At first he thought it was jackals he heard, on that cold January night.(起初，在那个寒冷的冬夜，他以为听到的是豺狼的叫声。) But the cries went on and on, and they were close, coming from the lieutenant’s tent not far away. Sometimes, shrill(尖利的) and terrible, they sounded like a pig having its throat slit(被割喉). Surely, Stanislas Hutin thought, it could not be the boy. But it was.
那个寒冷的冬夜，他起初以为听到的是豺狼的叫声。但那哭喊声持续不断，而且近在咫尺，是从不远处中尉的帐篷里传来的。有时那声音尖利而恐怖，像一头被割喉的猪。斯坦尼斯拉斯·于坦心想，这肯定不是那个男孩。但偏偏就是。
The boy was one of those barefoot child-shepherds, thin and filthy(肮脏的) as their flocks, who were a common sight in Constantine, in north-east Algeria. This one was 14, though he looked 12, and rather than meet a French army patrol he had fled for the woods. In case he was going to alert the fellaghas, the fighters for Algerian independence, he was pursued and caught.(由于担心他会去给费拉加——为阿尔及利亚独立而战的战士——报信，他遭到追捕并被抓获。) Now he was wired up(被接上电线) by wrist and ear lobe to the magneto(磁电机), the field generator. Shocks coursed through his small body.
这个男孩是那些赤脚牧童中的一员，瘦骨嶙峋，脏兮兮的，和他们的羊群一样，在阿尔及利亚东北部的君士坦丁随处可见。他实际14岁，但看上去只有12岁。为了躲避法军巡逻队，他逃进了树林。由于担心他会去给“费拉加”——为阿尔及利亚独立而战的战士——报信，他遭到追捕并被抓获。此刻，他的手腕和耳垂被接在磁电机——一种野战发电机——上。电流穿过他瘦小的身体。
Mr Hutin saw much else in 1955-56, when he served as a recalled reservist(后备役军人) in Algeria. Especially vivid was the savage(野蛮的) beating of the company’s first captive(俘虏) at Christmas, as if in celebration, and the curled-up prisoner afterwards, barely conscious. He recorded these things day by day, secretly, in a red notebook, and also wrote down the testimonies(证词) of his comrades. They had seen more: men strung up naked by their iron shackles, with their heads dunked and held down in a bucket of water; men interrogated with their hands bound to their feet behind their backs; the magneto applied, as it usually was, to the testicles; and the corvée de bois, “wood-chopping duty”, where a supposedly released prisoner would be felled, as he raced away, with a burst of machinegun fire.(他们见过更多：男人被铁镣铐赤身吊起，头被按进水桶里；双手被反绑在背后接受审讯；磁电机照例被接在睾丸上；还有“砍柴任务”——一名据称获释的囚犯在逃跑时被一阵机枪扫射击倒。)
1955至1956年，于坦先生作为被召回的后备役军人在阿尔及利亚服役期间，还目睹了许多其他暴行。尤其令他记忆犹新的是，圣诞节那天，连队的第一名俘虏遭到野蛮殴打，仿佛是在庆祝节日；以及事后那名蜷缩着的囚犯，几乎失去意识。他日复一日地秘密记录在红色笔记本里，还写下了战友们的证词。他们见过更多：男人被铁镣铐赤身吊起，头被按进水桶里；双手被反绑在背后接受审讯；磁电机照例被接在睾丸上；还有“corvée de bois”，即“砍柴任务”——一名据称获释的囚犯在逃跑时被一阵机枪扫射击倒。