London — The Christmas Truce, when British and German soldiers were said to have suddenly stopped fighting on the Western Front for a few hours on Christmas Day 1914, is written in history.
伦敦——据说，1914年圣诞节，英军和德军士兵在西线突然停战数小时——这就是被载入史册的圣诞休战(The Christmas Truce)。
What started with the singing of “Stille Nacht” on the German side, followed by a response of “Silent Night,” was said to have included an impromptu soccer game on the No Man’s Land between the opposing trenches.
先是德军士兵用德语唱《平安夜》(Stille Nacht)，然后英军士兵以英语的《平安夜》(Silent Night)回应。据说他们在两军战壕间的无人区进行了一场即兴足球比赛。

“We all grew up with the story of soldiers from both sides putting down their arms on Christmas Day when gunfire gave way to gifts,” Prince William said at a ceremony in England two weeks ago to unveil a memorial to the event.
“我们从小就听过这个故事，两军士兵在圣诞节那天放下武器，不再交火，而是交换礼物，”两周前威廉王子(Prince William)在英格兰为该事件树立的纪念碑的揭幕仪式上说。
“Football,” the prince continued, “has the power to bring people together and break down barriers. It is vital that 100 years on, we keep the Christmas Truce story alive. It remains wholly relevant today as a message of hope and humanity, even in the bleakest of times.”
王子继续说道，“足球具有使人团结、打破壁垒的力量。重要的是，一百年来，我们把圣诞休战的故事流传下来。直至今日，它仍具有重要意义——它在最灰暗的日子里传递出希望和仁慈。”
Hope and humanity and perhaps, ultimately, futility.
希望和仁慈，也许最终还是徒劳。
Soccer is a remarkable game that crosses boundaries around this world. But whatever took place on that day a century ago did not stop the carnage that took an estimated 16 million lives, nor did it break down barriers to prevent wars today.
足球是一项打破国界的伟大运动。但是，一百年前的圣诞节发生的任何事情都未能阻止那场夺去约1600万条生命的大屠杀，也未能消除壁垒，阻止当今战争的发生。
“Sport, not war” has to be among the most contrite of phrases.
“要体育，不要战争”已成为最有悔悟色彩的句子之一。
The sculpture unveiled by Prince William was designed by a 10-year-old boy, Spencer Turner. It depicts two hands clasped in friendship inside the outline of a ball. It is simple, brilliant and full of boyish hope.
威廉王子揭幕的雕塑是十岁男孩斯潘塞·特纳(Spencer Turner)设计的。它塑造出一个球的轮廓，里面有两只因友谊而紧握的手。它简洁、绝妙，充满孩子气的希望。
And grown men are running with that hope. There have been re-enactments of the reported No Man’s Land game, including a match between the British Army and German Army teams in Aldershot, England, and a game in Belgium this week near the Flemish field where the truce happened.
成年人也在为那种希望而努力。他们在英格兰奥尔德肖特重演了传说中的无人区游戏，包括英军和德军之间的一场足球赛。本周还有一场比赛，将在休战所发生的比利时佛兰德战场附近举行。
UEFA, the European soccer authority, put together a short video in which former stars — England’s Bobby Charlton, Germany’s Paul Breitner and France’s Didier Deschamps — read a narrative and current players — Wayne Rooney, Philipp Lahm and Hugo Lloris — read aloud soldiers’ letters from the front lines in 1914.
欧洲足联拍了一个短视频，前足球明星——英格兰的鲍比·查尔顿(Bobby Charlton)、德国的保罗·布莱特纳(Paul Breitner)和法国的迪迪埃·德尚(Didier Deschamps)——朗读关于此事的叙述；现役球员韦恩·鲁尼(Wayne Rooney)、菲利普·拉姆(Philipp Lahm)和乌戈·洛里(Hugo Lloris)朗读1914年士兵们的前线来信。
All of it is heartfelt. For the record, Germany, the current world champion, has won four World Cups to England’s one in the sport now played by 209 national associations.
这一切都很感人。德国是目前的世界杯冠军，它总共夺冠四次，英国曾夺冠一次。目前共有209个国家参与世界杯。
The brief cease-fire on the Western Front in Belgium followed a published letter from women’s suffrage advocates in England calling upon “the Women of Germany and Austria” to demand peace at Christmastime in 1914. Undoubtedly, some men on the front lines did leave their frozen, muddied trenches to not only bury their dead, but to exchange gifts of tobacco or even tunic button.
比利时西线短暂停火之前，英国的妇女投票权倡议者们发表了一封公开信，号召“德国和奥地利的女人们”要求1914年圣诞节期间保持和平。毋庸置疑，在前线，有些男人的确离开了冰冷泥泞的战壕，不仅为了埋葬死者，也是为了交换礼物——烟草，甚至是外衣钮扣。
Henry Williamson, then a 19-year-old private in the London Rifle Brigade who survived the war to become an author, sent a letter from the front to his mother. “In my mouth,” he wrote, “is a pipe presented by the Princess Mary. In the pipe is German tobacco. Ha ha, you say, from a prisoner or found in a captured trench, Oh dear, no! From a German soldier. Yes a live German soldier from his own trench. Marvelous, isn’t it?”
当时，伦敦步枪旅的19岁二等兵亨利·威廉姆森(Henry Williamson)从前线给母亲写了一封信。信中写道，“我嘴里的烟斗是英国制造的。里面的烟草可是德国的。哈哈，你可能会说，你是从俘虏那里得到的，或者是在被占领的战壕里找到的。哦，亲爱的，不是！我是从一位德军士兵那里得到的。是的，是从一位活着的德军士兵的战壕里得到的。很不可思议，是吧？”威廉姆森后来从战争中生还，成了一位作家。
Other letters, published in The Times of London, alluded to the game or games that broke out. Some suggest that they were kick-abouts, mainly between English soldiers using made up balls — some say a can of corned beef served as a substitute.
《泰晤士报》公布的其他信件提到了那场，以及许多场足球赛。有些信件表明，比赛主要是在英军士兵之间进行，只是随便踢着玩，球是自制的——有人说是用一罐咸牛肉当球。
Fewer accounts came from the German side, although Richard Schirrmann wrote the following December that his regiment, which was holding a position in the hills of occupied Belgium, received a request from Belgian troops to be allowed to send letters to their families. “Something fantastically unmilitary occurred,” Schirrmann reported. “German and French troops spontaneously made peace and ceased hostilities. They visited each other and exchanged wine, cognac and cigarettes for Westphalian black bread, biscuits and ham.”
德国那边的记录更少，不过理查德·席尔曼(Richard Schirrmann)在翌年12月写道，他所在的团驻扎在被占领的比利时山区的一个据点，他们收到比利时军队的一项请求，要求允许比利时军人给家人写信。席尔曼报告说：“发生了一些违反军规的事，真是难以置信。德军和法军自发讲和，停止敌对。他们互相访问，用葡萄酒、白兰地和香烟交换威斯特伐利亚黑面包、饼干和火腿。”
Schirrmann survived the war and set up the German Youth Hostel Association in 1919.
席尔曼从战争中生还，1919年创立了德国青年旅社协会。
By the following Christmas, the truce was banned under threat of a court marshal for any soldier on either side who dared to fraternize with the enemy.
到下一个圣诞节，休战被禁止了，双方任何士兵胆敢与敌军亲近，都将面临军事审判。
The story of the Christmas Truce, and soccer’s part in it, became gilded over the decades. It is implausible, but not impossible, that any soldier smuggled a leather ball — or even the inflatable pig’s bladder inside the casing — to the trenches. But that is how it has become depicted in accounts fictionalized and made more beautiful.
多年以来，圣诞休战的故事以及其中的足球赛被美化了。某个士兵偷偷在战壕里藏了个皮球或者充气猪脬球——这难以置信，但并非不可能。不过后来这个事件被演绎得更像小说，更美好了。
Robert Graves, the British poet and writer, in 1962 reconstructed a story of the event, with Germany’s 133rd Royal Saxon Regiment taking on what he called Scottish troops. In Graves’s account, the Germans won, 3-2.
1962年，英国诗人、作家罗伯特·格雷夫斯(Robert Graves)根据这个事件虚构了一个故事，在这个故事里，德军第133皇家撒克逊团和他所称的苏格兰军队比赛。在格雷夫斯的故事里，德军赢了，比分是3比2。
In the match between the British and German army teams last week in Aldershot, the British won, 1-0.
上周在奥尔德肖特举办的英军和德军比赛中，英军赢了，比分是1比0。
Soccer and war have intersected again over the past century. Perhaps the most evocative of triumphs was strife-torn Iraq emerging as the winner of the 2007 Asian Cup that was played across four countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
在过去一个世纪里，足球和战争再次交织在一起。也许最令人难忘的胜利是2007年被战火撕裂的伊拉克夺得亚洲杯冠军，那年的亚洲杯决赛阶段在四个国家举行：印度尼西亚、马来西亚、泰国和越南。
Soccer can indeed survive hostilities. But only at Christmastime will a story be believed that both sides would put down their arms to meet in No Man’s Land. A beautiful memory, made more beautiful in the subsequent years of man’s imagination.
足球的确能战胜敌意。但只有在圣诞节，两军放下武器在无人区会面的故事才会有人相信。这个美妙的故事在之后这些年人们的想像中变得更加美好。