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怎样让年轻人关心早在他们出生前就结束的战争？文章从这个问题切入，介绍英国伍尔弗汉普顿中央图书馆的一场纪念展：先说明展览由谁策划、展出了什么；再讲策展人如何调查当地阵亡军人，并引用两封百年前的士兵书信；接着介绍策展人自己的家族故事；然后交代办展的起因——纪念活动的参与者越来越少；最后落到他的期望：用个人讲述打动年轻观众。阅读时可留意 but、still 等词引出的转折，以及 thinks、believes、hopes 等词如何表明这些是策展人本人的看法。

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How do you help young people care about wars that ended long before they were born? In Wolverhampton, a city in the English Midlands, one local man thinks the answer is to show them real people. His new remembrance exhibition at the city’s Central Library tells the stories of local servicemen who were killed in the two world wars, mostly through their own words.

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怎样帮助年轻人关心那些早在他们出生前就已结束的战争？在英格兰中部城市伍尔弗汉普顿，一位当地人认为答案是让他们看到真实的人。他在该市中央图书馆举办的新纪念展，讲述了在两次世界大战中阵亡的当地军人的故事，而且主要通过他们自己的话来讲述。

The display is called Echoes in the Silence. It was put together by Ian Hughes, a local photographer, who spent about a year collecting objects, letters, photographs and hundreds of knitted poppies. Visitors can also see medals, posters and short life stories of soldiers from the area. Entry is free, and the exhibition will stay open until 14 November, around Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.

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这个展览名为“寂静中的回响”（Echoes in the Silence），由当地摄影师伊恩·休斯策划。他花了大约一年时间收集实物、书信、照片和数百朵编织的罂粟花。参观者还能看到勋章、海报以及当地士兵的简短生平。展览免费参观，将持续到 11 月 14 日，时间正值停战纪念日和阵亡将士纪念日前后。

Hughes did a lot of research for the project. He looked into the lives of local men who died in war, including about 4,500 from World War One alone. His search took him to war graves across northern France, where he found personal stories and letters. In one letter from July 1915, a soldier named William Albert Hastings wrote that his group had been fighting for 24 days in a row. “It truly is hell here,” he said. Another young man, Albert, wrote to his mother during training and thanked her for sending cakes. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, at the age of 23.

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休斯为这个项目做了大量研究。他调查了在战争中牺牲的当地男子的生平，仅一战阵亡者就有约 4,500 人。他的寻访把他带到了法国北部各地的战争墓地，在那里他找到了个人故事和书信。在 1915 年 7 月的一封信中，一位名叫威廉·阿尔伯特·黑斯廷斯的士兵写道，他所在的队伍已经连续作战 24 天。“这里真是地狱，”他说。另一位年轻人阿尔伯特在受训期间给母亲写信，感谢她寄来蛋糕。他于 1916 年在索姆河战役中阵亡，年仅 23 岁。

Some stories come from Hughes’s own family. His father was the only person to survive when the tank he was in was hit near Cologne in World War Two. Hughes also remembers his grandfather, who would fall asleep in his chair and speak French or Belgian in his sleep, many years after he came home from the war.

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有些故事来自休斯自己的家族。二战期间，他父亲乘坐的坦克在科隆附近被击中，他是唯一的幸存者。休斯还记得自己的祖父：从战场回家多年后，祖父会在椅子上睡着，并在睡梦中说法语或比利时话。

The idea for the exhibition came from what Hughes saw at local remembrance events. He recalls that close to 100 wreaths were once laid at the city’s main war memorial, but in recent years there have been only a few dozen. He believes that many people under 40 have never met anyone who fought in these wars.

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办这个展览的想法源于休斯在当地纪念活动中的所见。他回忆说，该市主战争纪念碑前曾经摆放过近 100 个花圈，但近几年只有几十个。他认为，许多 40 岁以下的人从未见过任何参加过这些战争的人。

Hughes accepts that interest naturally fades as time passes. Still, he hopes these personal accounts will speak most strongly to younger visitors. “I want the young people to look and say we can’t let this happen again,” he said. He also hopes the display will help some people learn things they never knew and view the past differently.

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休斯承认，随着时间流逝，人们的兴趣自然会减退。尽管如此，他希望这些个人讲述最能打动年轻参观者。“我希望年轻人看了以后会说，我们不能让这种事再次发生，”他说。他还希望这个展览能帮助一些人了解他们从不知道的事情，并以不同的眼光看待过去。

新闻来源

• BBC News · Stories of fallen soldiers brought to life in display (31 Oct 2026)
• City of Wolverhampton Council · Central Library hosts Armistice Day remembrance exhibition (29 Oct 2026)

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