Thank you, my fatherland 谢谢你，我的祖国

For helping me to be totally reintegrated and normalised 帮助我完全被重新整合和规范化

Only in the world's greatest socialist democracy could one hope to be forgiven for losing temporary sight 只有在世界上最大的社会主义民主也有一种希望被原谅的暂时丧失视力

of the aims and goals of the of the Marxist/Leninist revolution 的马克思主义/列宁主义革命的目的和目标

   

Two years it took me to be cured of my illness 两年花了我治好我的病

Being still a relatively young and fit man 作为仍然是一个相对年轻气盛的男人

I was still in search of fulfilment 我仍然在寻找履行

The memory of Olger, Sergey and my two children 欧格，谢尔盖和我的两个孩子的记忆

Motivated me to seek an occupation 促使我寻求职业

That would both repay my debt to my great party 这将我的两个债务偿还我的伟大的党

And obviously help the way to international socialism 很显然，帮助的方式对国际社会主义

I was still unable to resume my lectureship at the sub-nucleonic particle physics 我仍然无法恢复我的讲师在次核子粒子物理学

And therefore volunteered to help our Afghan comrades 因此，志愿帮助我们的阿富汗战友

In their great struggle for liberation 在他们争取解放的伟大斗争

I was readily accepted 我欣然接受

Into a motorized maintenance unit 成机动维修单位

   

It was not long before I realised that our support 时间不长，我才意识到我们的支持

For the liberation struggle of our comrades in Afghanistan 对于我们的同志在阿富汗的解放斗争

Was not viewed at all together unanimously by the local population 在所有共同当地居民并没有被一致

In fact, we were not allowed outside of the barracks unless we were in large armoured groups 事实上，我们并没有在军营之外允许的，除非我们是在大型装甲团

   

During our brief stay in Afghanistan 在我们短暂逗留在阿富汗

We had discovered some of the very few pleasures open to visitors to this desolate place 我们发现了一些极少数的乐趣对游客开放的这个荒凉的地方

A local concoction called "hashish" was being increasingly used by our troops 正在越来越多地被我们的军队当地药汁被称为“大麻”

And many of the helicopter gunship and tank crews, moreover 而且许多武装直升机和坦克兵的，

Would smoke large chillums and joints before embarking on missions around the mountains, surrounding Kabul 将烟大chillums和关节着手群山环绕的任务之前，喀布尔周边

   

Every week comrades who had fallen into the hands of the rebels 每个星期的同志谁曾落入叛军手中

would be found in various states of dismemberment around the camp 将在肢解营地周围的各种状态中

Those unlucky enough to be still alive 那些足够倒霉的是还活着

Were sent from rehabilitation 从康复被送

to the German democratic republics 德意志民主共和国

Since this would prevent any undue alarm by our loved ones back home 因为这将防止任何不必要的报警通过我们的亲人回家

The wisdom of this policy is evidence of our leaders' great care for their people 这一政策的智慧是我们的领袖“非常谨慎的证据，他们的人

   

Apart from hashish there was not much to divert or endure the cold mountain nights 除了大麻没有太多的转移或忍受寒冷山区的夜晚

And increasingly there were signs of the troops acquiring the illness of which I had previously been cured 而且越来越有部队的迹象获取疾病，而我以前曾治愈

And therefore, my attention was focused more on looking at the few animals that were kept within the military compound. 因此，我的注意力更多地集中在看着被关在军营内的一些动物。

As is often the case between human beings and animals 如经常人类与动物之间的情况

A close bond of affection can develop 亲情的亲密关系可以发展

And I became increasingly close to a camel I named Dimitri 我越来越接近骆驼我命名迪米特里

Ah, dear Dimitri 啊，亲爱的迪米特里

   

No one can really understand the relationship between a man and his camel 没有人能真正了解一个男人和他的骆驼之间的关系

As was the case with the army doctors and my superiors 由于是与军队的医生和我的上司的情况下

Who sent me to convalesce in the German Democratic Republic. 谁给我发了德意志民主共和国静养。