请英语（翻译）的同学将下列短文按笔译方式译成汉语。

After I talked for a few minutes with Chou Enlai, and explained who I was, he arranged for me to spend the night in Pai Chia Ping, and asked me to come next morning to his headquarters, in a nearby village. I sat down to dinner with a section of the Communications Department, which was stationed here, and I met a dozen young men who were billeted in Pai Chia Ping. Some of them were teachers in the partisan school, one was a radio operator, and some were officers of the Red Army. Our meal consisted of boiled chicken, unleavened whole-wheat bread, cabbages, millet, and potatoes, of which I ate heartedly. But , as usual, there was nothing to drink but hot water and I could not touch it. I am famished with thirst. The food was served – delivered is the word – by two nonchalant young lads wearing uniforms several sizes too large for them, and peaked Red Caps with long bills that kept flapping down over their eyes. They looked at me sourly at first, but after a few minutes I managed to provoke a friendly grin from one of them. Emboldened by this success, I called to him as he went past. (From Edgar Snow, Red Star over China)