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）
中文播音：琬 喬（中國）
The Plague
By Albert Camus
Page 35
Next day, by dint of a persistence that many thought ill-advised, Rieux persuaded the authorities to convene a health committee at the Prefect's office.
“People in town are getting nervous, that's a fact,” Dr. Richard admitted. “And of course all sorts of wild rumors are going round. The Prefect said to me, 'Take prompt action if you like, but don't attract attention.' He personally is convinced that it's a false alarm.”
Rieux gave Castel a lift to the Prefect's office.
“Do you know,” Castel said when they were in the car, “that we haven't a gram of serum in the whole district?”
“I know. I rang up the depot. The director seemed quite startled. It'll have to be sent from Paris.”
“Let's hope they're quick about it.”
“I sent a wire yesterday,” Rieux said.
The Prefect greeted them amiably enough, but one could see his nerves were on edge.
“Let's make a start, gentlemen,” he said. “Need I review the situation?”
Richard thought that wasn't necessary. He and his colleagues were acquainted with the facts. The only question was what measures should be adopted.
“The question,” old Castel cut in almost rudely, “is to know whether it's plague or not.”
Two or three of the doctors present protested. The others seemed to hesitate. The Prefect gave a start and hurriedly glanced toward the door to make sure it had prevented this outrageous remark from being overheard in the corridor. Richard said that in his opinion the great thing was not to take an alarmist view. All that could be said at present was that we had to deal with a special type of fever, with inguinal complications; in medical science, as in daily life, it was unwise to jump to conclusions. Old Castel, who was placidly chewing his draggled yellow mustache, raised his pale, bright eyes and gazed at Rieux. Then, after sweeping the other members of the committee with a friendly glance, he said that he knew quite well that it was plague and, needless to say, he also knew that, were this to be officially admitted, the authorities would be compelled to take very drastic steps. This was, of course, the explanation of his colleagues' reluctance to face the fact sand, if it would ease their minds, he was quite prepared to say it wasn't plague. The Prefect seemed ruffled and remarked that, in any case, this line of argument seemed to him unsound.
“The important thing,” Castel replied, “isn't the soundness or otherwise of the argument, but for it to make you think.”
Rieux, who had said nothing so far, was asked for his opinion.
“We are dealing,” he said, “with a fever of a typhoidal nature, accompanied by vomiting and buboes. I have incised these buboes and had the pus analyzed; our laboratory analyst believes he has identified the plague bacillus. But I am bound to add that there are specific modifications that don't quite tally with the classical description of the plague bacillus.”
Richard pointed out that this justified a policy of wait-and-see; anyhow, it would be wise to await the statistical report on the series of analyses that had been going on for several days.
“When a microbe,” Rieux said, “after short intermission can quadruple in three days' time the volume of the spleen, can swell the mesenteric ganglia to the size of an orange and give them the consistency of gruel, a policy of wait-and-see is, to say the least of it, unwise. The foci-of infection are steadily extending. Judging by the rapidity with which the disease is spreading, it may well, unless we can stop it, kill off half the town before two months are out. That being so, it has small importance whether you call it plague or some rare kind of fever. The important thing is to prevent its killing off half the population of this town.”
《鼠疫》
作者：阿爾貝?加繆（法國）
第35頁
第二天，里厄大夫力爭召開衛(wèi)生委員會會議，雖然他的建議被認(rèn)為不是時機(jī)，但省政府還是同意了。
“不錯，居民都感到不安，“里夏爾承認(rèn)，”而且，這樣的街談巷議把什么事都夸大了。省長對我說：‘你們要開會就趕緊開，但不要聲張?！瘺r且，他確信只不過是一場虛驚?！?/p>
里厄大夫開車捎上卡斯泰爾，一道去省政府。“您知道嗎，省里沒有血清了，”卡斯泰爾在車?yán)飳锒蛘f道。
“我知道，我給省藥庫打過電話，藥庫主任十分震驚。血清必須從巴黎調(diào)運過來。”“但愿用不了多長時間，”卡斯泰爾說道?！拔乙呀?jīng)把電報發(fā)過去了，”里厄答道。
省長顯得很熱情，但他看上去有點兒焦躁?！跋壬鷤?，我們開會吧，”省長說道?！耙灰蚁雀爬ǖ卣勔徽勑蝿荩俊崩锒虼蠓蛘J(rèn)為沒有這個必要，因為他和其他醫(yī)生們都已了解。問題僅僅在于應(yīng)當(dāng)采取什么措施?！皢栴}在于，”老卡斯泰爾突然冒出一句，“要弄清楚這是不是鬧鼠疫。”
兩三位醫(yī)生大力反對，但其他醫(yī)生們猶豫不決。省長這時候好像突然感到到了什么，他下意識地轉(zhuǎn)身望了望門口，仿佛要察看一下門是否關(guān)嚴(yán)，但愿這句聳人聽聞的話沒有傳到走廊。里夏爾則朗聲說道，以他所見，切勿驚慌失措，他認(rèn)為：這不過是高燒伴隨腹股溝淋巴結(jié)腫大的并發(fā)癥，現(xiàn)在只能講到這個程度，而無論在科學(xué)上還是生活里，任何假設(shè)都是危險的。老卡斯泰爾沉靜地咬著他那發(fā)黃的小胡子，抬起明亮的眼睛，看了看里厄大夫，然后，他那和善的目光又移向了其他與會者，他斷然指出：他非常清楚這就是鼠疫，但是要正式確認(rèn)，勢必就得采取無情的措施。他深知正是因為存有這種顧忌，他的同行們才往后退縮。因此，為使心安，他情愿不接受鼠疫的說法。這時候，省長坐不住了，聲稱：不管怎么說，這樣的論事推理總歸不是好辦法。
“這樣論事推理的辦法好不好，這不是關(guān)鍵，”卡斯泰爾說道，“只要能引人思考就好?！?/p>
里厄大夫一語不發(fā)，有人就詢問他的見解。里厄說道：“這是一種傷寒性高燒，而且還伴有腹股溝淋巴結(jié)炎和嘔吐。我曾經(jīng)做過一次腹股溝淋巴結(jié)腫塊切片，并送去化驗，化驗結(jié)果辨認(rèn)出是傳播鼠疫的粗矮形桿菌。當(dāng)然了，還需要一個全面的判斷。更要說明的是，這種桿菌有些變異，不大符合傳統(tǒng)的描述。”
里夏爾強(qiáng)調(diào)指出，正是這種情況，所以才導(dǎo)致他的猶豫不決，至少還得等待幾天前開始的批次化驗的統(tǒng)計結(jié)果。
“如果有一種細(xì)菌，”里厄大夫沉默片刻后接著說道：“三天的時間就能使脾臟腫大三倍，使腸系膜神經(jīng)節(jié)腫得象橘子那么大，里面充滿了糊狀物，現(xiàn)在容不得再猶豫了。各個傳染源日益擴(kuò)大，倘若疾病按照這樣的速度傳播，如果不能被遏止的話，那么用不了兩個月，就能奪取全城一半人的生命。因此，你們稱這個疾病是鼠疫也好，或者增長性熱癥也罷，這些都無關(guān)緊要，但你們必須阻止它屠殺全城半數(shù)的居民！”
【作者簡介】龔如仲 (Ralph) , 中國對外經(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(jìn)出口總公司駐美國公司總裁, 澳大利亞利富集團(tuán)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(xì)談如何在大陸做生意》《悠然時光》《如仲詩語》《My Life--Family, Career & VIPs》
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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！
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