(雙語)月亮和六便士 第50章(3)

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It was perhaps ten years later that one morning on board ship, about to land at Alexandria, I was bidden to line up with the other passengers for the doctor's examination. The doctor was a stout man in shabby clothes, and when he took off his hat I noticed that he was very bald. I had an idea that I had seen him before. Suddenly I remembered.

大約十年之后，有一次我乘船去亞歷山大港（在埃及）。即將登陸之前，一天早上，我被通知同其他旅客一起排好隊(duì)，等待醫(yī)生上船來檢查身體。來的醫(yī)生是個(gè)衣履寒酸、身體肥碩的人。當(dāng)他摘下帽子以后，我發(fā)現(xiàn)這人的頭發(fā)已經(jīng)完全禿了。我覺得仿佛過去在什么地方見過他。忽然，我想起來了。

"Abraham," I said.

“阿伯拉罕?！蔽液暗?。

He turned to me with a puzzled look, and then, recognizing me, seized my hand. After expressions of surprise on either side, hearing that I meant to spend the night in Alexandria, he asked me to dine with him at the English Club. When we met again I declared my astonishment at finding him there. It was a very modest position that he occupied, and there was about him an air of straitened circumstance. Then he told me his story. When he set out on his holiday in the Mediterranean he had every intention of returning to London and his appointment at St. Thomas's. One morning the tramp docked at Alexandria, and from the deck he looked at the city, white in the sunlight, and the crowd on the wharf; he saw the natives in their shabby gabardines, the blacks from the Soudan, the noisy throng of Greeks and Italians, the grave Turks in tarbooshes, the sunshine and the blue sky; and something happened to him. He could not describe it. It was like a thunder-clap, he said, and then, dissatisfied with this, he said it was like a revelation. Something seemed to twist his heart, and suddenly he felt an exultation, a sense of wonderful freedom. He felt himself at home, and he made up his mind there and then, in a minute, that he would live the rest of his life in Alexandria. He had no great difficulty in leaving the ship, and in twenty-four hours, with all his belongings, he was on shore.

他轉(zhuǎn)過頭來，臉上顯出驚奇的神色。愣了一會(huì)兒，他也認(rèn)出我來，立刻握住我的手。在我們兩人各自驚嘆了一番后，他聽說我準(zhǔn)備在亞歷山大港過夜，便邀請我到英僑俱樂部去吃晚飯。在我們會(huì)面以后，我再次表示在這個(gè)地方遇到他實(shí)在出乎我的意料之外。他現(xiàn)在的職務(wù)相當(dāng)?shù)臀?，他給人的印象也很寒酸。這以后他給我講了他的故事。在他出發(fā)到地中海度假的時(shí)候，他一心想的是再回倫敦去，到圣·托瑪斯醫(yī)院去就職。一天早晨，他乘的那艘貨輪在亞歷山大港靠岸，他從甲板上看著這座陽光照耀下的白色城市，看著碼頭上的人群。他看著穿著襤褸的軋別丁衣服的當(dāng)?shù)厝?，從蘇丹來的黑人，希臘人和意大利人成群結(jié)隊(duì)、吵吵嚷嚷，土耳其人戴著平頂無檐的土耳其小帽，他看著陽光和碧藍(lán)的天空。就在這個(gè)時(shí)候，他的心境忽然發(fā)生了奇異的變化，他無法描述這是怎么一回事。事情來得非常突兀，據(jù)他說，好象晴天響起一聲霹靂；但他覺得這個(gè)譬喻不夠妥當(dāng)，又改口說好象得到了什么啟示。他的心好象被什么東西揪了一下。突然間，他感到一陣狂喜，有一種取得無限自由的感覺。他覺得自己好象回到了老家，他當(dāng)時(shí)當(dāng)?shù)鼐痛蚨ㄖ饕?，今后的日子他都要在亞歷山大度過了。離開貨輪并沒有什么困難；二十四小時(shí)以后，他已經(jīng)帶著自己的全部行李登岸了。