年间，入伍当兵还是一种富于浪漫色彩的职业。
The young men of college age in 1917 knew nothing of modern warfare.
在1917年正处于上大学年龄的年轻人对于现代战争还一无所知。
The strife of 1861-1865 had popularly become, in motion picture and story, a magnolia-scented soap opera, while the one hundred-days' fracas with Spain in 1898 had dissolved into a one-sided victory at Manila and a cinematic charge up San Juan Hill.
1861-1865年间的那场战争早已通俗地在电影和小说中成了一部散发出木兰花香的连续剧。而1898年同西班牙之间的百日战争在影剧故事中总是被描写成美军在马尼拉大获全胜或是冲上圣胡安山顶的电影镜头式场面。
Furthermore, there were enough high school assembly orators proclaiming the character-forming force of the strenuous life to convince more than enough otherwise sensible boys that service in the European conflict would be of great personal value, in addition to being idealistic and exciting.
此外，更有许多演说家们在中学生集会上大肆渲染战场上的紧张生活在培养性格方面的力量，使得那些本来还算有头脑的年轻小伙子们都信以为真，以为到欧洲战场上去服役不仅是一件令人兴奋的理想化的美事，而且具有巨大的人生价值。