John Masefield (1878—1967)
1915年英法為求打通地中海黑海交通，援助帝俄，曾在土耳其達達尼爾海峽上方Gallipoli登陸。苦戰累月，終於無功而退。約翰·梅斯斐爾時隨紅十字會在軍中服務，目擊忠勇事跡，隨筆著錄，成Gallipoli一書。書已絕版，1959年5月31日《紐約時報書評週刊》（New York Times Book Review）為紀念英國桂冠詩人梅斯斐爾七十五歲壽辰，轉載數段，譽為英文散文中之傑作，茲介紹如下。按:梅斯斐爾此文寫開闊的場面，激昂的情緒，想像豐富，節拍雄健，讀之自令人起慷慨悲壯，大氣磅礡之感，中文所謂「驚天地，泣鬼神」者，想即指此類文章也。
On Friday, the 23rd of April, the weather cleared so that the work could be begun. In fine weather in Mudros a haze of beauty comes upon the hills and water till their loveliness is unearthly it is so rare. Then the bay is like a blue jewel, and the hills lose their savagery, and glow, and are gentle, and the sun comes up from Troy, and the peaks of Samothrace change color, and all the marvelous ships in the harbor are transfigured. The land of Lemnos was beautiful with flowers at that season, in the brief Aegean spring, and to seaward always, in the bay, were the ships, more ships, perhaps, than any port of modern times has known; they seemed like half the ships of the world. In the crowd of shipping, strange beautiful Greek vessels passed, under rigs of old time, and the tugs of the Thames and Mersey met again the ships they had towed of old, bearing a new freight, of human courage.
● 第一句很簡單，只是說天氣晴朗了，工作可以開始了。工作就是大軍登艦出發，進攻葛利波裡。這是何等繁複而又意義重大的工作，而作者不加任何形容詞，只是輕輕地稱之為「the work」。但是前面保留得愈多，後面便愈容易開展；「作勢欲張」有時比真的「鋪張揚厲」還要引人入勝；簡單的字眼往往有豐富的含蓄，便是這個道理。
● Mudros是愛琴（Aegean）海中Lemnos島上的一個海港，英大軍在此集中，為進攻葛利波裡之基地。
● haze：霧氣。their loveliness is unearthly：山水為霧氣所罩，其美妙疑非人間所有。it is so rare（稀有）：此一子句在文法上與前面沒有連接，但讀來語氣極順，如排印本無誤，則似為說明上文：所以unearthly者，即為其稀有之故也。
● 第三句內共有六個「and」，句法故意鬆弛，不求緊湊，讀者因此可以少用腦筋去想，只要睜開眼睛，東一處西一處地去看，自然海也，山也，日出也，船隻也，重重疊疊，紛然雜陳，令人有目不暇接之感。
● the hills lose their savagery：霧氣籠罩，山色略顯朦朧，無復獷悍之狀。glow：發光，遍體通亮。gentle：文靜；重複「lose their savagery」。
● Troy：在Lemnos之東，今小亞細亞之西北角，相傳古希臘聯軍圍攻Troy達十年之久，荷馬史詩Iliad即取材於此。
● Samothrace：愛琴海中一島，在Lemnos之北。peaks：群峰；此乃遠景，當較Lemnos本島上近景hills為高。transfigured：形狀變易。港內船舶亦因景色之詭異，而變得unearthly了。
● 第二第三兩句的時態用的是現在式，指的大約是好天氣時候的經常情形。第四句起用過去式，以點明大軍出征的那一天。
● brief：簡短的。愛琴海中氣候，夏天緊跟著冬天，春天沒有幾天。to seaward：開出海去；為adverbial phrase，形容動詞were，主詞為the ships, more ships用以加強ships；「比之近代任何港口（port）所見到（known）的船隻還要多；好像全世界船隻的半數都在這裡。」
● shipping是集合名詞，一國或一港船隻之總稱。rigs：船上帆、索等配備。這裡希臘船的配備是舊式的。
● tugs：馬力極大、用以拖曳大船之小汽船。Thames和Mersey是英國兩條河名。那裡的拖船現在調到愛琴海上來了；當年被它們拖曳（towed）過的大船也來了；兩種船在這裡重新見面。（they had towed of old是定語從句，省去關係代名詞which；of old：從前）。freight：船上所載之貨物。當年所載的是一種貨物，現在所載的又是一種貨物。現在滿船是出征的大軍，所載者乃人類的勇氣耳。
Ship after ship, crammed with soldiers, moved slowly out of harbor, in the lovely day, and felt again the heave of the sea. These men had come from all parts of the British world, from Africa, Australia, Canada, India, the Mother Country, New Zealand and remote islands in the sea. In a few hours at most, as they well knew, perhaps a tenth of them would have looked their last on the sun, and be a part of foreign earth or dumb things that the tides push. And perhaps a third of them would be mangled, blinded or broken, made imbecile or disfigured, with the color and the taste of life taken from them, so that they would never move with comrades nor exult in the sun. All that they felt now was a gladness of exultation that their young courage was to be used. They went like kings in a pageant to the imminent death.
● crammed：擠滿。heave：海的起伏；船進港之前，本跨海而來，曾經顛簸；現在出港遠征，又感覺到了。
● 第二句用過去完成式，追敘過去。健兒們本是從英帝國各處來的，在此地集中訓練編組之後，現在又開發出去。the British world：英國統治所及之地。the Mother Country：英國本部。按：出擊葛利波裡，共有軍隊五師，計英軍兩師，澳洲紐西蘭軍兩師，法國殖民地軍一師。
● 達達尼爾海峽素稱天險，德土聯軍防務堅固，今冒險進攻，傷亡必大，下面幾句，都是描寫健兒們視死如歸的精神。
● 他們都知道，至多幾小時之內，他們之中的十分之一可能已經戰死了。但是作者避免用「戰死」的說法，而說：「那時他們將已經（would have）看過了太陽最後的一眼，那時他們將消失在異鄉的泥土裡面（化為外國泥土的一部分），或則身體化為與木石相等（dumb things：不會說話的東西），受到潮水的拍擊而已。」
● mangled：週身受割裂之傷。broken：不健全。made imbecile：化為癡呆（腦筋受傷或神經受震）。disfigured：化為醜惡（面目受傷）。with the color and the taste of life taken from them：人生的色和味都被剝奪；受了傷，很多東西就不能享受了。so that從句表示「結果」：以致他們不再能和同伴們一起行動，也不再能夠在太陽底下踴躍歡喜了。
● 受傷之後是歡喜不起來了，可是他們現在是滿心歡喜，喜的是他們年輕人的勇氣快要得其所用了。
● pageant：盛大輝煌之行列。imminent：即將發生的。君王臨死猶不失其莊嚴，雖明知死在眼前，猶全副儀仗，聲威甚盛地從容赴難。
As they passed from moorings to the man-of-war anchorage on their way to the sea, their feeling that they had done with life and were going out to something new, welled up in those battalions; they cheered and cheered till the harbor rang with cheering.
● moorings：泊船所。man-of-war anchorage：兵艦下錨處。moorings想是在港內，而兵艦則在近出口處下錨碇泊。
● to have done with：了結，結束。（注意：do一定要用perfect tense，才可作這個解釋。）well（動詞）：噴出，湧出。battalions：單數原作「營」解，複數即指軍隊。他們感覺到他們的生命已經了結，現在正走向一個新的天地，（something new此兩字甚難譯，是不是指「死」呢？）。這種去舊就新的感覺在出征軍隊裡面，沛然而興。於是歡呼聲大作矣。
They left the harbor very, very slowly; this tumult of cheering lasted a long time; no one who heard it will ever forget it, or think of it unshaken. Presently all were out, and the fleet stood across for Tenedos, and the sun went down with marvelous color, lighting island after island and the Asian peaks, and those left behind in Mudros trimmed their lamps knowing that they had been for a little brought near to the heart of things.
● tumult：騷嚷，鼓噪。unshaken：沒有震慄之感；沒有一個人想起了這種歡呼之聲，會不大受感動的。
● Tenedos為在Lemnos以東的一個島嶼，艦隊朝這個方向開去。stood並非「站住不動」，而指船照固定方向航行。
● 載運五師軍隊當需大量船隻，一一出海想必很費時間。如今夕陽西垂，霞光奇艷，反照愛琴海諸島，並亞洲諸峰，而Mudros市上已是上燈時分。
● those left behind：沒有隨軍隊出發的人。trimmed their lamps：修剪燈心，此三字見馬太福音二十五章七節，按：「修拾燈」喻指迎接天國或真理而言。for a little=for a little while。had been brought near to the heart of things：更進一步地認識了宇宙間的奧妙。剛才壯士出征，那種歡呼鼓舞、視死如歸的精神，真夠得上說是「正氣浩然」；說到「正氣」，不免牽涉到宇宙的神秘，「正氣」可以說是宇宙秩序之所以賴以維持者，或者說是「萬物的中心」（heart of things）；看了剛才那種景象，誰都有幾分鐘的感動，若問為什麼感動？「感動」本身又是個什麼東西？我們只好說：受感動的人是接近了正氣，他們親證了萬物的中心；至少在這短時間內，他們被推送（brought）得和宇宙的神秘更近一步了。