World War I is, for good reason, remembered as one of the worst wars fought in human history.
第一次世界大戰，有充分理由被認為是人類歷史上最慘烈的戰爭之一。
Millions of soldiers and civilians died in a conflict that changed the way war was waged and set the stage for the rest of the 20th century.
數百萬的士兵和百姓在這場衝突中喪生，它改變了戰爭的方式，也為20世紀的後幾十年奠定了格局。
But for one night and one day, some units in the warring parties — the armies of France and Britain on one side, and Germany on the other — put down their weapons for the briefest of moments to celebrate a holiday that brought opposing sides together.
但是，有一天一夜，戰場上的某些部隊——法國和英國士兵一邊，德國一邊——放下武器，團聚起來慶祝一個節日。
The Great War was supposed to be over by Christmas of 1914. But five months after the war began in July, the front was deadlocked. The unprecedented losses at the Battles of Tannenberg, the Marne, and Ypres forced the opposing sides into the gruesome trench warfare that WWI is known for.
這次大戰原本在1914年的聖誕節前就應當結束了。戰爭在7月份爆發，5個月後，前線開始僵持。雙方在坦能堡戰役、馬恩戰役和伊普雷斯戰役中都遭受了前所未有的損失，這迫使雙方陷入了一戰中著名的慘烈的塹壕戰。
Huddled in their trenches on Christmas Eve, soldiers on both sides across the entire Western frontline celebrated the holiday as best as they could. Soon, all along the frontline combatants began to leave their trenches without their weapons, and meet enemy soldiers in no man’s land.
平安夜那天，整個西部前線的士兵在他們的戰壕裡擠在一起，盡其所能地慶祝這個節日。很快，前線的戰士們不帶武器就出了戰壕，到無人地帶去見敵兵。
What followed was an amazing episode for humanity; enemies who were just hours ago slaughtering each other at a level unseen in human history, were talking, singing, dancing, and eating together as if they were friends.
接下來發生的是人性令人吃驚的一幕：幾個小時前還在以人類歷史上從未見過的程度相互殘殺的雙方士兵，開始交談、唱歌、跳舞，分享好吃的，就好像他們是朋友一樣。
In letters to newspapers and loved ones, soldiers describe how a spontaneous truce broke out.
在給報社和家人的書信中，這些士兵描述了這種自發的休戰是如何發生的。
"During Christmas Day our fellows and the Saxons fixed up a table between the two trenches and they spent a happy time together, and exchanged souvenirs and presented one another with little keepsakes," one British soldier wrote.
一位英國士兵寫道：「在聖誕節這天，我們的夥伴和撒克遜人在兩個戰壕之間修好了一張桌子，一起度過了愉快的時光，互相交換了禮物並贈送了小紀念品。」
"I had a most extraordinary Christmas, and I have come to the conclusion that I would not have spent it out of the trenches for worlds," another British soldier said in a letter to loved ones. After establishing a truce, the soldier said that "in five minutes the ground between the opposing trenches was full of Germans and Highlanders exchanging cigars for cigarettes, and many other small luxuries."
另一名英國士兵在寫給親人的信中說：「我度過了一個非常特別的聖誕節，我得出的結論是，不管怎樣我不會在戰壕裡過節。」在停戰後，這位士兵說，「五分鐘後，敵對的戰壕裡到處都是德國人和高地人，他們用雪茄交換香菸，以及許多其他的小奢侈品。」
In some places, soccer games were held in no man’s land; sometimes against each other, and sometimes with mixed teams. "The regiment actually had a football match with the Germans who beat them 3-2," an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps wrote in a letter to a friend in London.
在有些地區，他們還在無人地帶舉辦了足球比賽，有時是交戰雙方，有時是混合團隊。英國皇家陸軍醫療隊的一名軍官在給倫敦一位朋友的信中寫道：「這個團還與德國人進行了一場足球比賽，德國隊3比2贏了他們。」
Soldiers on both sides also buried their dead and had Christmas services as if they were in church.
雙方士兵還埋藏了死去戰友的屍體，並像他們之前在教堂那樣做了聖誕禮拜。
Perhaps the best way to sum up the truce was said by a British soldier whose letter to the Carlisle Journal was published on January 5, 1915:
或者最好的總結休戰的方式是一名英國士兵在1915年1月5日發表的一封致《卡萊爾期刊》的信中所說：
"All this talk of hate, all this firing at each other that has raged since the beginning of the war quelled and stayed by the magic of Christmas," he wrote.
他寫道：「所有這些對仇恨的言論，所有這些自戰爭開始後雙方的交火，都在聖誕的魔力下消除。」
"It speaks to the common humanity in the midst of war, and to the very best of who we are — which is one of those things that we recognize during the holiday season," Lora Vogt, the Curator of Education at the National WWI Museum and Memorial, told Business Insider.
國家一戰博物館和紀念館的教育館長Lora Vogt告訴《商業內幕》，「「它反映了戰爭期間共同的人性，以及我們最好的自己——這是我們在節日裡意識到的事情之一。」
Sadly, the high commands of both sides did not approve of the actions of their soldiers. Some units were punished or transferred to other parts of the frontline, and no truces were ever held again for the rest of the war.
可悲的是，雙方的高層指揮者們不贊成他這些士兵的行為。一些部隊被懲罰，或是轉移到前線的其他地方，此後，一戰中再也未出現過休戰。
A century after the war began, German and British soldiers still get together to play soccer and celebrate Christmas. Now they do so as allies; part of the hopeful peace that the soldiers of 1914 no doubt prayed for in the trenches on the Western Front.
在戰爭發生過的一個世紀後，德國和英國士兵仍然聚在一起踢足球，慶祝聖誕。現在他們像盟友一樣：毫無疑問，這正是1914年士兵們在西線的戰壕裡所祈禱的、充滿希望的和平的一部分。
（編輯：何瑩瑩）