The rebellion started with World War I.
青年人的叛逆行為是隨著第一次世界大戰而開始的。
The prolonged stalemate of 1915-1916, the increasing insolence of Germany toward the United States, and our official reluctance to declare our status as a belligerent were intolerable to many of our idealistic citizens,
1915-1916年間那曠日持久的僵持局面。德國對美國所表現出的越來越傲慢無禮的態度,以及我國政府遲遲不愿宣布參戰的作法,都使我們理想主義的公民覺得無法忍受。
and with typical American adventurousness enhanced somewhat by the strenuous jingoism of Theodore Roosevelt, our young men began to enlist under foreign flags.
我們的青年,本身已懷著典型的美國式冒險精神,又多少受到西奧多·羅斯福的狂熱沙文主義思想的慫恿,于是便開始在外國旗幟下入伍參戰。
In the words of Joe Williams, in John Dos Passos'U. S. A., they "wanted to get into the fun before the whole thing turned belly up."
用約翰·多斯·帕索斯的《美利堅合眾國》中的人物喬·威廉斯的話說,他們"是想趁著戰爭還沒結束就參加到這場游戲中去"。
For military service, in 1916-1917, was still a romantic occupation.
因為在1916-1917年間,入伍當兵還是一種富于浪漫色彩的職業。
The young men of college age in 1917 knew nothing of modern warfare.
在1917年正處于上大學年齡的年輕人對于現代戰爭還一無所知。
The strife of 1861-1865 had popularly become, in motion picture and story, a magnolia-scented soap opera, while the one hundred-days' fracas with Spain in 1898 had dissolved into a one-sided victory at Manila and a cinematic charge up San Juan Hill.
1861-1865年間的那場戰爭早已通俗地在電影和小說中成了一部散發出木蘭花香的連續劇。而1898年同西班牙之間的百日戰爭在影劇故事中總是被描寫成美軍在馬尼拉大獲全勝或是沖上圣胡安山頂的電影鏡頭式場面。
Furthermore, there were enough high school assembly orators proclaiming the character-forming force of the strenuous life to convince more than enough otherwise sensible boys that service in the European conflict would be of great personal value, in addition to being idealistic and exciting.
此外,更有許多演說家們在中學生集會上大肆渲染戰場上的緊張生活在培養性格方面的力量,使得那些本來還算有頭腦的年輕小伙子們都信以為真,以為到歐洲戰場上去服役不僅是一件令人興奮的理想化的美事,而且具有巨大的人生價值。