No Greater Love 爱莫大焉
I heard this story when I was in Vietnam, and it was told to me as fact. I have no way of knowing for sure that it is true, but I do know that stranger things have happened in war.
我是在越南时听到这个故事的,而且它是被当作真事告诉我的.虽然我无法确认它是否属实,但我却知道,在战争中,比这更离奇的事情都发生过.
Whatever their planned target, the mortar rounds landed in an orphanage run by a missionary group in the small Vietnamese village. The missionaries and one or two children were killed outright, and several more children were wounded, including one young girl, about eight years old.
一次美军的例常炮击,击中了坐落在一个越南小村庄里的一所孤儿院,这是由一个传教团体创办的.那儿的众多传教士和一两个孤儿在炮击中立刻丧命，还有更多的孩子受伤，其中包括一个八岁的小女孩。
People from the village requested medical help from a neighboring town that had radio contact with the American forces. Finally, an American Navy doctor and nurse arrived in a jeep with only their medical kits. They established that the girl was the most critically injured. Without quick action, she would die of shock and loss of blood.
村里的人们请求附近一个小镇给予医疗救助，而该镇同美军部队之间有无线电联系。最后，一名美国海军的军医同他的护士带着他们的药箱乘一辆吉普车到达了该村。他们确诊这个小女孩的伤势最严重，若不立刻采取措施，她就会死于休克和失血。
A transfusion was imperative, and a donor with a matching blood type was required. A quick test showed that neither American had the correct type, but several of the uninjured orphans did.
必须立即为她输血，而且要求找到一个血型同她相匹配的献血者。经过快速的化验，这两个美国人的血型都与小女孩不匹配，幸而有好几名未受伤的孤儿的血型都符合要求。
the doctor spoke some pidgin Vietnamese, and the nurse a smattering of highschool French. Using that combination, together with much impromptu sign language, they tried to explain to their young, frightened audience that unless they could replace some of the girl’s lost blood, she would certainly die. Then they asked if anyone would be willing to give blood to help.
这位军医能讲几句洋泾浜的越南语，护士也能讲几句半生不熟的法语。二位将他们仅有的语言技能加到一起，再加上一些即兴的手势语，努力地向这些被吓坏了的孩子们解释--除非他们能够献出一些血，来补充这个小女孩失掉的血，否则她一定会死去。然后他们问孩子们，有谁愿意献血来救活这个孩子。
their request was met with wide-eyed silence. After several long moments, a small hand slowly and waveringly went up, dropped back down, and then went up again.
他们得到的回答却是孩子们睁大的眼睛和沉默。过了好久好久，才有一只小手慢慢吞吞地，犹犹豫豫地举起来，接着又放下去，接着再一次举起来。
“Oh, thank you,” the nurse said in French. “What is your name?”
“哦，谢谢你，”护士用法语说，“你叫什么名字？”
“Heng,” came the reply.
“恒”孩子答道。
Heng was quickly laid on a pallet, his arm swab bed with alcohol, and a needle inserted in his vein. Through this ordeal Heng lay stiff and silent.
恒被很快地放到一张简陋的小床上，护士用酒精擦洗了他的胳膊之后，便将一根针头插进了他的静脉。在这个严酷的考验中，恒一直僵硬地躺着，默不作声。
