For my past love

Night had fallen over the North African desert, and our battalions tanks were huddled in a protective circle. A group of my fellow soldiers stood around a radio. As I approached, one of them put his finger to his lips.

夜幕籠罩著北非沙漠。我們營的坦克圍成了一個保護圈，我的一幫戰友圍站在一個收音機旁。當我走近時，其中一位將手指放在嘴唇上，示意我別出聲。

From the radio came a bugle call, then a tender, come-kiss-me womans voice singing in German the most haunting melody I’d ever heard.

從收音機里傳來號角聲，隨后傳來一個女人溫柔纏綿的歌聲，她在用德語唱著一支我有生以來聽過的最難以忘懷的曲子：

Vor der Kaserne

vor dem grossen Tor

stand eine Laterne

und steht sie noch davor…

I didn’t understand the words, nor did most of us. For we were not the German Afrikakorps but the British Eighth Army---the Desert Rats. Yet we were captivated by this mysterious voice that somehow reached deep into our thoughts and memories.

我不明白歌詞是什么意思，我們大多數人都不明白。因為我們不是德國的非洲軍團，而是英國第八軍沙漠之鼠。但我們人被這神秘的歌聲所吸引，不知怎么的，這個聲音已經深深地印在了我們的腦海和記憶里。

Only a short distance away, German soldiers were listening to the same song, sharing our loneliness and longings. This was the spring of 1942; both sides were far from home, but we were all in love with the same girl in the song. So were millions of other soldiers of almost every nationality---and they continue to sing of her to this day. Her name was Lilli Marlene.

僅僅咫尺之遙的地方，德國士兵也正在收聽這同一首歌曲，和我們一同感受著孤獨與渴望。這是1942年的春天。對陣雙方的士兵都遠離家鄉，但我們都愛者歌中的那一個姑娘，幾乎每個國家中都有千百萬的士兵在愛著她而且直到今天他們仍在歌唱這她。她的名字叫麗莉?瑪琳。

Who was Lilli, and how did she transcend borders, languages and generations to become every soldier’s sweetheart? Her story begins in 1915, in the early stage of World War I.

麗莉是誰，她又是怎么超越國家、語言和年齡的界限而成為每個士兵的心上人的呢?她的故事開始于1915年，第一次世界大戰早期。

One foggy April night in Berlin, Hans Leip, a young officer cadet and budding poet, was standing guard outside a fusilier’s barracks. Across the way, fog swirled eerily around a brightly lit lantern.

4月的柏林，一個霧蒙蒙的夜晚，漢斯?萊普正站在一個燧發槍團的營房外站崗。他既是一個年輕的軍校學員，又是一個嶄露頭角的詩人。馬路對面，一盞明亮的燈四周陰森森地圍繞著一圈霧氣。

A little while before, Leip had been in the arms of a pretty greengrocer’s daughter nicknamed Lili. He was dreamily thinking about her when out of the lamp-lit haze came Marleen, a coquettish beauty with sea-green eyes whom Leip had met at an art gallery. For him it was love at first sight.

片刻之前，他還在一個小名叫麗莉的漂亮姑娘的懷抱中，她是一個蔬菜水果店主的女兒。他正在如癡如夢地想念者她。這時，從燈光照耀下的迷霧中走來了瑪倫，一個長者海藍色眼睛的風騷美人，萊普曾在一個藝術畫廊中遇到過她。他對她一見鐘情。

Marleen was on her way to a nearby hospital to help nurse wounded soldiers. She waved and called a greeting just as the sergeant of the guard came to the gate. Unable to reply, Leip forlornly watched her disappear in the fog.

瑪倫到附近一家醫院幫助護理傷兵，正好路過這里。她招手向萊普大聲問好，可這時恰逢警衛隊的中士走到了門口，萊普不敢回答，只能頹然地望著她消失在霧中。