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)）
中文播音：琬 喬（中國(guó)）
The Plague
By Albert Camus
Page 32
The doctor opened the window, and at once the noises of the town grew louder. The brief, intermittent sibilance of a machine-saw came from a nearby work-shop. Rieux pulled himself together. There lay certitude; there, in the daily round. All the rest hung on mere thread and trivial contingencies; you couldn't waste your time on it. The thing was to do your job as it should be done.
The doctor's musings had reached this point when the visit of Joseph Grand was announced. Grand's duties as clerk in the Municipal Office were varied, and he was sometimes employed in the statistical department on compiling the figures of births, marriages, and deaths. Thus it had fallen to him to add up the number of deaths during the last few days, and, being of an obliging disposition, he had volunteered to bring a copy of the latest figures to the doctor.
Grand, who was waving a sheet of paper, was accompanied by his neighbor, Cottard.
"The figures are going up, doctor. Eleven deaths in forty-eight hours.”
Rieux shook hands with Cottard and asked him how he was feeling. Grand put in a word explaining that Cottard was bent on thanking the doctor and apologizing for the trouble he had given. But Rieux was gazing frowningly at the figures on the sheet of paper.
“Well, "he said, "perhaps we'd better make up our minds to call this disease by its name. So far we've been only shillyshallying. Look here, I'm off to the laboratory; like to come with me?”
“Quite so, quite so, "Grand said as he went down the stairs at the doctor's heels. “I, too, believe in calling things by their name. But what's the name in this case?”
“That I shan't say, and anyhow you wouldn't gain anything by knowing.” You see," Grand smiled. "It's not easy after all!”
They started off toward the Place d'Armes. Cottard still kept silent. The streets were beginning to fill up. The brief dusk of our town was already giving place to night, and the first stars glimmered above the still clearly marked horizon. A few moments later all the streetlamps went on, dimming the sky, and the voices in the street seemed to rise a tone.
“Excuse me,” Grand said at the corner of the Place d'Armes, “but I must catch my car now. My evenings are sacred. As we say in my part of the world: 'Never put off to tomorrow-'”
Rieux had already noticed Grand's trick of professing to quote some turn of speech from “his part of the world”(he hailed from Montélimar), and following up with some such hackneyed expression as “l(fā)ost in dreams,” or “pretty as a picture.”
“That's so,” Cottard put in. “You can never budge him from his den after dinner.”
Rieux asked Grand if he was doing extra work for the municipality. Grand said no, he was working on his own account.
“Really?” Rieux said, to keep the conversation going. “And are you getting on well with it?”
“Considering I've been at it for years, it would be surprising if I wasn't. Though in one sense there hasn't been much progress.”
“May one know”-the doctor halted-“what it is that you're engaged on?”
Grand put a hand up to his hat and tugged it down upon his big, protruding ears, then murmured some half-inaudible remark from which Rieux seemed to gather that Grand's work was connected with "the growth of a personality." Then he turned rather hastily and a moment later was hurrying, with short, quick steps, under the fig trees lining the boulevard de la Marne.
《鼠疫》
作者：阿爾貝?加繆（法國(guó)）
第32頁(yè)
里厄大夫打開(kāi)窗戶，突然涌入了市井的喧囂。從鄰近的鋸木廠傳來(lái)了鋸床的聲響，無(wú)休無(wú)止地重復(fù)著短促而尖厲的聲音。里厄抖了抖精神。他知道，確實(shí)性就在那里，就在每天的勞作中，而其余的一切都輕若游絲，都是些微不足道的舉動(dòng)。他知道，他不可以在這里面戀棧，做好本職工作才是關(guān)鍵。
里厄大夫正在那里浮想聯(lián)翩，忽然聽(tīng)見(jiàn)有客人來(lái)訪。來(lái)者是約瑟夫?格朗。這位市政府的職員雖然工作龐雜，但他依然定期地被委派到統(tǒng)計(jì)處協(xié)管戶籍，于是統(tǒng)計(jì)死亡人口也自然而然地成了他的分內(nèi)之事。他生性樂(lè)于助人，他答應(yīng)把統(tǒng)計(jì)結(jié)果抄寫一份，親自送到里厄大夫的家中。
這時(shí)候，里厄大夫看到格朗是在他的鄰居科塔爾的陪同下來(lái)到的。這位職員正向里厄大夫揮動(dòng)著一張紙?！皵?shù)字增加了，大夫！”格朗喊道，“四十八小時(shí)里，共死了十一人。”里厄和可塔爾打了個(gè)招呼，刻意問(wèn)他當(dāng)下感覺(jué)如何？格朗插話道：科塔爾執(zhí)意要向大夫表示謝意，同時(shí)也為他干的傻事深感歉意，因?yàn)樗o大夫增添了許多麻煩。不過(guò)，里厄大夫沒(méi)有注意到這些，他正在專心地看著統(tǒng)計(jì)表。
“好吧，”里厄大夫說(shuō)道，“也許應(yīng)該下個(gè)決心給這種疾病命名了。迄今為止，我們總是在原地踏步。對(duì)了，我要去化驗(yàn)室，你們誰(shuí)愿意和我同往？”“好呀，好呀，”格朗跟在大夫身后，邊下樓邊說(shuō)道：“是什么毛病，就該有個(gè)具體名稱。但是，這種病的名稱到底是什么呢？”
里厄大夫說(shuō)道：“我不能告訴您，況且，您即便知道了也沒(méi)有好處?！?/p>
“您瞧，”格朗微笑道：“說(shuō)出來(lái)還真不那么容易?！?/p>
一行三人朝著閱兵場(chǎng)方向的化驗(yàn)室走去?？扑栆宦纺瑹o(wú)語(yǔ)。街上的行人多了起來(lái)。這個(gè)城市，黃昏來(lái)去匆匆，在夜幕降臨之際，黃昏步步后退。晚上的星星初現(xiàn)于蒼穹，地平線忽隱忽現(xiàn)。片刻之間，街道上路燈點(diǎn)點(diǎn)亮，映襯著一片漸漸幽暗的云空。這時(shí)候，大家的談話聲也似乎提高了腔調(diào)。
“請(qǐng)?jiān)?，”抵達(dá)閱兵場(chǎng)的路口時(shí)格朗突然說(shuō)道：“我得去乘坐有軌電車了，晚上是我的神圣時(shí)間。這正如我家鄉(xiāng)人常說(shuō)的‘今天的事絕不能拖到明天……’”
里厄大夫已經(jīng)注意到格朗，這個(gè)出生在蒙特利馬爾的家伙有一種喜歡引用家鄉(xiāng)俗諺的癖好，隨后再加上幾句毫無(wú)出處的陳詞濫調(diào)，就好像什么“夢(mèng)幻之時(shí)刻，”“仙境般明艷”。
“嗯，是真的，”科塔爾突然插話道：“晚飯之后，您休想把他從他的安樂(lè)窩中拉出來(lái)！”
里厄大夫問(wèn)格朗，他是否只為市政府工作？格朗回答說(shuō)，倒也不是如此，他同時(shí)也為自個(gè)兒干活。
“哦？”里厄大夫隨口又問(wèn)了一句：“您自己的活兒干得不錯(cuò)？有進(jìn)展？”
“都已經(jīng)干了好幾年了，要說(shuō)沒(méi)有進(jìn)展，那也不可能啊。但從另一個(gè)意義上來(lái)講，進(jìn)展不算太大?！?/p>
“簡(jiǎn)單說(shuō)吧，究竟干的是什么活計(jì)？”里厄大夫停下了腳步，繼續(xù)問(wèn)道。
格朗嘴里嗚嚕嗚嚕地說(shuō)著，同時(shí)正了正戴在他兩只突出的大耳朵上面的圓帽。里厄大夫費(fèi)勁地才從格朗十分模糊的話語(yǔ)中聽(tīng)出來(lái)，是有關(guān)他個(gè)人發(fā)展的事由。還沒(méi)有等里厄大夫再次反應(yīng)過(guò)來(lái)，格朗已經(jīng)離開(kāi)了他們，正沿著榕樹(shù)多多的馬恩林蔭大道小碎步地快速遠(yuǎn)去。
【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。
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琬喬：朗誦愛(ài)好者，喜歡用聲音傳遞世間一切美好與熱愛(ài)！
