海外頭條總編審 王 在 軍 （中國(guó)）
海外頭條副編審 Wendy溫迪（英國(guó)）
海 外 頭 條總 編 火 鳳 凰 （海外）
圖片選自百度
英文誦讀：龔如仲（美國(guó)）
中文誦讀：琬 喬（中國(guó)）
The Plague
By Albert Camus
Page 18
The doctor accompanied him to the door.
“It's good of you to take it like that,” he said.
“Yes, yes, I understand,” Rambert repeated, with what seemed a hint of impatience in his voice. “Sorry to have troubled you.”
When shaking hands with him, Rieux suggested that if he was out for curious stories for his paper, he might say something about the extraordinary number of dead rats that were being found in the town just now.
“Ah!” Rambert exclaimed. “That certainly interests me.”
On his way out at five for another round of visits, the doctor passed on the stairway a stocky, youngish man, with a big, deeply furrowed face and bushy eyebrows. He had met him once or twice in the top-floor apartment, which was occupied by some male Spanish dancers. Puffing a cigarette, Jean Tarrou was gazing down at the convulsions of a rat dying on the step in front of him. He looked up, and his gray eyes remained fixed on the doctor for some moments; then, after wishing him good day, he remarked that it was rather odd, the way all these rats were coming out of their holes to die.
“Very odd,” Rieux agreed, “and it ends by getting on one's nerves.”
“In a way, doctor, only in a way. We've not seen anything of the sort before, that's all. Personally I find it interesting, yes, definitely interesting.”
Tarrou ran his fingers through his hair to brush it off his forehead, looked again at the rat, which had now stopped moving, then smiled toward Rieux.
“But really, doctor, it's the concierge's headache, isn't it?”
As it so happened, the concierge was the next person Rieux was leaning against the encountered. He was leaning against the wall beside the street door; he was looking tired and his normally rubicund face had lost its color.
"Yes, I know," old man told Rieux, who had informed him of latest casualty among the rats.” I keep finding 'em by twos and threes. But it’s the same thing in the other houses in the street.”
He seemed depressed and worried, and was scratching his neck absentmindedly. Rieux asked him how he felt. The concierge wouldn't go so far as to say he was feeling ill. Still he wasn't quite up to the mark. In his opinion it was just due to worry; these damned rats had given him "a shock, like." It would be a relief when they stopped coming out and dying all over the place.
Next morning-it was April 18-when the doctor was bringing back his mother from the station, he found M. Michel looking still more out of sorts. The stairway from the cellar to the attics was strewn with dead rats, ten or a dozen of them. The garbage cans of all the houses in the street were full of rats.
The doctor's mother took it quite calmly.
“It's like that sometimes,” she said vaguely. She was a small woman with silver hair and dark, gentle eyes. “I'm so glad to be with you again, Bernard," she added. "The rats can't change that, anyhow.”
He nodded. It was a fact that everything seemed easy when she was there.
However, he rang up the Municipal Office. He knew the man in charge of the department concerned with the extermination of vermin and he asked him if he'd heard about all the rats that were coming out to die in the open. Yes, Mercier knew all about it; in fact, fifty rats had been found in his offices, which were near the wharves. To tell the truth, he was rather perturbed; did the doctor think it meant anything serious? Rieux couldn't give a definite opinion, but he thought the sanitary service should take action of some kind.
《鼠疫》
作者：（法國(guó)）阿爾貝-加繆
第18頁(yè)
醫(yī)生送他到門口說(shuō)： “謝謝您能這樣看待問題?！薄±守悹栵@得不耐煩地說(shuō)： “好，我懂得，請(qǐng)?jiān)徫掖驍_您。”
醫(yī)生同他握手，告訴他此刻市內(nèi)發(fā)現(xiàn)大量死老鼠，關(guān)于這件事，可能有不尋常的報(bào)道可寫?！ 芭稄V朗貝爾叫了起來(lái)，“這事我感興趣。”
下午五時(shí)，醫(yī)生正要為另一些病家出診，在樓梯上同一個(gè)年紀(jì)還比較輕的人擦肩而過，此人外形厚實(shí)，肥頭大耳，凹陷的臉上，橫著兩條濃密的眉毛。在住這幢樓房最高一層的那些西班牙舞蹈家的家里，他曾經(jīng)見過這個(gè)人幾次。這人名叫讓·塔魯，他站在梯級(jí)上，一本正經(jīng)地吸著香煙，一邊注視著腳旁一只快要死去的老鼠在作最后的抽搐。他抬起頭來(lái)，灰色的眼睛冷靜地盯住醫(yī)生，向他打了一個(gè)招呼，接著說(shuō)這些老鼠的出現(xiàn)是件奇怪的事情。
里厄說(shuō)：“不錯(cuò)，可是這件事到頭來(lái)會(huì)令人厭惡的?！薄 安蝗沁@種看法，醫(yī)生，只是從某一個(gè)方面看是這樣。我們不過是從未見過類似的事罷了。但是我對(duì)這事感興趣，不錯(cuò)，實(shí)在感興趣。”
塔魯用手向后掠了掠頭發(fā)，重新觀察那只老鼠，這會(huì)兒，它已不動(dòng)了。他向里厄笑道：“總之，醫(yī)生，這主要是看門人的事情?！?/p>
醫(yī)生正好看見看門人在樓房前面，背靠著門口附近的墻上，他那平時(shí)充血的臉上顯露出一副倦容。
里厄告訴看門人，又發(fā)現(xiàn)了死老鼠，老米歇爾說(shuō)：“對(duì)，我知道，現(xiàn)在是三三兩兩地出現(xiàn)。不過在別的房子里情況也是這樣?！?/p>
他神情沮喪，顯得心事重重，漫不經(jīng)心地用手擦著脖子。里厄問他身體怎樣。當(dāng)然，看門人不能說(shuō)自己身體不好，他說(shuō)只是覺得有些不舒服。根據(jù)他的看法，這是心理作用引起的。這些老鼠使他感到不安。要是不再看到老鼠，一切都會(huì)大大好轉(zhuǎn)。
可是第二天早晨——那天是四月十八日，醫(yī)生從車站接他母親回來(lái)時(shí)發(fā)覺米歇爾的面頰下陷得更厲害了。從地窖到樓頂，樓梯上有十來(lái)只死老鼠。鄰居們的垃圾桶里也裝滿了。醫(yī)生的母親知道了這事卻不吃驚。她說(shuō)：“這類事情是有的。”
她身材矮小，一頭銀發(fā)，一雙黑眼睛顯得很和善。她說(shuō)：“貝爾納，見到你我很高興，這些老鼠一點(diǎn)也影響不了我的情緒?！?/p>
醫(yī)生同意他母親的話；真的，跟她在一起，什么事情總好像很容易解決似的。
但是，里厄仍然打了一個(gè)電話給市鎮(zhèn)滅鼠所。他認(rèn)識(shí)那里的所長(zhǎng)，問他是否聽到有大量老鼠死在露天這件事。梅西埃所長(zhǎng)說(shuō)他聽說(shuō)了，并且，在他那離開碼頭不遠(yuǎn)的所里就有人發(fā)現(xiàn)五十來(lái)只。不過，他不能肯定這情況是否嚴(yán)重。里厄也決定不了，但是他認(rèn)為滅鼠所應(yīng)該管一管。
【作者簡(jiǎn)介】龔如仲（Ralph)
中國(guó)對(duì)外經(jīng)濟(jì)貿(mào)易大學(xué)英語(yǔ)系畢業(yè)。曾任鐵道部援建坦贊鐵路工作組總部英語(yǔ)翻譯，中國(guó)國(guó)際廣播電臺(tái)英語(yǔ)部播音員、記者，外貿(mào)部中國(guó)輕工業(yè)品進(jìn)出口總公司駐美國(guó)公司總裁，澳大利亞利富集團(tuán)駐美國(guó)公司總裁，外貿(mào)部中國(guó)基地總公司駐美國(guó)公司總裁，美國(guó)TA國(guó)際有限公司駐北京辦事處首席代表
有關(guān)作品：
中國(guó)電影出版社出版翻譯作品美國(guó)動(dòng)畫電影小說(shuō)《忍者神龜》（Ninja Turtles）
臺(tái)灣采薇出版社出版、發(fā)行《歲月如重---兼談華國(guó)鋒》（此書已被香港中文大學(xué)圖書館、美國(guó)紐約市市立圖書館、澳大利亞國(guó)家圖書館正式收藏）《東西南北中國(guó)人---細(xì)談如何在大陸做生意》《悠然時(shí)光》《如仲詩(shī)語(yǔ)》《My Life--Family, Career & VIPs》
中國(guó)國(guó)際廣播出版社出版、發(fā)行《悠然齋詩(shī)文選》《花兒在身邊開放》
中華詩(shī)詞學(xué)會(huì)會(huì)員、中國(guó)經(jīng)典文學(xué)網(wǎng)特約作家、臺(tái)灣采薇出版社資深顧問、奧地利英文網(wǎng)Sinopress特聘專欄作家、歐華新移民作家協(xié)會(huì)會(huì)員、加拿大高校文學(xué)社周同題作者、北美翰苑社長(zhǎng)兼總編
琬喬：朗誦愛好者，喜歡用聲音傳遞世間一切美好與熱愛！
