海外头条总编审   王 在 军   （中国）

海外头条副编审 Wendy温迪（英国）

海 外 头 条总 编   火 凤  凰 （海外）

图片选自百度

英文诵读：龚如仲（美国）

中文播音：琬   乔（中国）

鼠疫

作者：阿尔贝•加缪（法国）

第21页

他们进了门，看到一根绳子系在吊灯上笔直地垂着，下面是一张翻到在地上的椅子，桌子已被推到了角落里，绳子孤零零地挂着。

格朗说：“我及时把他解救了下来”。格朗在语言表达上有问题，哪怕是最简单的方式。他虽然用的是最普通的言语，但似乎老是在斟酌字句。“正当我出去的时候，我听到有响声。我一见门上写的字----怎么跟你说呢？---我当时以为有人在做恶作剧。但他发出一个奇怪的甚至可以说是可怕的呻吟。”

他挠挠头，接着说。“照我看，过程恐怕是痛苦的。当然，我进去了。”

他们推开了一扇门，站在门槛上，面前是一间明亮、但陈设简陋的房间。在一张铜床上躺着一个矮胖子。他吃力地呼吸着，一双充血的眼睛注视着来人。医生停步不前。在这个人呼吸的间歇间，他好像听到了老鼠的吱吱叫声，但是在屋角里毫无动静。里厄走向床边，发现这个人不是从太高的地方掉下来的，跌得也不太突然，脊椎没有断。当然，他有点儿窒息的痛苦。他需要用X光拍个片子。医生给他注射了一针樟脑油，并告诉他过几天他就没事了。

那人带着呼吸困难的声音说道：“谢谢您，医生。”

里厄医生问格朗是否已经报告了警察分局，格朗显得有点儿尴尬。

“没有，”他说道。“嗯，没有，我当时想最要紧的是……”

里厄打断了他的话：“既然是这样，那么我去报告。”

就在此时，那人激动起来，他一边从床上挺起身子，一边抗辩说他已经好了，没有必要去报告。

里厄说：“安静些，这没有什么了不起，这就是走个程序。请您相信我，我有必要去报告一下。”

那人痛苦地叫了一声：“皒！”接着他把身子往后一仰，开始啜泣起来。格朗捏弄着他的胡子已经好一会儿了，这时候他走过来对那人说道：“科塔尔先生，您得想明白，别人会归罪于医生的。比如说，您若企图再干一次的话……”

科塔尔挂着眼泪说自己不会再搞了，又说这次不过是自己一时糊涂，他要求人家让他安静些就行了。

里厄医生开了一张处方，并对科塔尔说道：“明白了，这个咱们就别谈了，过两三天我再来看您，但您别再干糊涂事了。”

里厄在楼梯口对格朗说他不得不去报告，但是他讲要求警察分局局长过上两三天后再来调查。

里厄又告诉格朗：“今晚要有人看着点儿这个人。他有亲人吗？”

“有没有亲人我不清楚，不过我会亲自来照顾他的。”

格朗摇了摇头，继续说：“告诉您，我连他本人也谈不上认识，不管怎么样，互相帮助总是应该的，是吧？”

里厄在过道里下意识地看了看阴暗的屋角，问格朗在他的这个地区老鼠是否已经绝迹。但格朗这位公务员对此一无所知。他听说过有这么一回事，但他对本地区的传闻没有十分在意。他说：“我脑子里有别的事情。”

在格朗说话时里厄已经同他握手告别，因为他急于想在写信给他妻子之前去看望一下看门人。

The Plague

By Albert Camus

Page 21

They entered the room. A rope dangled from a hanging lamp above a chair lying on its side. The dining room table had been pushed into a corner. But the rope hung empty.

“I got him down just in time.” Grand seemed always to have trouble in finding his words, though he expressed himself in the simplest possible way. “I was going out and I heard a noise. When I saw that writing on the door, I thought it was a--a prank Only, then I heard a funny sort of groan; it made my blood run cold, as they say.” He scratched his head. “That must be a painful way of-of doing it, I should think. Naturally I went in.”

Grand had opened a door and they were standing on the threshold of a bright but scantily furnished bedroom. There was a brass bedstead against one of the walls, and a plump little man was lying there, breathing heavily. He gazed at them with bloodshot eyes. Rieux stopped short. In the intervals of the man's breathing he seemed to hear the littlesqueals of rats. But he couldn't see anything moving in the corners of the room. Then he went to the bedside. Evidently the man had not fallen from a sufficient height, or very suddenly, for the collar-bone had held. Naturally there was some asphyxia. An X-ray photograph would be needed. Meanwhile the doctor gave him a camphorinjection and assured him he would be all right in a few days.

“Thanks, doctor,” the man mumbled.

When Rieux asked Grand if he had notified the police, he hung his head.

“Well, as a matter of fact, I haven't. The first thing, I thought, was to-”

“Quite so,” Rieux cut in. “I'll see to it.”

But the invalid made a fretful gesture and sat up in bed. He felt much better, he explained; really it wasn't worth the trouble.

“Don't feel alarmed,” Rieux said. “It's little more than a formality. Anyhow, I have to report this to the police.”

“Oh!” The man slumped back on the bed and started sobbing weakly.

Grand, who had been twiddling his mustache while they were speaking, went up to the bed.

“Come, Monsieur Cottard,” he said. “Try to understand. People could say the doctor was to blame, if you took it into your head to have another shot at it.”

Cottard assured him tearfully that there wasn't the least risk of that; he'd had a sort of crazy fit, but it had passed and all he wanted now was to be left in peace. Rieux was writing a prescription.

“Very well,” he said. “We'll say no more about it for the present. I'll come and see you again in a day or two. But don't do anything silly.”

On the landing he told Grand that he was obliged to make a report, but would ask the police inspector to hold up the inquiry for a couple of days.

“But somebody should watch Cottard tonight,” he added. “Has he any relations?”

“Not that I know of. But I can very well stay with him. I can't say I really know him, but one's got to help a neighbor, hasn't one?”

As he walked down the stairs Rieux caught himself glancing into the darker corners, and he asked Grand if the rats had quite disappeared in his part of the town.

Grand had no idea. True, he'd heard some talk about rats, but he never paid much attention to gossip like that. “I’ve other things to think about,” he added.

Rieux, who was in a hurry to get away, was already shaking his hand. There was a letter to write to his wife and he wanted to see the concierge first.

【作者简介】龚如仲 (Ralph) , 中国对外经济贸易大学英语系毕业。曾任铁道部援建坦赞铁路工作组总部英语翻译, 中国国际广播电台英语部播音员、记者, 外贸部中国轻工业品进出口总公司驻美国公司总裁, 澳大利亚利富集团驻美国公司总裁, 外贸部中国基地总公司驻美国公司总裁, 美国TA国际有限公司驻北京办事处首席代表。

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琬乔：朗诵爱好者，喜欢用声音传递世间一切美好与热爱！