《华盛顿参战》(节选)

Washington Goes to War (An excerpt)

我是新闻工作者，不是历史学家，所以本书描写的虽然是过往岁月中的一刻，却称不上是一部史学著作，而仅是个人的追思。书中写的主要是战争期间我本人在华盛顿的观察和经历，辅以采访等材料。我试图刻画一个城市和一个政府的痛苦与挣扎，这个城市和政府突然被要求参加战争，还要在战争中领导别的国家，参与的又是有史以来最伟大的战争，实在是有些措手不及，因此表现得很糟糕，有时甚至很可笑。

1. I am a journalist, not a historian, and while this book is an effort to describe a moment in the past, it is less a work of history than of personal reminiscence and reflection. Essentially, it is an account of my own observations and experiences in wartime Washington, supplemented by material drawn from interviews and other sources. I have tried to create out of it all a portrait of the pain and struggle of a city and a government suddenly called upon to fight, and to lead other nations in fighting, the greatest war in history, but pathetically and sometimes hilariously unprepared to do so.