Ball of Fat 羊脂球 Chapter 1

For many days now the fag-end of the army had been straggling through the town. They were not troops, but a disbanded horde ¹. The beards of the men were long and filthy ², their uniforms in tatters, and they advanced at an easy pace without flag or regiment ³. All seemed worn-out and back-broken, incapable ⁴ of a thought or a resolution, marching by habit solely ⁵,  and falling from fatigue ⁶ as soon as they stopped. In short, they were a mobilized, pacific people, bending under the weight of the gun; some little squads ⁷ on the alert, easy to take alarm and prompt in enthusiasm, ready to attack or to flee;and in the midst of them, some red breeches, the remains ⁸ of a division broken up in a great battle; some somber ⁹ artillery ¹⁰ men in line with these varied ¹¹ kinds of foot soldiers; and, sometimes the brilliant helmet of a dragoon on foot who followed with difficulty the shortest march of the lines. , ,Some legions of free-shooters, under the heroic names of "Avengers of the Defeat," "Citizens of the Tomb," "Partakers of Death," passed in their turn with the air of bandits. , ,Their leaders were former cloth or grain merchants, exmerchants in tallow or soap, warriors ¹² of circumstance, elected officers on account of their escutcheons and the length of their mustaches, covered with arms and with braid, speaking in constrained ¹³ voices, discussing plans of campaign, and pretending to carry agonized ¹⁴ France alone on their swaggering shoulders, but sometimes fearing their own soldiers, prison-birds, that were often brave at first and later proved to be plunderers and debauchees. , , ,The National Guard who for two months had been carefully reconnoitering in the neighboring woods, shooting sometimes their own sentinels, and ready for a combat whenever a little wolf stirred in the thicket ¹⁵, had now returned to their firesides. Their arms, their uniforms, all the murderous accoutrements with which they had lately struck fear into the national heart for three leagues in every direction, had suddenly disappeared. , ,The last French soldiers finally came across the Seine to reach the Audemer bridge through Saint-Sever and Bourg-Achard; and, marching behind, on foot, between two officers of ordnance ¹⁶, the General, in despair, unable to do anything with these incongruous tatters, himself lost in the breaking-up of a people accustomed to conquer and disastrously ¹⁷ beaten, in spite of his legendary ¹⁸ bravery. , ,Two women were quarrelling on the street,surrounded by horde of people.有两个妇人在街上争吵 ，被一大群人围住了 。,The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了
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