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 20
On April 28, when the Ransdoc Bureau announced that 8,000 rats had been collected, a wave of something like panics wept the town. There was a demand for drastic measures, the authorities were accused of slackness, and people who had houses on the coast spoke of moving there, early in the year thought it was. But next day the bureau informed them that the phenomenon had abruptly ended and the sanitary service had collected only a trifling number of rats. Everyone breathed more freely.
It was, however, on this same day, at noon, that Dr. Rieux, when parking his car in front of the apartment house where he lived, noticed the concierge coming toward him from the end of the street. He was draggling himself along, his head bent, arms and legs curiously splayed out, with the jerky movements of a clockwork doll. The old man was leaning on the arm of a priest whom the doctor knew. It was Father Paneloux, a learned and militant Jesuit, whom he had met occasionally and who was very highly thought of in our town, even in circles quite in different to religion. Rieus waited for the two men to draw up to him. M. Michel’s eyes were fever-bright and he was breathing wheezily. The old man explained that, feeling “a bit off color,” he had gone out to take the air. But he had started feeling pains in all sorts of places---in his neck, armpits, and groin---and had been obliged to turn back and ask Father Paneloux to give him an arm.
“It’s just swellings,” he said. “I must have strained myself somehow”.
Leaning out of the window of the car, the doctor ran his hand over the base of Michel’s neck; a hard lump, like a knot in wood, had formed there.
“Go to bed at once, and take your temperature. I’ll come to see you this afternoon.”
When the old man had gone, Rieux asked Father Paneloux what he made of the queer business about the rats.“Oh， I suppose it’s an epidemic they’ve been having.”The Father’s eyes were smiling behind his big round glasses.
After lunch, while Riex was reading for the second time the telegram his wife had sent from the sanatorium, announcing her arrival, the phone rang. It was one of his former patients, a clerk in the Municipal Office, ringing him up. He had suffered for a long time from a constriction of aorta, and, as he was poor, Rieux had charged no fee. “Thanks, doctor, for remembering me. But this time it’s somebody else. The man next door has had an accident. Please come at once”. He sounded out of breath.
Rieux thought quickly: yes, he could see the concierge afterwards. A few minutes later he was entering a small house the rue Faidherbe, on the out skirts of the town. Halfway up the drafty, foul-smelling stairs, he saw Jeseph Grand, the clerk, hurrying down to meet him. He was a man of about fifty years of age, tall and drooping, with narrow shoulders, thin limbs, and a yellowish mustache.
“He looks better bow,” he told Rieux, “but I really thought his number was up”. He blew his nose vigorously.
On the top floor, the third, Rieux noticed something scrawled in red chalk on a door on the left:”Come in, I’ve hanged myself”.
《鼠疫》第20頁
作者：（法國(guó)）阿爾貝-加繆
然而，四月二十八日，情報(bào)資料局宣布收集到了約八千只死老鼠，人們的焦慮到達(dá)了頂峰。有人呼吁采取嚴(yán)厲措施，有人譴責(zé)當(dāng)局，有些海濱住戶已經(jīng)在說要搬家了。但第二天，情報(bào)資料局宣布這個(gè)現(xiàn)象突然停止了，滅鼠所只收集到了一小批死老鼠。城里人松了口氣。
可就在那天中午十二點(diǎn)，里厄醫(yī)生把車停在樓門前的時(shí)候，發(fā)現(xiàn)門房正從路那頭吃力地走來，腦袋朝前耷拉著，手腳岔開，像個(gè)木偶。老頭挽著一位牧師的胳膊，醫(yī)生認(rèn)識(shí)這位牧師。牧師名叫帕納盧，是耶穌會(huì)教士，知識(shí)淵博，人也活躍，在我們這個(gè)城市里很受尊敬，即使在那些對(duì)宗教抱著淡漠態(tài)度的人們中間也是如此。醫(yī)生等著他們過來。老米歇爾兩眼發(fā)光，呼吸的時(shí)候嘶嘶直喘氣。他覺得不太舒服，想呼吸些新鮮空氣，但脖子、腋下和腹股溝痛得他朝回走，要帕納盧神甫扶他一把。
米歇爾說：“有幾個(gè)腫塊，很難受。”
醫(yī)生側(cè)過身體，胳膊伸出車門，用手指摸了摸米歇爾伸過來的脖子：那里出現(xiàn)了一種類似木頭結(jié)節(jié)的東西。
“去床上躺著吧，量下體溫，下午我來看你?！?/p>
門房走后，里厄問帕納盧神甫對(duì)于老鼠事件的想法。
“哦！肯定是瘟疫?！鄙窀φf。他的眼睛在鏡片后面笑。
吃完午飯，里厄重讀那份療養(yǎng)所打來的通知他妻子到達(dá)的電報(bào)時(shí)，電話鈴響了。是他的一位老患者打來的，這人是市政府的一位職員，長(zhǎng)期飽受主動(dòng)脈瓣狹窄癥的折磨，因?yàn)楦F，里厄不收他的錢。
他說：“是我，你還記得我。但這次是別人?？靵?，我鄰居家出事了?！?/p>
他說話時(shí)喘不過氣來。里厄想到了門房，決定稍后去看他。過了幾分鐘，醫(yī)生就來到了郊區(qū)費(fèi)代爾布街上的一幢矮房子跟前。走了一半那又陰又臭的樓梯，他碰到了約瑟夫·格朗，就是那個(gè)職員，下樓來接他。這人五十來歲，留著黃色的小胡子，高個(gè)子，駝背，肩膀狹窄，四肢瘦長(zhǎng)。
他到了里厄跟前，說：“他好些了，我還以為他完了呢?！?/p>
他抽抽鼻子。里厄在三樓（最高層）左邊門上看到了用紅粉筆寫的幾個(gè)字：“進(jìn)來吧，我上吊了。”
【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)英語系畢業(yè)。曾任鐵道部援建坦贊鐵路工作組總部英語翻譯，中國(guó)國(guó)際廣播電臺(tái)英語部播音員、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
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