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 39

When Grand showed his surprise, Cottard explained with some embarrassment that being a literary man must make things easier in lots of ways.

“Why?” Grand asked.

“Why, because an author has more rights than ordinary people, as everybody knows. People will stand much more from him.”

“It looks,” said Rieux to Grand on the morning when the official notices were posted, “as if this business of the rats had addled his brain, as it has done for so many other people. That's all it is. Or perhaps he's scared of the 'fever.'”

“I doubt it, doctor. If you want to know my opinion, he-”

He paused; with a machine-gun rattle from its exhaust the “deratization” van was clattering by. Rieux kept silent until it was possible to make himself audible, then asked, without much interest, what Grand's opinion was.

“He's a man with something pretty serious on his conscience,” Grand said gravely.

The doctor shrugged his shoulders. As the inspector had said, he'd other fish to fry.

That afternoon Rieux had another talk with Castel. The serum had not yet come.

“In any case,” Rieux said, “I wonder if it will be much use. This bacillus is such a queer one.”

“There,” Castel said, “I don't agree with you. These little brutes always have an air of originality. But, at bottom, it's always the same thing.”

“That's your theory, anyhow. Actually, of course, we know next to nothing on the subject.”

“I grant you, it's only my theory. Still, in a sense, that goes for everybody.”

Throughout the day the doctor was conscious that the slightly dazed feeling that came over him whenever he thought about the plague was growing more pronounced. Finally he realized that he was afraid! On two occasions he entered crowded cafés. Like Cottard he felt a need for friendly contacts, human warmth. A stupid instinct, Rieux told himself; still, it served to remind him that he'd promised to visit the traveling sales-man.

Cottard was standing beside the dining-table when the doctor entered his room that evening. A detective story lay open on the table cloth. But the night was closing in and it would have been difficult to read in the growing darkness. Most likely Cottard had been sitting musing in the twilight until he heard the ring at his door. Rieux asked how he was feeling. Cottard sat down and replied rather grumpily that he was feeling tolerably well, adding that he'd feel still better if only he could be sure of being left in peace. Rieux remarked that one couldn't always be alone.

“That's not what I meant. I was thinking of people who take an interest in you only to make trouble for you.” When Rieux said nothing, he went on: “Mind you, that's not my case. Only I've been reading that detective story. It's about a poor devil who's arrested one fine morning, all of a sudden. People had been taking an interest in him and he knew nothing about it. They were talking about him in offices, entering his name  on   card  indexes. Now, do you think that's fair? Do you think people have a right to treat a man like that?”

“Well,” Rieux said, “that depends. In one sense I agree, nobody has the right. But all that's beside the mark. What's important is for you to go out a bit. It's a mistake staying indoors too much.”

Cottard seemed vexed and said that on the contrary he was always going out, and, if need arose, all the people in the street could vouch for him. What's more, he knew lots of people in other parts of the town.

《鼠疫》

作者：阿尔贝•加缪 （法国）

第39页

格朗露出惊异的神情，于是科塔尔很尴尬地说，当上一个艺术家可以解决许多问题。

“何以见得？”格朗问道。

“因为一个艺术家比别人有更多的权利，这是大家都知道的事。在许多地方人家会让他三分。”

看布告的那天早上，里厄对格朗说：“我看他也不过和别人一样，已经被老鼠事件搞得晕头转向了。再不然就是，他可能也害怕得高烧症。

格朗答道：“我却不信，医生，假使您愿意知道我的看法……”

他的话被打断了，因为外面灭鼠的车子在窗下经过，排气声大得吓人。里厄大夫沉默不语，直到对方能听到他的话时才漫不经心地问那位公务员的看法。格朗则以严肃的眼光看着他说道：“这是个心有内疚的人。”

医生耸耸肩膀。这正如警察分局局长说说的那样，还有别的更要紧的事要做。

午后，里厄和卡斯特尔作了一次交谈，谈话主题是血清仍未运到。

里厄问道：“真不知道这种血清是否管用？因为这种杆菌有些古怪。”

“哦！”卡斯塔尔说，“我倒不同意您的看法。这些生物的样子总是有些独特，但终究都是一样的东西。”

“这不过是您的假设。事实上，我们对于这一切都一无所知。”

“当然，这仅仅是我的假设，不过大家都这样认为。”

在这一天的时间里，每当医生想起鼠疫，他就会感到脑袋微微发胀，而且这种感觉越来越厉害。他终于不得不承认他也害怕起来了。他两次走进顾客很多的咖啡馆，他也和科塔尔一样需要人们的热情。里厄知道这样做是可笑的，但是这倒能提醒他曾经答应过去看看那个代理商的。

傍晚，医生看到科塔尔坐在饭厅的桌子前。医生进去的时候，看到在盖着台布的桌子上放着一本打开的侦探小说，但是天色已经很暗了，看来在夜色朦胧中是很难看书的。较为可能的是，科塔尔在一分钟前还坐在昏暗中沉思。里厄大夫问他身体可好。科塔尔一边坐下，一边唠唠叨叨地说他的身体不坏，不过要是能保证没有人来打扰他的话，他的身体会更好些。里厄劝告他说，一个人不能老是孤独地生活。

“哦，我不是这个意思，我说的是那些专门找你麻烦的人。”

里厄没有作声”

“请注意，我讲的不是我自己。我刚才正在读这本小说，里面叙述的是一个倒霉的家伙在一个早上突然被逮捕。人家一直留心着他，而他却被蒙在鼓里。大家在办公室谈论他，把他的名字写入了人事档案。您认为这是公平的吗？您认为他们有权利这样对待一个人吗？”

“这倒不能一概而论，”里厄说道，“不错，从某一方面来说，他们完全没有这种权利，但这一切都是次要的。您不应该长期与世隔绝，要出去走走。”

科塔尔好像有点儿恼火了，他说他是经常出去走动的，有必要的话，整个区里的人都能为他作证。甚至在本区之外，认识他的人也不少。

【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！