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）

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：阿尔贝•加缪（法国）

第35页

第二天，里厄大夫力争召开卫生委员会会议，虽然他的建议被认为不是时机，但省政府还是同意了。

“不错，居民都感到不安，“里夏尔承认，”而且，这样的街谈巷议把什么事都夸大了。省长对我说：‘你们要开会就赶紧开，但不要声张。’况且，他确信只不过是一场虚惊。”

里厄大夫开车捎上卡斯泰尔，一道去省政府。“您知道吗，省里没有血清了，”卡斯泰尔在车里对里厄说道。

“我知道，我给省药库打过电话，药库主任十分震惊。血清必须从巴黎调运过来。”“但愿用不了多长时间，”卡斯泰尔说道。“我已经把电报发过去了，”里厄答道。

省长显得很热情，但他看上去有点儿焦躁。“先生们，我们开会吧，”省长说道。“要不要我先概括地谈一谈形势？”里厄大夫认为没有这个必要，因为他和其他医生们都已了解。问题仅仅在于应当采取什么措施。“问题在于，”老卡斯泰尔突然冒出一句，“要弄清楚这是不是闹鼠疫。”

两三位医生大力反对，但其他医生们犹豫不决。省长这时候好像突然感到到了什么，他下意识地转身望了望门口，仿佛要察看一下门是否关严，但愿这句耸人听闻的话没有传到走廊。里夏尔则朗声说道，以他所见，切勿惊慌失措，他认为：这不过是高烧伴随腹股沟淋巴结肿大的并发症，现在只能讲到这个程度，而无论在科学上还是生活里，任何假设都是危险的。老卡斯泰尔沉静地咬着他那发黄的小胡子，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与会者，他断然指出：他非常清楚这就是鼠疫，但是要正式确认，势必就得采取无情的措施。他深知正是因为存有这种顾忌，他的同行们才往后退缩。因此，为使心安，他情愿不接受鼠疫的说法。这时候，省长坐不住了，声称：不管怎么说，这样的论事推理总归不是好办法。

“这样论事推理的办法好不好，这不是关键，”卡斯泰尔说道，“只要能引人思考就好。”

里厄大夫一语不发，有人就询问他的见解。里厄说道：“这是一种伤寒性高烧，而且还伴有腹股沟淋巴结炎和呕吐。我曾经做过一次腹股沟淋巴结肿块切片，并送去化验，化验结果辨认出是传播鼠疫的粗矮形杆菌。当然了，还需要一个全面的判断。更要说明的是，这种杆菌有些变异，不大符合传统的描述。”

里夏尔强调指出，正是这种情况，所以才导致他的犹豫不决，至少还得等待几天前开始的批次化验的统计结果。

“如果有一种细菌，”里厄大夫沉默片刻后接着说道：“三天的时间就能使脾脏肿大三倍，使肠系膜神经节肿得象橘子那么大，里面充满了糊状物，现在容不得再犹豫了。各个传染源日益扩大，倘若疾病按照这样的速度传播，如果不能被遏止的话，那么用不了两个月，就能夺取全城一半人的生命。因此，你们称这个疾病是鼠疫也好，或者增长性热症也罢，这些都无关紧要，但你们必须阻止它屠杀全城半数的居民！”

【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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