海外頭條總編審 王 在 軍 （中國）
海外頭條副編審 Wendy溫迪（英國）
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）
中文誦讀：琬 喬（中國）
The Plague
By：Albert Camus
Page 24
You knew Camps, didn't you?” asked one of them.
"Camps? A tall chap with a black mustache?”
“That's him. A switchman.”
“Ah yes, I remember now.”
“Well, he's dead.”
“Oh? When did he die?”
“After that business about the rats.”
“You don't say so! What did he die of?"
"I couldn't say exactly. Some kind of fever. Of course, he never was what you might call fit. He got abscesses under the arms, and they did him in, it seems.”
"Still, he didn't look that different from other people.”
"I wouldn't say that. He had a weak chest and he used to play the trombone in the town band. It's hard on the lungs, blowing a trombone.”
“Ah, if you've got weak lungs, it don't instrument like that.” do you any good, blowing down a big
After jotting down this dialogue Tarrou went on to speculate why Camps had joined a band when it was so clearly inadvisable, and what obscure motive had led him to risk his life for the sake of parading the streets on Sunday mornings. We gather that Tarrou was agreeably impressed by a little scene that took place daily on the balcony of a house facing always several his window. His room at the hotel looked on to a small side street and there were always several cats sleeping in the shadow of the walls. Every day, soon after lunch, at a time when most people stayed indoors, enjoying a siesta, a dapper little old man stepped out on the balcony on the other side of the street. He had a soldierly bearing, very erect and affected a military style of dressing; his snow-white hair was always brushed to perfect smoothness. Leaning over the balcony he would call: Pussy! Pussy! in a voice at once haughty and endearing. The cat blinked up at him with sleep-pale eyes, but made no move as yet. He then proceeded to tear some paper into scraps and let them fall into the street; interested by the fluttering shower of white butterflies, the cats came forward, lifting tentative paws toward the last scraps of paper. Then, taking careful aim, the old man would spit vigorously at the cats and, whenever a liquid missile hit the quarry, would beam with delight.
Lastly, Tarrou seemed to have been quite fascinated by the commercial character of the town, whose aspect, activities, and even pleasures all seemed to be dictated by considerations of business. This idiosyncrasy-the term he uses in his diary-was warmly approved of by Tarrou; indeed, one of his appreciative comments ends on the exclamation: “At last!”
These are the only passages in which our visitor's record, at this period, strikes a seemingly personal note. Its significance and the earnestness behind it might escape the reader on a casual perusal. For example, after describing how the discovery of a dead rat led the hotel cashier to make an error in his bill, Tarrou added: “Query: How contrive not to waste one's time? Answer: By being fully aware of it all the while. Ways in which this can be done: By spending one's days on an uneasy chair in a dentist's waiting-room; by remaining on one's balcony all a Sunday afternoon; by listening to lectures in a language one doesn't know; by traveling by the longest and least-convenient train routes, and of course standing all the way; by lining pat the box-office of theaters and then not buying a seat; and so forth.”
《鼠疫》
作者：阿爾貝?加繆 （法國）
第24頁
“您認識坎普斯這個人，對吧？”，一個售票員問道。
“坎普斯？那個高個子、黑胡子的，是嗎？”
“就是他，過去在鐵道上扳道岔的?！?/p>
“對，沒錯?！?/p>
“可是，他死了?！?/p>
“啊！什么時候死的呢？”
“在那老鼠事件之后?！?/p>
“唉，他到底生的是什么??？”
“不清楚，他當(dāng)時發(fā)燒。不過，他的身體本來就不好。在他的腋下長了膿腫，他沒能挺住?！?/p>
“可是看上去他的健康狀況和別人沒有兩樣??！”
“不，他的肺部比較弱，他還參加過市軍樂隊，一直吹長號。長號這玩意兒是傷身體的?！?/p>
“唉，”另一個人最后說：“一個有肺部毛病的人就不該再吹長號了?！?/p>
塔魯寫下了這些細節(jié)后提出了疑問：坎普斯明明知道參加市軍樂隊對自己有害處，但為什么仍然參加了？又有什么深奧的理由使他冒著生命的危險去參加星期日的游行演奏？
接下去是記述塔魯所看到的窗戶對面陽臺上時常出現(xiàn)的情況。對于這一點，他似乎很有好感。原來他的房間面向一條小小的橫街，那里的墻影下經(jīng)常睡著幾只貓兒。每天吃完午飯，當(dāng)面臨炎熱天氣下的全城的人們正在室內(nèi)午睡的時候，馬路對面的陽臺上就會出現(xiàn)一個矮老頭兒，他長著一頭梳理得整整齊齊的白發(fā)，穿著軍人式的服裝，身體別直，相當(dāng)莊重。他用并不親切但相當(dāng)柔和的聲音“咪咪，咪咪”地呼喚著那些貓兒。但貓兒只是張一張惺忪的睡眼，看了他一下，依然一動不動 。于是乎，那老者在小街的上空將一張張小紙條撕碎，用散落下去的、如同飛舞的白蝴蝶的碎紙條去吸引這些貓咪。由于被眼前的景象吸引，貓兒們立起身來，猶豫而又好奇地把爪子伸向最后還在飄落的紙條。矮老頭就對著貓兒們吐出唾沫。倘若有一口吐中了貓兒，他就會開心地笑起來。
塔魯最后好像還是被這座城市的商業(yè)魅力所吸引住了。他喜歡這個城市的市容、繁華，甚至連娛樂都好像是受生意買賣的需要所支配的。這個特點---塔魯?shù)娜沼洷纠锞褪沁@樣寫的---獲得塔魯?shù)馁澷p。于是在他的某一段頌揚的文字里是用這樣的感嘆作為結(jié)束語的：“總算不虛此行！”在這位旅客的這一時期的日記里，似乎只有這些地方才是出于他本人的真情。不過要看出這些筆記的意義和嚴(yán)肅性還是困難的。另外一段筆記的內(nèi)容也是如此。比如，在記述一個旅館出納員由于發(fā)現(xiàn)了一只死老鼠而記錯了賬目后，塔魯比平時較為潦草的加了這些話：“問題：如果不浪費時間，怎么辦？答案：到漫長的時間里去體驗。方法：在牙醫(yī)的候診室里，坐在不舒服的椅子上過上整整的一天；在自家的陽臺上度過星期日的下午；去聽別人用聽不懂的語言來講演；在選定的一條路程最遠而又最不方便的鐵路線上旅行，當(dāng)然還得是站著；去劇院售票處排隊而沒有買到票等等?！?/p>
【作者簡介】龔如仲 (Ralph) , 中國對外經(jīng)濟貿(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, 中國國際廣播電臺英語部播音員、記者, 外貿(mào)部中國輕工業(yè)品進出口總公司駐美國公司總裁, 澳大利亞利富集團駐美國公司總裁, 外貿(mào)部中國基地總公司駐美國公司總裁, 美國TA國際有限公司駐北京辦事處首席代表。
有關(guān)作品: 中國電影出版社出版翻譯作品美國動畫電影小說《忍者神龜》（Ninja Turtles) 。
臺灣采薇出版社出版、發(fā)行《歲月如重---兼談華國鋒》（此書已被香港中文大學(xué)圖書館、美國紐約市市立圖書館、澳大利亞國家圖書館正式收藏）《東西南北中國人---細談如何在大陸做生意》《悠然時光》《如仲詩語》《My Life--Family, Career & VIPs》
中國國際廣播出版社出版、發(fā)行《悠然齋詩文選》《花兒在身邊開放》。
中華詩詞學(xué)會會員、中國經(jīng)典文學(xué)網(wǎng)特約作家、臺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)會會員、加拿大高校文學(xué)社周同題作者、海外華英總顧問，北美翰苑社長兼總編。
琬喬：朗誦愛好者，喜歡用聲音傳遞世間一切美好與熱愛！
