Visual training 视觉训练

The squad were having“visual training”.One smart recruit was asked by the officer to count how many men composed a digging party in a distant field. The party was so faraway that the men appeared as mere dots, but unhesitatingly the recruit replied:

“Sixteen men and a sergeant, sir.”

“Right, but how do you know there's a sergeant there?”

“He's not doing any digging, sir.”

【注释】

squad / skwɒd / n.（军队的）班；小组

recruit / rɪ΄kruːt/ n. 新兵；新成员

unhesitatingly /ʌn΄hezɪteɪtɪŋlɪ/ adv. 毫不犹豫地

sergeant / ΄sɑːdʒənt / n. 陆军（或空军）中士；巡佐

【译文】

那时，班里正在进行“视觉训练”。一个聪明伶俐的新兵被班长叫出来数远处旷野上采掘队的人数。采掘队在很远的地方，那些人看起来只是一些小点儿。但是这个新兵毫不犹豫地回答：

“十六个兵外加一个中士，长官。”

“正确，可是你怎么知道那儿有一个中士？”

“他不干活，长官。”