七律·长征
The Long March
毛*东泽**
By Mao Zedong
许渊冲 译
Translated by Xu Yuanchong
红军不怕远征难，
Of the trying Long March the Red Army makes light:
万水千山只等闲。
Thousands of rivers and mountains are barriers slight.
五岭逶迤腾细浪，
The five serpentine Ridges outspread like rippling rills;
乌蒙磅礴走泥丸。
The pompous Wumeng peaks tower but like mole-hills.
金沙水拍云崖暖，
Against warm cloudy cliffs beat waves of Golden Sand;
大渡桥横铁索寒。
With cold iron-chain bridge River Dadu is spanned.
更喜岷山千里雪，
Glad to see the Min Range snow-clad for miles and miles,
三军过后尽开颜。
Our warriors who have crossed it break into broad smiles.
长征是宣言书，长征是宣传队，长征是播种机。
The Long March issued a manifesto, spread a message, and planted a seed.
------毛*东泽** Mao Zedong
不论人们对红军可能会有什么看法，包括对红军的政治立场有什么看法，但是没有人能够否认，红军长征是军事史上最伟大的英雄壮举之一。关于这场令人热血沸腾的远征行动，有朝一日会有人把它汇成完整的史诗。
However one might feel about the Reds and what they represented politically (and there was plenty of room for argument), it was impossible to deny recognition of their Long March—the Ch’ang Cheng, as they called it—as one of the great exploits of military history. Some day someone will write the full epic of this exciting expedition.
------埃德加·*诺斯** Edgar Snow
长征是举世无双的，它所展现的英雄主义精神激励着一个拥有十一亿人口的民族，使中国朝着一个无人能够预言的未来前进。
The Long March is sui generis. Its heroism has fired the dreams of a nation of 1.1 billion people and set China moving toward a destiny no man can yet divine.
-----哈里森· 索尔兹伯里Harrison E. Salisbury
1
那一年，层层冰雪覆盖着夹金山麓，重重峰峦间云雾缭绕，宛如一个银装素裹的雪国。
That year, the cloud-covered jagged ranges of the Jiajin Mountain were blanketed by a fresh carpet of frozen snow; it looked exactly like a fairyland clad in white.
远处，连绵起伏的山峦犹如银白色的飞龙横贯苍穹。灰色的阴云缓缓飘移着，低低地压在山巅之上。凛冽的狂风打着尖厉的唿哨，粗暴地掀起一座座雪堆，将鹅毛般的雪花扬撒在半空。
The distant undulating peaks, like a silver-white flying dragon, were winding across the sky. Grey clouds began to drift, hovering low over the snow-capped peaks. Gusts of icy wind whistled past, hurling numerous snowdrifts upward and whirling the goose-feather-like snowflakes about in the midair.
雪山深处，嘹亮的军号声刺破长空。远远望去，一面残破不堪的红旗在狂风飞雪中猎猎作响，显得格外鲜艳夺目。
Deep in the bowels of the mountain, loud bugle calls pierced the misty air. A tattered red flag was fluttering amid the howling wind and billowing snow; from a distance it looked rather bright and dazzling.
一条灰色长龙，在茫茫雪海里游动，蜿蜒而上。
A string of soldiers in gray uniforms, one after the other, were wriggling slowly upwards in the vast sea of snow.
半山腰处，一个瘦削的身影久久伫立。他身穿单薄的灰色军衣，拄着一只枯干的树枝，举目眺望着山巅。他紧皱眉头，眼神中透着一丝忧虑。那清癯的面庞布满冻疮，破烂的青色围巾紧紧裹住脑袋和耳朵。
Halfway up the mountain firmly stood an angular figure wearing a scanty grey uniform. He gazed fixedly at the mountaintop with a sturdy bare branch in his hand. He knitted his brows with a bit of worry in his eyes. His pinched face was peppered with frostbite; his head and ears were tightly wrapped in a tattered cyan scarf.
“班长，可以生火了！”炊事员五花端着一口大锅招呼道。老钱应了一声，用火钳从竹筒里夹出几块燃烧的木炭，对着它们吹几下，放在捡来的一堆树枝上，火苗一下便窜起来。
“Squad Leader, it’s time to kindle a fire.” Cried a cook nicknamed Pork Belly with a cauldron in his hands. Soon the standing man surnamed Qian called out a response. He clinched a few pieces of burning charcoal from a bamboo vessel with a pair of fire tongs, blew upon them several times and then placed them on a pile of dead boughs. In an instant, sheets of flame shot high into the air.
一簇篝火在漫天风雪之中摇曳着，一缕缕青烟伴随着火苗的跳动冉冉升起。
With a blazing campfire dancing in the wind-driven snow, puffs of blue smoke curled upwards as the flames kept flickering.
老钱从布袋里拿出一小撮野菜放入锅中，用铁勺搅动着。一旁的冲天炮正用小刀刮着粘在磨盘上的青稞面粉，小心翼翼地将它们装入干粮袋。
Qian took a handful of wild herbs from a bag and put them in the cauldron and stirred with a large iron spoon. By his side was another cook nicknamed Chupinazo. He busied himself with scraping the remains of highland barley flour off the millstone with a knife and soon packed them into his bag in a gingerly manner.
副班长不烂账坐在石板上缝补着老钱的旧棉服。年纪最小的炊事员糖豆正与同伴锅盔跑来跑去，将熬好的野菜汤盛出来，一一递给战士们。
The deputy squad leader, dubbed Bookkeeper, ensconced himself on a stone slab and stitched up the holes in Qian’s torn padded coat. The youngest cook nicknamed Jellybean, together with his companion called Guokui (Sichuan Pastries), was running back and forth to scoop out the boiled soup and pass it to every soldier.
“老钱，缝好啦！上面一共八十一个洞，你这衣服都快烂成渔网啦！”不烂账将衣服递给老钱。老钱冲他笑笑，伸手接过衣服，转身看见糖豆脚上的草鞋已破了个洞，流血的脚趾冻得通红。他赶忙从手中的衣服撕下一块布，包在糖豆的草鞋上。
Bookkeeper handed the coat to Qian: “Done, Qian! Your coat had 81 holes! Well, it looked for all the world like a fishing net.” Qian, with a cheeky grin, reached out for it. After a while he turned and found that Jellybean’s bleeding toes, red with cold, stuck out of a hole in his straw sandal. He hurried to tear a piece of cloth off his coat and wrapped it around his foot.
机枪手大刀靠在石头上打盹儿。等他睁开眼睛，锅里的菜汤已所剩无多。他拿着大勺拼命地刮着锅底，只盛出小半勺菜汤，脸上闪过一丝失望的神情。
At this moment, the machine gunner Dadao was dozing off with his back against a rock. Upon opening his eyes, he discovered that there was little soup left in the cauldron. With a large iron spoon, he frantically scraped out less than half a spoonful of soup from the bottom of the cauldron. A look of disappointment passed over his face.
只听得哗啦啦一声，破旧的瓷缸里多出一勺菜汤。糖豆把自己的菜汤倒入他的瓷缸里。还没等他开口，糖豆从一个旧铁罐里拿出一块糖，迅速撕开糖纸，放在嘴里，说道：“你喝我的汤吧！你看，我这里有好多糖可以吃，这糖真甜啊！”他得意地将铁罐摇得叮当直响。
Just then a spoonful of soup gurgled, Jellybean poured all of his soup into Dadao’s chipped enamel mug. As soon as Dadao had uttered any words, Jellybean took out a piece of candy from an rusty tin, promptly tore its wrapper off and put it into his mouth, saying merrily, “You can share my soup. Look, I have quite a few candies in this tin. Hmm, it tastes so sweet!” He shook that clinking tin vigorously.
大刀见状，低下头难为情地笑笑，一股脑儿把菜汤倒入喉咙。
Upon hearing his words, Dadao felt ashamed with a shy smile, his head down, soon gulping down the soup.
2
大片大片的雪花，依旧纷纷扬扬地从空中飞落下来。
Large snowflakes in clusters were still swirling down from the somber sky.
刺骨的北风追逐着在空中飞速盘旋的雪片，凄厉地呼啸着。山上的小石子，如同玻璃屑一般，随着风雪旋卷，吹打着战士们的脸庞。
The keen north wind roared bitterly and chased the flakes whirling in the air. Amid a backdrop of the snowdrift, the gravel rolled down from the hillside, like glass scraps, lashing the soldiers’ faces.
山上的空气愈发稀薄，每一位战士喘着粗气，蹚着齐膝的积雪，一步一步向山巅艰难跋涉。
The air became even thinner as every soldier gasped for breath and trudged wearily through the knee-deep snow up the mountain.
老钱叫上不烂账先行出发，为战士们点燃篝火，埋锅造饭。连队指导员目睹冲天炮背着沉重的石磨向前行进，于心不忍。他轻拍着他的肩膀，命令他将石磨就地掩埋，轻装前进。
Qian asked Bookkeeper to march ahead of the troop so they could light the campfire and cook for the soldiers. Chupinazo was ploughing his way under the weight of a stone mill on his shoulders. The political instructor of the company didn’t have the heart to see him suffer. He clapped him on the shoulder and ordered him to bury the stone mill on the spot and move onward with a lighter burden.
冲天炮皱起眉头，扯着嗓子喊道：“那怎么行呢？没有石磨的话，这一路上战士们可就要挨饿啦！”他拍着胸脯继续说道：“请*长首**放心，俺壮得像头牛一样，保证背着它走出这雪山！”说罢，他背起石磨，头也不回地向前跨步。
“How can I do that?” Chupinazo bawled at the top of his lungs with a frown of disapproval. “Without the stone mill, our soldiers would go hungry on the march!” He went on, patting his chest, “Please rest assured! Look, I am as strong as a horse. Now I promise to carry it all the way through!” As the words fell from his lips, he shouldered the mill again, and without turning around stepped forward.
指导员注视着他的背影，眼睛有点湿润了……
The instructor gazed after him, and his eyes misted a little.
糖豆背着一口大锅，踩着雪与大刀并排前行。
With the cauldron on his skinny back, Jellybean trod heavily into thick snow side by side with Dadao.
“我能摸摸你的机枪吗？”糖豆大口地喘着气，目光始终停留在那挺擦得锃亮的机枪上。
“Can I touch your machine gun?” he puffed hard and longingly eyed the polished machine gun.
大刀怜爱地摸摸他的头，点头说道：“等我们走出这雪山，让你摸个够！”
Dadao patted his head fondly, opened his mouth with a slight nod: “Of course! You can have your fill of it once we climb over the mountain.”
糖豆咯咯地笑起来，弓着背缓缓挪着步子。
Jellybean collapsed into giggles and shuffled hunchbacked slowly.
3
老钱领着不烂账顶着刺骨冷风蹒跚前行。老钱停下歇脚，低着头对不烂账说道：“秀才啊！等翻过这雪山，你就调去连部吧！你文化深，留在炊事班打杂埋没你的才能啊！”
Against the biting wind Qian tottered forward, followed by Bookkeeper. After a moment he stopped for a rest, uttering with his head bowed: “Scholar, when we cross this mountain, just transfer to the office of our company. You can read and write well. You will bury your talent with all the odds and ends here in the cookhouse squad.”
不烂账抬头望着白茫茫的雪帘，目光里透着一丝坚毅，摇摇头说道：“灶台边也是战场，烧火做饭也是冲锋陷阵。这不是您说过的吗？”
Gazing up at the white mantle of snow, Bookkeeper, his eyes bright with a twinge of tenacity, shook his head and said: “Do you remember how you once said to me, ‘Cooking at the kitchen stove is just as important as fighting tooth and nail on the battlefield.’ ?”
老钱微微颌首，露出赞许的笑容。
With a slight nod Qian smiled approvingly.
不一会儿，他们总算找到一块生火的空地。老钱吩咐不烂账将地上的积雪铲进锅里烧水，自己却背过身去，在棉军服上撕扯着什么。
A moment later they finally found open ground for making a fire. Qian asked Bookkeeper to shovel some snow into the cauldron to boil water; he turned his back on him and began to pluck something off his cotton-padded uniform.
片刻工夫，殷红的火苗伴着飞舞的火星窜升到空中，那赤红的火光穿透飞雪与云雾，燃亮皑皑雪山。
In a moment, sheets of crimson flame soared into the air, out of which a couple of flying sparks flew. The glare from the flame lit up the snowy peaks through the falling snowflakes and misty drizzles.
锅盔背着一口大锅，张着青紫的嘴唇，大口吐着气，跌撞着向前挪步。他想起糖豆落在后面，急忙转头寻找。糖豆背着锅倚靠在一块山石上端坐着一动不动，头发和眼睫毛上挂满冰霜。
Guokui stumbled forward with a heavy cauldron on his back and breathed out hard with his black-and-blue lips parted. It occurred to him that Jellybean had just lagged behind. So he turned on his heel to look high and low for him. Soon he saw Jellybean sitting motionless against a rock with the cauldron over the shoulders, icy frost clinging to his hair and eyelashes.
锅盔打个冷战，几步扑到他身边，轻拍他身上的积雪，大声喊道：“糖豆！糖豆！醒醒！赶紧起来跟我走！不能在这里停留，你会被冻僵的！”
Guokui felt a shudder run through his veins, rushed forward a few steps and threw himself upon Jellybean. He screamed out while beating the snow on his uniform: “Jellybean! Jellybean! Wake up! Now get up and let’s move! You can't stay here, or else you will freeze to death.”
糖豆依旧坐在原地，早已停止呼吸，僵硬的双手抱着那个生锈的铁盒。他那纤瘦的身躯化作一尊雪白的雕像，矗立在雪虐风饕的银色世界。
Jellybean still sat breathless there with that rusty tin in his stiff hands. His scrawny body turned into a snow-white statue erecting in this stormy silver world.
指导员远远听见锅盔的哭喊声，带领大刀和几名战士闻讯赶来。他们目睹这震撼人心的景象，不禁悲从中来。指导员哽咽落泪，双手颤抖着接过糖豆手里的铁盒。他缓缓打开铁盒，惊讶地发现里面竟然装满了包着糖纸的小石头！
Guokui’s wails came to the instructor’s ears from a distance. He darted up towards the cries with Dadao and several soldiers; they were all struck with sorrow and stunned into silence by what they had seen. The instructor shook with choked sobs and his eyes welled up with tears. His hands trembled violently as he picked up that tin in Jellybean’s stiffened hand. When he slowly uncovered the tin, an astounding scene unfolded before him: in colorful sweet wrappers were actually small stones!
大刀再也抑制不住泪水，跺着脚哭嚎道：“这孩子啊，救了我的命，自己却倒在这里啦！”
Unable to hold back his tears anymore, Dadao stamped his feet and blubbered out: “This boy saved my life, but now he falls down forever!”
指导员眼含热泪，默默注视着这名可爱的小战士：他面如雪霜，睁大眼睛盯着前方，口中含着一块“糖”，一抹微笑挂在嘴角。
The instructor, whose eyes were brimming with tears, stared mutely at the cute young soldier: his childish face was as white as the snow and his widened eyes stared straight ahead. In his mouth was a piece of “candy” and a little smile twitched his lips.
他迅速转头拭去泪水，将铁盒装进自己的布包中，带领战士们整理军装，举起右臂，对着那尊“冰雕”敬个庄严的军礼。
Soon he turned his head to wipe away his tears and carefully thrust the tin into his cloth bag. Led by the instructor, the soldiers adjusted their military uniforms, raised their right arms and gave a solemn military salute to the “ice statue”.
埋葬糖豆的遗体后，大刀擦干眼泪，背起糖豆留下的大锅，扛起机枪，与战士们踉跄着前进。`
After laying Jellybean to rest, Dadao dried his tears, shouldered that cauldron the boy had left and hoisted his machine gun on to his shoulders, staggering forward along with his fellow soldiers.
4
雪，下得更大了……
Flake on flake the snow was sailing down more heavily...
飘落的雪花，如同狂风在海浪尖上激起的浪花一般不停翻滚着。
The fallen snow never stopped drifting like spray driven by the winds from the crested waves of a stormy sea.
老钱眯起双眼，隔着浓浓的雪雾隐约望见锅盔独自一人蹚着雪前进，心里一惊，大声喊道：“糖豆呢？他不是和你在一起吗？”
Through the dense white mist, Qian squinted his eyes and saw Guokui toiling up alone through the packed snow. He appeared taken aback and exclaimed: “Where’s Jellybean? Isn't he with you?”
锅盔沉默不语，背过身去偷偷抹泪。指导员紧随其后，几步跨到老钱面前，将糖豆留下的铁盒拿出来递给他。
Guokui turned away wordless and drew the back of one hand across his watery eyes. The instructor followed in his wake and strode the few steps towards Qian. Later he took out the tin and handed it to him.
看着他们哀伤的神情，老钱顿时什么都明白了。他怔怔地点点头，接过铁盒抱在怀里，默默转过身去，泪水瞬间夺眶而出，口中不停念叨着：“这孩子……这孩子入伍的时候才刚满十六岁哩！他还是个孩子呀，咋就这么走了呢？唉！”
Qian stared into their mournful faces and seemed to know everything. He nodded blankly and turned around with that tin in his arms, tears instantly bursting into his eyes. He kept muttering to himself: “That boy...that boy joined our army at the age of only sixteen. He’s still a child. How come he left us like that? Alas!”
这时，冲天炮背着石磨，拖着疲倦的脚步向上攀爬。他笑着向战友们招手，却一下子栽倒在雪堆之中，再也没有起来……
Just then Chupinazo shuffled up tiredly with the mill on his back. He waved his hand to his companions with a faint smile, but the next moment tumbled over in the snowdrift and never stood up again...
老钱赶忙扑上前去，扒开雪堆，紧紧将他抱在怀里，对着不烂账喃喃说道：“我还记得，冲天炮说过，他为了能吃口肉才报名参军的。到现在他还没吃上肉就急着走哩！”
Qian hurriedly rushed forward to dig away the deep snow, clasped him to his heart and murmured to Bookkeeper: “I still remember the day when Chupinazo said that he joined up merely to see how the meat tastes. Too bad he could not ever eat any meat alive!”
说着说着，纷飞的雪花飘落在他们的脸庞，溶化成一滴滴晶莹闪烁的泪珠。
Then, as they talked, flakes of driving snow landed on their faces, presently melting into drops of silent tears glistening in their eyes.
5
狂风卷积着乌云，山间渐渐布起雪幔。暗黑的天空同茫茫雪原融为一体。
The fierce wind was gathering the storm-clouds together, and over the hills hung a veil of sheer whiteness. The boundless snowfield melted into the sullen sky along the horizon.
在逼近天际的山巅，一片片红色的火光跳跃着，冲破无尽的灰雾，腾空而起，点燃每一位战士前行的希望。
On the summit against the sky, through the endless grey mist, red leaping flames flared triumphantly to the sky, kindling a spark of hope inside every soldier for the move forward.
不烂账借着篝火微弱的光亮将牺牲战友的姓名一一刻在那个铁盒上。指导员命令战士们将所有能吃的东西放在锅中，用颤抖的声音说道：“我们要吃掉它们，保存体力，必须赶在天亮之前翻过雪山！”
By the dim light of the fire, Bookkeeper engraved the names of his dead comrades on the surface of that tin. The instructor ordered the soldiers to put whatever was edible in the cauldron, and uttered in a trembling voice: “Comrades! Let’s eat them all to conserve our energy. Then follow me to cross this mountain before daylight!
“翻越雪山！翻越雪山！”战士们的喊声响彻云霄。
“Cross the mountain! Cross the mountain!” The shouts from the soldiers resounded through the skies.
老钱看着战士们坚定的神情，露出欣慰的笑容。他慢慢蹲下来，在寒风中缩成一团，从口袋里掏出一小包花椒，捏一些颤抖着放进嘴里。不烂账端起热气腾腾的野菜汤递给他，他丝毫没有回应，干瘪的身躯变得冰冷僵硬，轰然倒在冰天雪地之中。
Qian felt so relieved that every soldier looked determined; a smile flickered across his face. Soon after, he squatted down to huddle up against the chilling wind and took out a packet of peppercorns from his pocket; his rough hands shook badly as he took some up between his finger and thumb and put them into his mouth. Bookkeeper handed up the steaming soup, but there was no response. His withered body turned cold and stiff and soon slumped in the frosty land.
不烂账赶忙摸摸他的衣袖，扑通一声跪倒在地，滚烫的热泪从他通红的脸颊上滑落下来：老钱竟将自己的棉衣扯破，掏光里面的棉花，一次次为战士们点燃生命的篝火。
Bookkeeper hastened to pinch Qian’s sleeves and flung himself on his knees, burning tears trickling down his flushed cheeks: Qian had torn a hole in his uniform, in which the cotton had been emptied out to light the campfire for his comrades again and again.
指导员眼含泪花，默默行个军礼，慷慨激昂地呼喊：“同志们，我们都吃了口热乎的，也烤了火。现在我命令你们都给我活着，跟着我翻过这雪山！出发！”
With the brilliant sparkle in his eyes, the instructor gave a smart salute and cried in an impassioned voice: “Comrades, we have drunk the hot soup all and warmed ourselves up by the fire. Now I command you all to follow me to live to cross this mountain! Let’s set off!”
战士们迎着红旗，迈着坚定的步伐重新出发。他们每个人时不时回头目送着那位可敬的老班长。瑟瑟寒风呼啸而过，他那平和安详的面容渐渐淹没在一片白色雪浪之中。
Before the fluttering red flag, these soldiers, with purposeful strides, set off again on their long march. Every now and then each of them looked over his/her shoulder at that respected squad leader. As blasts of the bitter wind snorted across the ranges, his placid face faded quietly into the surging billows of white snow.
雪山那头，天色渐明，一轮红日喷薄而出，放出万丈霞光……
On the other side of the mountain, in the feeble light of dawn, a scarlet sun burst upon this snow land in all its brightness...
故事背景
Background
红军长征与东北抗日联军的艰苦斗争、南方三年游击战并称*共中***党**史上三个最艰难时期。
The Long March (1934-1936) is known as one of the three most difficult periods in the history of the CPC, the other two being a 14-year struggle of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army (1931-1945) and the Three-Year Guerrilla War fought by the Southern Red Army (1934-1937).
南方三年游击战争中的陈毅与他的战士们
东北抗日联军 The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
这是红军长*途征**中翻越夹金山时发生的真实故事，中国*产党共**领导的每一位红军战士面对着挑战人类生理极限的严酷环境，克服种种艰难险阻，用鲜血和生命诠释了英勇无畏的“长征精神”。
This true story took place when the Red Army crossed the Jiajin Mountains during the Long March. In the harsh environment that tested human endurance to the extreme, the Red Army soliders, led by the Communist Party of China, braved great obstacles and challenges and demonstrated the heroic spirit of the Long March with their own lives.
埃德加·*诺斯**在《红星照耀中国》一书中写道:“冒险、探索、发现、人类的勇气和怯懦、胜利和狂喜、困苦、牺牲、忠诚，千万青年永不磨灭的热情、永不放弃的希望和令人惊叹的革命乐观主义精神，就像一团火焰照亮着这一路的征程。这些青年人无论是在他人面前，还是面对自然、上帝、死亡，都决不认输——所有的这一切，宛如一部现代史上无与伦比的《奥德赛》史诗。”
As Edgar Snow wrote in his book named “Red Star Over China”: “Adventure, exploration, discovery, human courage and cowardice, ecstasy and triumph, suffering, sacrifice, and loyalty, and then through it all, like a flame, an undimmed ardor and undying hope and amazing revolutionary optimism of those thousands of youths who would not admit defeat by man or nature or God or death—all this and more seemed embodied in the history of an odyssey unequaled in modern times.”
“关于长征的统计数据表明，差不多平均每天就要进行一场遭遇战，发生在行军途中的某个地方，共有15个整天用于进行大规模激战。长征一共历时368天，其中有235天是白天行军，18天是夜间行军。在停下来的100天中——其中许多天用于进行遭遇战——有56天在四川西北地区，其余44天走了大约5000英里路，平均每114英里休息一次。这意味着红军每天行军71里，约合近24英里——在地球上最艰险的地形条件下，一支大规模*队军**及其辎重能够保持这样的平均行进速度，真是非常惊人。”
“The statistical recapitulation of the Long March shows that there was an average of almost a skirmish a day, somewhere on the line, while altogether fifteen whole days were devoted to major pitched battles. Out of a total of 368 days en route, 235 were consumed in marches by day, and 18 in marches by night. Of the 100 days of halts—many of which were devoted to skirmishes—56 days were spent in northwestern Szechuan, leaving only 44 days of rest over a distance of about 5,000 miles, or an average of one halt for every 114 miles of marching. The mean daily stage covered was 71 li, or nearly 24 miles—a phenomenal pace for a great army and its transport to average over some of the most hazardous terrain on earth.”
“根据红军指挥官左权向我提供的数据，红军一共翻越了十八座山脉，其中五座终年覆盖着积雪。红军还渡过了二十四条河流。他们经过了十二个省份，占领过六十二座城镇，突破了十个省地方军阀部队的包围，还打败、避开甚至智胜派去追击他们的中央政府各个部队。他们穿过了六个不同的未开化民族聚居地，深入的一些地区是中国*队军**几十年来从未去过的。”
“According to data furnished to me by Commander Tso Ch’uan, the Reds crossed eighteen mountain ranges, five of which were perennially snow-capped, and they crossed twenty-four rivers. They passed through twelve different provinces, occupied sixty-two cities and towns, and broke through enveloping armies of ten different provincial warlords, besides defeating, eluding, or outmaneuvering the various forces of Central Government troops sent against them. They crossed six different aboriginal districts, and penetrated areas through which no Chinese army had gone for scores of years.”
红三军第六师十七团一连炊事班一共九人，姓名和生平均已不详，长*途征**中，整个红三军团一连，作战部队除战斗减员外没有一名战士牺牲，但是九名炊事员全部长眠于雪山草地。
During the Long March, the entire first company of the 17th regiment of the 6th Division of the 3rd Red Army Corps lost no one except those who died in battles, but all nine members of its cooking team, whose real names and ages were unknown, rest in peace across the steppes and mountains.