| 'Oh, I know all that,' Clevinger assured him, his gaunt face pale and his agitated brown eyes swimming in sincerity. 'But the fact remains that those ammunition dumps are still standing. You know very well that I don't approve of Colonel Cathcart any more than you do.' Clevinger paused for emphasis, his mouth quivering, and then beat his fist down softly against his sleeping-bag. 'But it's not for us to determine what targets must be destroyed or who's to destroy them or-' 'Or who gets killed doing it? And why?' 'Yes, even that. We have no right to question-' 'You're insane!' '-no right to question-' 'Do you really mean that it's not my business how or why I get killed and that it is Colonel Cathcart's? Do you really mean that?' 'Yes, I do,' Clevinger insisted, seeming unsure. 'There are men entrusted with winning the war who are in a much better position than we are to decide what targets have to be bombed.' 'We are talking about two different things,' Yossarian answered with exaggerated weariness. 'You are talking about the relationship of the Air Corps to the infantry, and I am talking about the relationship of me to Colonel Cathcart. You are talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive.' 'Exactly,' Clevinger snapped smugly. 'And which do you think is more important?' 'To whom?' Yossarian shot back. 'Open your eyes, Clevinger. It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead.' Clevinger sat for a moment as though he'd been slapped. | Секунду Клевинджер сидел с таким видом, будто ему дали пощечину. |
| 'Congratulations!' he exclaimed bitterly, the thinnest milk-white line enclosing his lips tightly in a bloodless, squeezing ring. | - Поздравляю! - воскликнул он с горечью и с такой силой поджал губы, что они молочно побелели. |
| 'I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy.' | - Трудно придумать философию более приятную для противника, чем твоя. |
| 'The enemy,' retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, 'is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on, and that includes Colonel Cathcart. | - Противник, - возразил Йоссариан, тщательно взвешивая каждое слово, - это всякий, кто желает тебе смерти, независимо от того, на чьей он стороне воюет. Стало быть, понятие "противник" включает в себя и полковника Кэткарта. |
| And don't you forget that, because the longer you remember it, the longer you might live.' | И не забывай об этом: чем дольше будешь помнить, тем дольше проживешь. |
| But Clevinger did forget it, and now he was dead. | Но Клевинджер забыл об этом и теперь был мертв. |
| At the time, Clevinger was so upset by the incident that Yossarian did not dare tell him he had also been responsible for the epidemic of diarrhea that had caused the other unnecessary postponement. | А в ту минуту Клевинджер был огорчен спором с Йоссарианом, и Йоссариан не осмелился признаться ему в том, что, помимо всего прочего, он, Йоссариан, повинен в повальном поносе, который повлек за собой еще одну, отнюдь не вызванную военными соображениями отсрочку налета на Болонью. |
