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.

夜幕笼罩着北非沙漠。我们营的坦克围成了一个保护圈，我的一帮战友围站在一个收音机旁。当我走近时，其中一位将手指放在嘴唇上，示意我别出声。

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.

从收音机里传来号角声，随后传来一个女人温柔缠绵的歌声，她在用德语唱着一支我有生以来听过的最难以忘怀的曲子：

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.

我不明白歌词是什么意思，我们大多数人都不明白。因为我们不是德国的非洲军团，而是英国第八军沙漠之鼠。但我们人被这神秘的歌声所吸引，不知怎么的，这个声音已经深深地印在了我们的脑海和记忆里。

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.

仅仅咫尺之遥的地方，德国士兵也正在收听这同一首歌曲，和我们一同感受着孤独与渴望。这是1942年的春天。对阵双方的士兵都远离家乡，但我们都爱者歌中的那一个姑娘，几乎每个国家中都有千百万的士兵在爱着她而且直到今天他们仍在歌唱这她。她的名字叫丽莉•玛琳。

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.

丽莉是谁，她又是怎么超越国家、语言和年龄的界限而成为每个士兵的心上人的呢?她的故事开始于1915年，第一次世界大战早期。

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，一个雾蒙蒙的夜晚，汉斯•莱普正站在一个燧发枪团的营房外站岗。他既是一个年轻的军校学员，又是一个崭露头角的诗人。马路对面，一盏明亮的灯四周阴森森地围绕着一圈雾气。

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，他还在一个小名叫丽莉的漂亮姑娘的怀抱中，她是一个蔬菜水果店主的女儿。他正在如痴如梦地想念者她。这时，从灯光照耀下的迷雾中走来了玛伦，一个长者海蓝色眼睛的风骚美人，莱普曾在一个艺术画廊中遇到过她。他对她一见钟情。

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.

玛伦到附近一家医院帮助护理伤兵，正好路过这里。她招手向莱普大声问好，可这时恰逢警卫队的中士走到了门口，莱普不敢回答，只能颓然地望着她消失在雾中。