《沙普》小说/电视剧中的“精选兵”（chosen man）确有其事

carabinier

所谓的Chosen man精选兵是95来复枪团对“lance corporal ”（准下士），即表现好的士兵被提升为下士，但尚未获得相应报酬，等待正式补缺的称呼。
在William Surtees的回忆录《来复枪旅的25年》（Twenty-five Years in the Rifle Brigade）中提到他被升为“精选兵”的事情：（P42,这本书google books上可以看全文）

朔风

没看过沙普...看来意思和军中健者差不多，属于补缺士官位置的第一备选人群吧。

iron duke

确是如此。在违纪上，也有这样一段：
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bri ... Ranks_rank_insignia
Lance corporal, at the time not a rank but an appointment historically known as chosen man and carrying extra pay for privates holding it, were given a single chevron a few years later, and later in the century the lance-sergeant appeared, wearing three chevrons.

wenhe1993

电视剧里的 Chosen Man和小说中的已经有些不同了。

wenhe1993

小说里似乎只在Sharpe's Rifles中Murray上尉临终前关于Harper的一段叙述中出现过：

“He’s a troublemaker, but the men listen to him. I tried to make him a Chosen Man once,” Murray instinctively used the Rifles’old term for a Corporal, “but he wouldn’t have it. He’d make a good Sergeant. Hell! Even a good officer if he could read, but he won’t have any of it. But the men listen to him. He’s got Sergeant Williams under his thumb.”

貌似就这一次

[ 本帖最后由 wenhe1993 于 2009-7-25 12:33 编辑 ]

Imperial_Guard

既然歷史上chosen man是Lance corpora, 那麼他們真的會拿着Lance 作戰嗎?

wenhe1993

回楼上：

The presumed origin of the rank of Lance Corporal derives from an amalgamation of corporal with the now-archaic lancepesade, formerly a non-commissioned officer of the lowest rank. This in turn derives from the Italian lancia spezzata, which literally means "broken lance" or "broken spear", but which was used to denote a seasoned soldier, as the broken spear was a metaphor for combat experience, where such an occurrence was very likely.

说是来自意大利语“折断的长矛”，隐喻战斗经验丰富。