打字猴:1.705036749e+09
1705036749 西南联大英文课(英汉双语版) [:1705033821]
1705036750 16 妄想的病人
1705036751
1705036752 我还记得那天,到大英博物馆去查阅有关接触性花粉症治疗方面的资料,我猜我大概得了这种小病。我取下一本医书,一口气读完了所有要读的内容。然后,我慵懒地、漫不经心地随便翻着书,泛泛地研究起其他疾病来。我忘记了全神贯注地研究的第一种瘟病是什么病——我知道,是一种可怕的、毁灭性的灾难——没等把一连串的病症征兆看完一半的时候,我便意识到自己肯定得了这种病。
1705036753
1705036754 我惊恐万状,万分绝望,没精打采呆坐了好一会儿。然后又拿起那本书,翻了起来。翻到伤寒——看了看它的各种症状——我发现我又得了伤寒——一定已经染病在身好几个月了,竟然还蒙在鼓里——不知道我还患上其他什么疾病没有;翻到舞蹈病——我发现,正如我预料到的那样,我也患有这种疾病——就这样,我开始对自己的病情产生了兴趣,并决定一查到底,于是我开始按字母顺序逐个排查——翻到疟疾,了解到自己已经出现了疟疾的某些症状,大约在两个星期后就会进入急性发作期;翻到肾小球肾炎,我心中稍微感到一丝安慰,因为我发现我得的只是其中较轻的一种,就目前状况而言,我的生命还可以延续一些年。此外,我还染上了霍乱,并伴有严重的并发症;而我好像是先天性白喉患者。我认认真真地按照26个字母挨个检查了一遍,得出的结论是,我唯一没有得上的疾病就是髌前囊炎。
1705036755
1705036756 起初,我还挺受打击的,心里好像还有那么几分失落。为什么我没有得上髌前囊炎呢?这一缺憾岂不让人不快?不过,过了一会儿,我那贪婪的感觉渐渐平复下来。我回过味来了,从药理学讲,我已经把药理学上所罗列的其他各种常见疾病都得了,于是我变得没那么自私了,决定没有得上髌前囊炎也可以接受。反正痛风已经处于恶性晚期了,它好像是在我毫无知觉的情况下找上了我;而我显然是在孩提时期就染上了发酵病。鉴于发酵病是字母表中能查到的最后一种疾病名称,我得出一个结论,我没什么别的病了。
1705036757
1705036758 我坐在那里陷入了沉思。我想,从医学角度来看,我一定是一个非常有趣的病例;对于医学院的教学课堂来说,我更是一个极为难得的病例!医学院的学生们有了我的话,他们就没必要再“去医院”实习了。倘若他们有了我的话,我一个人就是他们的“实习医院”。他们只需围着我走一走,然后就可以领他们的毕业证了。
1705036759
1705036760 我不知道自己究竟还能活多久,我想自查一下。我摸了摸自己的脉搏。一开始,我一点脉象都没摸到。接下来,脉搏突然跳了起来。我掏出怀表,测算脉搏的次数,大概每分钟147次。我又摸了摸心脏,却感受不到心脏的跳动。心脏已经停止跳动了。我劝自己相信心脏想必还在那里,想必还在跳动,只是我这种现象无法解释罢了。我把自己上半身从腰部到头部拍了个遍,还稍微拍了拍身体的侧面和后背,可我却什么也没有摸到,什么也没听到。我想看看自己的舌头,我尽量把舌头伸得长长的,闭上一只眼睛,用另一只眼来检查。我只能看见自己的舌尖,而这么做唯一的收获就是:我比以前更加确信我得了猩红热。
1705036761
1705036762 于是,我去看病,我的私人医生是一位老朋友。平时,每当我觉得我生病的时候,他就会摸摸我的脉搏,看看我的舌头,再不咸不淡地谈谈天气;所以我觉得我现在去找他看病是对他的报答。我心中暗想:“医生需要的就是临床实践,他有了我这样的病人,比拥有一千七百个常见的普通病人得到的临床实践机会还要多,因为这些病人每个人也只能身患一到两种疾病。”于是我径直去找他。他问我:“你哪里不舒服?”
1705036763
1705036764 我答道:“亲爱的伙计,我不会告诉你我得了什么病,浪费你的时间。生命短暂,在我还没说完以前,你就可能离世了。不过,我可以告诉你我没有得什么病,我没有得髌前囊炎。至于我为什么没有得髌前囊炎呢?我说不清楚;然而事实就摆在这里,我没有得髌前囊炎。可是,除此之外,什么病我都有。”
1705036765
1705036766 我还把自己是如何发现这些疾病的过程一五一十地讲给他听了。
1705036767
1705036768 接下来,他解开我的衣服,俯视着我。他紧握着我的一只手腕,我没料到他会敲打我的胸部——我称之为胆小鬼的做法——又马上把侧着的脸贴到我的身上。最后,他坐下来,开了一个处方,然后把处方折起来递给我。我接了过来揣进衣兜里,走了出去。
1705036769
1705036770 我没有打开处方看,就径直来到一家最近的药店把处方递了过去。药剂师看了看处方,又将它退了回来。他说他不收这种处方。
1705036771
1705036772 “你是药剂师吧?”我问道。
1705036773
1705036774 “我是药剂师啊。如果我经营一个合作商店兼家庭旅馆的话,我倒是可以为你效劳。可我只是一个药剂师,我爱莫能助。”
1705036775
1705036776 我看了看那处方,只见上面写道:“一磅牛排,每隔六小时服用一次;每天早晨散步十英里;每天晚上十一点整准时上床睡觉。此外不要满脑子都装些你不明白的东西。”
1705036777
1705036778 (张白桦 译)
1705036779
1705036780 西南联大英文课(英汉双语版) [:1705033822]
1705036781 17 THE TELL-TALE HEART A MURDERER’S CONFESSION
1705036782
1705036783 By Edgar Allan Poe
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1705036785
1705036786 THE TELL-TALE HEART, by Edgar Allen Poe, in his Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque ,1840, and reprinted in Robert I. Fulton’s Standard Selections , pp. 426-431.
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1705036788
1705036789
1705036790 Edgar Allen Poe (1808-1849), American author. He is one of the world’s greatest writers of short stories; his stories have always had special appreciation in France.
1705036791
1705036792 True! —nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.
1705036793
1705036794 It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain;but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object, there was none. Passion, there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid my life of him forever.
1705036795
1705036796 Now, this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded—with what caution—with what foresight—with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it—oh, so gently! and then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly—very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man’s sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon the bed. Ha! —would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously—oh, so cautiously—cautiously (for the hinges creaked) I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights—every night just at midnight—but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his evil eye.
1705036797
1705036798 Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back—but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers), and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.
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