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虽然老骑兵军官在他的从军生涯中见识很广，但当他看到眼前病人这张脸时却还是很惊恐。这张脸上从未体现出什么思想……一脸的木讷和痛苦……就像既不会说话，也没有力气叫喊的小孩脸上的表情。总之，这就是一个垂死的克汀病患者完全呆滞的面孔。这位克汀病患者是指挥官从未接触过的一种人。他看到这个病人前额上的皮肤皱巴巴的，鱼泡眼像湿透了一样，头发又短又粗糙，稀稀疏疏的，而大脑似乎也失去了所有机能。谁看了面前这样一个人都会像热奈斯塔一样不由自主地产生一种厌恶情绪。面前的这个人既不具备动物体形上的美感，也没有人的聪明才智；既无本能，也没有理性；从来不曾听过也未曾说过任何一种语言。看到面前这个可怜的病人即将走到生命尽头却又说不上有过生命，很难为之感到惋惜。然而，老妇人注视着他，眼中的焦虑触动人心。她用手去搓病人腿上没有浸到热水中的部位，那样温柔，就好像病人是她丈夫一样。贝纳西医生仔细观察这个克汀病患者无神的眼睛和如死尸般苍白的面孔后，轻轻地拿起他的手给他号脉。
"The bath is doing no good, " he said, shaking his head; "let us put him to bed again. "
再怎么洗都没有用了。贝纳西摇了摇头，对病人说，还是让他躺到床上去吧。
He lifted the inert mass himself, and carried him across to the truckle……bed, from whence, no doubt, he had just taken him. Carefully he laid him at full length, and straightened the limbs that were growing cold already, putting the head and hand in position, with all the heed that a mother could bestow upon her child.
贝纳西亲自把了无生气的病人抱回装有脚轮的矮床上。毫无疑问，之前应该也是他把病人从床上抱下来的。他小心翼翼地把病人平放在床上，把他那两条已经变得冰冷的腿伸直，然后帮他把头和手放好，就像是母亲全心全意照顾自己的孩子一样。
"It is all over, death is very near, " added Benassis, who remained standing by the bedside.
已经没治了，他就快死了。贝纳西补充说，却还站在床边一动不动。
The old woman gazed at the dying form, with her hands on her hips. A few tears stole down her cheeks. Genestas remained silent. He was unable to explain to himself how it was that the death of a being that concerned him so little should affect him so much. Unconsciously he shared the feeling of boundless pity that these hapless creatures excite among the dwellers in the sunless valleys wherein Nature has placed them. This sentiment has degenerated into a kind of religious superstition in families to which cretins belong; but does it not spring from the most beautiful of Christian virtues……from charity, and from a belief in a reward hereafter, that most effectual support of our social system, and the one thought that enables us to endure our miseries? The hope of inheriting eternal bliss helps the relations of these unhappy creatures and all others round about them to exert on a large scale, and with sublime devotion, a mothers ceaseless protecting care over an apathetic creature who does not understand it in the first instance, and who in a little while forgets it all.
老妇人看着这即将离去的生命，两手托着腰。几滴眼泪顺着她的面颊流了下来。热奈斯塔仍然一声不吭。他也不知道为什么，这个跟他没有任何关系的人的离去会深深地触动他。跟其他人一样，他这是不自觉地在无比同情这些被上帝抛弃在阴暗山谷里的可怜人。对于有克汀病患者的家庭而言，怜悯之心已经变成了一种宗教迷信。这种感情不正是来源于基督教最高尚的品德……慈悲，以及因果报应这一维持社会秩序最有效的信仰吗？不正是这种信仰让我们能够忍受艰难困苦吗？正是这种希望获得来世幸福的愿望让可怜人的亲戚和邻里们对他们大表慈悲之心，给予母亲般无微不至的关怀，虽然可怜人对他们的所作所为起初并不理解，随后也会忘记。
Wonderful power of religion! that has brought a blind beneficence to the aid of an equally blind misery. Wherever cretins exist, there is a popular belief that the presence of one of these creatures brings luck to a family……a superstition that serves to sweeten lives which, in the midst of a town population, would be condemned by a mistaken philanthropy to submit to the harsh discipline of an asylum. In the higher end of the valley of Isere, where cretins are very numerous, they lead an out……of……door life with the cattle which they are taught to herd. There, at any rate, they are at large, and receive the reverence due to misfortune.
多么神奇的宗教力量啊！宗教把盲目的恩惠带给了同样盲目的不幸。只要有克汀病患者的地方，人们就普遍相信，这些病人可以给家庭带来好运……这种迷信让病人的生活境况有所改善。倘若在城市里，他们将受到伪善的约束，也不得不遵守收容所的各种严厉纪律。在伊泽尔河上游有数不清的克汀病患者，他们学会了放牧，并和牛羊一起在野外生活。不管怎样，至少他们在那里不被束缚。作为不幸者也得到了应有的尊重。
A moment later the village bell clinked at slow regular intervals, to acquaint the flock with the death of one of their number. In the sound that reached the cottage but faintly across the intervening space, there was a thought of religion which seemed to fill it with a melancholy peace. The tread of many feet echoed up the road, giving notice of an approaching crowd of people……a crowd that uttered not a word. Then suddenly the chanting of the Church broke the stillness, calling up the confused thoughts that take possession of the most sceptical minds, and compel them to yield to the influence of the touching harmonies of the human voice. The Church was coming to the aid of a creature that knew her not. The cure appeared, preceded by a choir……boy, who bore the crucifix, and followed by the sacristan carrying the vase of holy water, and by some fifty women, old men, and children, who had all come to add their prayers to those of the Church. The doctor and the soldier looked at each other, and silently withdrew to a corner to make room for the kneeling crowd within and without the cottage. During the consoling ceremony of the Viaticum, celebrated for one who had never sinned, but to whom the Church on earth was bidding a last farewell, there were signs of real sorrow on most of the rough faces of the gathering, and tears flowed over the rugged cheeks that sun and wind and labor in the fields had tanned and wrinkled. The sentiment of voluntary kinship was easy to explain. There was not one in the place who had not pitied the unhappy creature, not one who would not have given him his daily bread. Had he not met with a fathers care from every child, and found a mother in the merriest little girl?
过了一会儿，村里的钟敲响了，节奏缓慢，以此告知村民，他们中的一员即将离去。钟声传达着宗教的信息，从空气中微弱地传来，似乎让茅屋充满了悲凉的宁静气息。屋外的路上响起了一串串脚步声，说明有很多人正在朝茅屋走来……一群默默走来的人。突然，教堂唱诗班的歌声打破了这悲凉的宁静，和谐、感人的歌声让最不信教的人顿时都思绪万千，被深深地打动了。教堂来超度这个甚至都不知它为何物的人来了。教堂的神父来了，前面领路的是一个手捧十字架的侍童，后面跟的是手捧圣水缸的执事和五十多名前来和教会一起祷告的人，有妇女、老人和小孩。医生和军人对视了一下，默默地退到屋子的一个角落，给茅屋里外前来跪下祷告的人让位子。在为这个生前没有任何罪恶的人举行的临终领圣体的安魂仪式上，基督教徒们在这里跟他进行最后告别。这些粗糙的面孔无不流露出真实的万分悲痛，这一张张在辛苦劳动时被太阳晒得黝黑、被风吹得皴裂且满是皱纹的脸上还挂着泪水。这种由衷的伤感其实是很自然的事。村里没有人不同情这个可怜人，日常生活中也没有谁不给他面包的。就连每个男孩不是都给了他父亲般的照顾，最爱笑的小姑娘都给予了他母亲般的关怀吗？
"He is dead! " said the cure.
他已经死了！神父说。
The words struck his hearers with the most unfeigned dismay. The tall candles were lighted, and several people undertook to watch with the dead that night. Benassis and the soldier went out. A group of peasants in the doorway stopped the doctor to say:
神父的话让所有的人都伤心极了。有人点亮了长长的蜡烛，好几个人表示愿意守夜。贝纳西先生和军人走出了茅屋。几个村民在门口处拦住了贝纳西医生，对他说：
"Ah! if you have not saved his life, sir, it was doubtless because God wished to take him to Himself. "
啊，先生，如果连你都没能救活他，那肯定是因为上帝希望把他带到自己身边去。
"I did my best, children, " the doctor answered.
我已经尽力了，孩子们。医生回答。
When they had come a few paces from the deserted village, whose last inhabitant had just died, the doctor spoke to Genestas.
他们走出这个废弃的村庄，这里最后的一个居民刚刚已经死去了。当他们走出几步远时，医生对热奈斯塔说：
"You would not believe, sir, what real solace is contained for me in what those peasants have just said. Ten years ago I was very nearly stoned to death in this village. It is empty to……day, but thirty families lived in it then.
先生，你都不会相信，对我而言，刚才那几个农民的话包含了多少慰藉。十年前，就在这个村子里，我差点儿被人用石头砸死。这个村庄现在没人住了，可那时还住着三十户人家呢。
Genestas face and gesture so plainly expressed an inquiry, that, as they went along, the doctor told him the story promised by this beginning.
热奈斯塔的表情和姿势都清楚地说明他很想问点儿什么，所以当他们继续往前走时，医生以此为开头告诉他自己曾经的经历。
"When I first settled here, sir, I found a dozen cretins in this part of the canton, " and the doctor turned round to point out the ruined cottages for the officers benefit. "All the favorable conditions for spreading the hideous disease are there; the air is stagnant, the hamlet lies in the valley bottom, close beside a torrent supplied with water by the melted snows, and the sunlight only falls on the mountain……top, so that the valley itself gets no good of the sun. Marriages among these unfortunate creatures are not forbidden by law, and in this district they are protected by superstitious notions, of whose power I had no conception……superstitions which I blamed at first, and afterwards came to admire. So cretinism was in a fair way to spread all over the valley from this spot. Was it not doing the country a great service to put a stop to this mental and physical contagion? But imperatively as the salutary changes were required, they might cost the life of any man who endeavored to bring them about. Here, as in other social spheres, if any good is to be done, we come into collision not merely with vested interests, but with something far more dangerous to meddle with……religious ideas crystallized into superstitions, the most permanent form taken by human thought. I feared nothing.
当我刚搬到这儿来时，先生，我发现这个地方有十二个克汀病患者。医生回头，给军官指了指那废弃的村庄。这里具备可怕的疾病进一步蔓延的一切有利条件。这个小村庄位于山谷谷底，空气不流通，离雪融化形成的水流太近，太阳只照得到山顶，村庄终日不见阳光。而且，法律也不禁止这些不幸的病人之间通婚。他们在这里受到了迷信的庇护，至于这种力量有多大我并不了解……开始我还批判这种迷信，后来却不得不服了。克汀病极有可能从这个地区传播出去，在整个山谷里蔓延。如果能想办法在身心上阻断这种病的传播，这不是对村庄做了件好事吗？虽然这个问题迫切需要得到有效解决，但试图去解决问题的人可能会付出生命的代价。和其他地方一样，要在这里做好事，不仅会侵犯部分人的既得利益，还会触及一些处理起来更危险的东西……被迷信化的宗教信仰，它是人类思想中最坚不可摧的东西。而我无所畏惧。
"In the first place, I sought for the position of mayor in the canton, and in this I succeeded. Then, after obtaining a verbal sanction from the prefect, and by paying down the money, I had several of these unfortunate creatures transported over to Aiguebelle, in Savoy, by night. There are a great many of them there, and they were certain to be very kindly treated. When this act of humanity came to be known, the whole countryside looked upon me as a monster. The cure preached against me. In spite of all the pains I took to explain to all the shrewder heads of the little place the immense importance of being rid of the idiots, and in spite of the fact that I gave my services gratuitously to the sick people of the district, a shot was fired at me from the corner of a wood.
首先，我想办法坐上了行政区区长的位子。然后在得到省长的口头批准后，我出钱将几个不幸的克汀病患者在夜里转移到萨瓦省的艾格贝勒去了。那里有很多克汀病患者，他们会得到很好的照顾。当我这一善举被当地人知道后，所有村民都把我当成魔鬼。教区神父布道时都会说些攻击我的话。尽管我费尽口舌向当地比较开明的人解释了把患者转移走的重要性，尽管我免费给当地人看病，可最终还是有人藏在树林里向我开枪。
"I went to the Bishop of Grenoble and asked him to change the cure. Monseigneur was good enough to allow me to choose a priest who would share in my labors, and it was my happy fortune to meet with one of those rare natures that seemed to have dropped down from heaven. Then I went on with my enterprise. After preparing peoples minds, I made another transportation by night, and six more cretins were taken away. In this second attempt I had the support of several people to whom I had rendered some service, and I was backed by the members of the Communal Council, for I had appealed to their parsimonious instincts, showing them how much it cost to support the poor wretches, and pointing out how largely they might gain by converting their plots of ground (to which the idiots had no proper title) into allotments which were needed in the township.
于是，我拜访了格勒布诺尔的大主教，希望他换掉当时在位的神父。主教人很好，让我自己推荐一个神父人选来辅助工作。能遇到这样一位好像从天而降的、难得的好人，我感到很幸运。然后，我继续开展之前的工作。在做好思想工作之后，连夜我又将六个克汀病患者转移走了。第二次行动时，我曾帮助过的几个人以及市镇议员都支持我。我利用人们吝啬的本性，向他们解释说，养着这群可怜的痴呆患者得花不少钱，同时指出如果他们把患者占有的地（痴呆患者本不该占有的）收回市镇所有，他们将受益不小。
"All the rich were on my side; but the poor, the old women, the children, and a few pig……headed people were violently opposed to me. Unluckily it so fell out that my last removal had not been completely carried out. The cretin whom you have just seen, not having returned to his house, had not been taken away, so that the next morning he was the sole remaining example of his species in the village. There were several families still living there; but though they were little better than idiots, they were, at any rate, free from the taint of cretinism. I determined to go through with my work, and came officially in open day to take the luckless creature from his dwelling. I had no sooner left my house than my intention got abroad. The cretins friends were there before me, and in front of his hovel I found a crowd of women and children and old people, who hailed my arrival with insults accompanied by a shower of stones.
所有的有钱人都站在我这边。然而穷人、老妇人、小孩和几个顽固不化的家伙却还是极力反对我。不幸的是，最后一次转移行动没有圆满完成。你刚才看到的那个克汀病患者当时不在家，也就没被带走。所以第二天早上回来时，他便成了村里唯一的患者了。村里还住着几家，虽然他们不比白痴好多少，但还不在克汀病患者之列。我决定把转移工作进行到底，于是像处理公务一样，准备在大白天，去最后一个不幸的患者家把他带走。我刚从家里出来就被人识破了。那个克汀病患者的朋友们比我还先到他家，出现在我面前的还有一群妇人、小孩和老人，他们对我又辱骂又扔石头。
"In the midst of the uproar I should perhaps have fallen a victim to the frenzy that possesses a crowd excited by its own outcries and stirred up by one common feeling, but the cretin saved my life! The poor creature came out of his hut, and raised the clucking sound of his voice. He seemed to be an absolute ruler over the fanatical mob, for the sight of him put a sudden stop to the clamor. It occurred to me that I might arrange a compromise, and thanks to the quiet so opportunely restored, I was able to propose and explain it. Of course, those who approved of my schemes would not dare to second me in this emergency, their support was sure to be of a purely passive kind, while these superstitious folk would exert the most active vigilance to keep their last idol among them; it was impossible, it seemed to me, to take him away from them. So I promised to leave the cretin in peace in his dwelling, with the understanding that he should live quite by himself, and that the remaining families in the village should cross the stream and come to live in the town, in some new houses which I myself undertook to build, adding to each house a piece of ground for which the Commune was to repay me later on.
这些人大吵大闹，情绪激动，十分狂热，我险些在他们的叫骂中丧命，然而竟是那个克汀病患者救了我！那个可怜的家伙走出茅屋，嘴里发出咯咯的叫喊声。他就像是这帮狂热分子的绝对首领，大家一看到他便立即停止吵闹叫骂。我心想最好和他们妥协，于是趁着大家冷静下来的时候，向他们表明了自己的态度并做了解释。当然，就算是赞成我建议的人在当时那么紧急的时刻也不敢出来支持我，他们的支持也完全是消极的，因为这些迷信的家伙会竭尽全力保住他们的最后一个偶像。我似乎不可能把最后一个患者带走。于是我答应让克汀病患者继续住在那里，但前提是他必须一个人住，不能有人接触他，而且其他村民都得住到河对面那个镇的新房子里去。这些房子都是我花钱建的，每户人家还配一块地，买地的钱政府以后还给了我。
"Well, my dear sir, it took me fully six months to overcome their objection to this bargain, however much it may have been to the advantage of the village families. The affection which they have for their wretched hovels in country districts is something quite unexplainable. No matter how unwholesome his hovel may be, a peasant clings far more to it than a banker does to his mansion. The reason of it? That I do not know. Perhaps thoughts and feelings are strongest in those who have but few of them, simply because they have but few. Perhaps material things count for much in the lives of those who live so little in thought; certain it is that the less they have, the dearer their possessions are to them. Perhaps, too, it is with the peasant as with the prisoner……he does not squander the powers of his soul, he centres them all upon a single idea, and this is how his feelings come to be so exceedingly strong. Pardon these reflections on the part of a man who seldom exchanges ideas with any one. But, indeed, you must not suppose, sir, that I am much taken up with these far……fetched considerations. We all have to be active and practical here.
然而，亲爱的先生，虽然我的提议会让村民大大受益，但我却花了整整六个月才克服村民的反对，把思想工作做通。在乡村地区，人们对自己破茅屋的感情真是让人有些无法理解。无论茅屋多么不利于健康，村民都会守住它不愿离开，比银行家对自己的豪宅还要恋恋不舍。 这是为什么呢？我也不知道。或许正是因为他们所拥有的东西很少，所以才对那很少的东西感情很深吧。或许因为他们生活中思想层面的东西太少，所以才特别看重物质吧。物以稀为贵，这是理所当然的事。或许在这个问题上，农民和囚犯的表现是一样的……他不会浪费心力，而是让自己的所有注意力都放在一个想法上，这也就解释了为什么他们对茅屋的感情会如此强烈。请原谅我这个不大与人交流的人跟你讲这些我自己的想法。但是，先生，希望您不要因此而觉得我是一个不切实际、喜欢妄加推断的人。在这个地方，我们就得积极、实际。
"Alas! the fewer ideas these poor folk have in their heads, the harder it is to make them see where their real interests lie. There was nothing for it but to give my whole attention to every trifling detail of my enterprise. One and all made me the same answer, one of those sayings, filled with homely sense, to which there is no possible reply, But your houses are not yet built, sir! they used to say. Very good, said I, promise me that as soon as they are finished you will come and live in them.
是啊！这些可怜的家伙想法越少，就越难让他们看清对他们有利的是什么。所以，我事业上每个微不足道的细节，我都得亲力亲为。他们的回答都是一样的，总是说：先生，房子还没建好呢！这也似乎不无道理，因此让我无言以对，只能说：那好，但你们要保证一点，一旦房子建好，你们就得搬进去。
"Luckily, sir, I obtained a decision to the effect that the whole of the mountain side above the now deserted village was the property of the township. The sum of money brought in by the woods on the higher slopes paid for the building of the new houses and for the land on which they stood. They were built forthwith; and when once one of my refractory families was fairly settled in, the rest of them were not slow to follow. The benefits of the change were so evident that even the most bigoted believer in the village, which you might call soulless as well as sunless, could not but appreciate them. The final decision in this matter, which gave some property to the Commune, in the possession of which we were confirmed by the Council of State, made me a person of great importance in the canton. But what a lot of worry there was over it! " the doctor remarked, stopping short, and raising a hand which he let fall again……a gesture that spoke volumes. "No one knows, as I do, the distance between the town and the Prefecture……whence nothing comes out……and from the Prefecture to the Council of State……where nothing can be got in.
先生，很幸运的是，我想方设法将现在废弃村庄后面的整个山都划为小镇所有。山上木材的价值可以抵去建房征用的土地费及建房的开销。房子不久便建好了，而且只要有一个钉子户搬进了新房，其他人家也会陆续搬迁。搬到新房子的好处显而易见，就连那对终日不见阳光、了无生气的旧村庄里最偏执的人都开始羡慕了。最后的决定给整个搬迁工作画上了圆满的句号，市行政法院决定将一些财产划归区政府所有，我也因此在当地成为举足轻重的人。然而，在办这件事的过程中经历了多少伤脑筋的事啊！停了一会儿，贝纳西接着说，他举起一只手又放了下来……一副慷慨激昂的样子，没有人像我一样了解小镇与省政府之间的距离……省政府对小镇的事不过问……而行政法院对省里的事也不予理睬……因此他们之间在这件事上也没拿出什么可行性方案。
"Well, after all, " he resumed, "peace be to the powers of this world! They yielded to my importunities, and that is saying a great deal. If you only knew the good that came of a carelessly scrawled signature! Why, sir, two years after I had taken these momentous trifles in hand, and had carried the matter through to the end, every poor family in the Commune had two cows at least, which they pastured on the mountain side, where (without waiting this time for an authorization from the Council of State) I had established a system of irrigation by means of cross trenches, like those in Switzerland, Auvergne, and Limousin. Much to their astonishment, the townspeople saw some capital meadows springing up under their eyes, and thanks to the improvement in the pasturage, the yield of milk was very much larger. The results of this triumph were great indeed. Every one followed the example set by my system of irrigation; cattle were multiplied; the area of meadow land and every kind of out……turn increased. I had nothing to fear after that. I could continue my efforts to improve this, as yet, untilled corner of the earth; and to civilize those who dwelt in it, whose minds had hitherto lain dormant.
不过，他接着讲，地方势力总算平静下去了！在我的一再请求和努力下，他们终于妥协了。要是你知道不经意签个字能带来多少好处就好了！你要知道，先生，在成功地处理完这些至关重要的琐事，并圆满地完成任务之后的两年内，我们这个区的每户穷人家都至少拥有两头奶牛，而且可以到山腰上放牧，因为我在那里建了一套横向的灌溉系统，就像瑞士、奥弗涅和利穆赞地区那样的（而且是在行政法院下文批准之前建的）。镇上的居民看到山上长出了肥美的牧草都十分吃惊。也正因为牧草质量得到改善，牛奶的产量大幅提高。这一成功的举措引起了极大的反响！这里的每个人都学着我的样子，开始挖沟灌溉。奶牛数量倍增，草地和其他产品数量也日益增多。自那之后，我也就没什么顾虑了。我可以继续改良这块荒地，教化这些迄今尚没有文化的居民。
"Well, sir, folk like us, who live out of the world, are very talkative. If you ask us a question, there is no knowing where the answer will come to an end; but to cut it short……there were about seven hundred souls in the valley when I came to it, and now the population numbers some two thousand. I had gained the good opinion of every one in that matter of the last cretin; and when I had constantly shown that I could rule both mildly and firmly, I became a local oracle. I did everything that I could to win their confidence; I did not ask for it, nor did I appear to seek it; but I tried to inspire every one with the deepest respect for my character, by the scrupulous way in which I always fulfilled my engagements, even when they were of the most trifling kind. When I had pledged myself to care for the poor creature whose death you have just witnessed, I looked after him much more effectually than any of his previous guardians had done. He has been fed and cared for as the adopted child of the Commune. After a time the dwellers in the valley ended by understanding the service which I had done them in spite of themselves, but for all that, they still cherish some traces of that old superstition of theirs. Far be it from me to blame them for it; has not their cult of the cretin often furnished me with an argument when I have tried to induce those who had possession of their faculties to help the unfortunate? But here we are, " said Benassis, when after a moments pause he saw the roof of his own house.
哦，先生，像我们这些没什么朋友的人，实在是太絮叨了。如果你问个问题，我就会滔滔不绝一直讲下去，讲不到尽头的。简而言之……我刚来这里的时候，山谷里只有七百居民，而现在居民数量已达两千了。在处理最后一个克汀病患者的问题上，大家都给予了我好评。一直以来，在对我辖区范围内居民的管理上，我能做到刚柔并用，因此，在这儿我的话是相当有分量的。我尽了最大努力去获取人们的信任。当然我并不是强求别人信任我，也没有刻意去做什么，而是通过自己一丝不苟地履行自己的承诺，哪怕是很小的一个承诺，从而获得大家对我由衷的尊敬。当我承诺要好好照顾那个刚刚死去的可怜人时，我比之前照顾他的任何人做得都要好。他就像市镇的养子一样，得到了抚养和照料。一段时间后，当地居民终于理解了我的所作所为，但尽管如此，他们仍然保留了些迷信思想。但我绝不会因此而责怪他们。相反，我难道不能把他们狂热崇拜那个克汀病患者的事当作榜样，以此来引导正常人向不幸者伸出援助之手吗？说到这儿，贝纳西停顿了一下，看到了自家的房顶，说：已经到了。
Far from expecting the slightest expression of praise or of thanks from his listener, it appeared from his way of telling the story of this episode in his administrative career, that he had been moved by an unconscious desire to pour out the thoughts that filled his mind, after the manner of folk that live very retired lives.
从他讲述自己从政生涯的方式来看，似乎并不是为了得到别人的赞扬或感谢，而只是在经历疲倦生活后，不由地渴望倾诉一下而已。
"I have taken the liberty of putting my horse in your stable, sir, " said the commandant, "for which in your goodness you will perhaps pardon me when you learn the object of my journey hither. "
在未经您允许的情况下，我已把马拴到您的马厩里了，先生。指挥官说，我想，您知道我来访的目的后，会原谅我的。
"Ah! yes, what is it? " asked Benassis, appearing to shake off his preoccupied mood, and to recollect that his companion was a stranger to him. The frankness and unreserve of his nature had led him to accept Genestas as an acquaintance.
哦！那么，你为何而来呢？贝纳西问道，好像突然回过神来，意识到这个一路走来的同伴是个陌生人。他为人坦诚而开朗，很自然就把热奈斯塔当熟人看了。
"I have heard of the almost miraculous recovery of M. Gravier of Grenoble, whom you received into your house, " was the soldiers answer. "I have come to you, hoping that you will give a like attention to my case, although I have not a similar claim to your benevolence; and yet, I am possibly not undeserving of it. I am an old soldier, and wounds of long standing give me no peace. It will take you at least a week to study my condition, for the pain only comes back at intervals, and……
我听说您曾经在家给格勒诺布尔的格拉维耶治病，然后他奇迹般地康复了。军人回答道，我来这儿，正是希望您能给我看看病，尽管我可能没资格要求得到您的照顾。不过，也可能值得您去照顾。我是名老兵，身上的旧伤让我不好过。估计您至少需要花一个星期来诊断我的病情，因为情况时好时坏，而且……
"Very good, sir, " Benassis broke in; "M. Graviers room is in readiness. Come in.
好的，先生，贝纳西打断他的话，你可以住在格拉维耶以前住过的房间，请进。
They went into the house, the doctor flinging open the door with an eagerness that Genestas attributed to his pleasure at receiving a boarder.
医生迫不及待地打开门，两人便进屋了。这让热奈斯塔觉得医生似乎挺欢迎家里有个寄宿病人。
"Jacquotte! " Benassis called out. "This gentleman will dine with us. "
雅科特！贝纳西喊道，这位先生今天和我们一起吃饭。
"But would it not be as well for us to settle about the payment? "
我们是不是应该先谈一下费用问题？军人问。
"Payment for what? " inquired the doctor.
什么费用问题？医生询问道。
"For my board. You cannot keep me and my horse as well, without……
我的食宿费。您不能收留我和我的马却不……
"If you are wealthy, you will repay me amply, " Benassis replied; "and if you are not, I will take nothing whatever. "
如果您很有钱，您就多给点儿吧。贝纳西回答，如果不是这样的话，我就分文不收。
"Nothing whatever seems to me to be too dear, " said Genestas. "But, rich or poor, will ten francs a day (not including your professional services) be acceptable to you?
一点儿都不收，对我而言，太担当不起了。热奈斯塔说，不论有没有钱，一天十法郎（治疗费另算），您觉得如何？
"Nothing could be less acceptable to me than payment for the pleasure of entertaining a visitor, " the doctor answered, knitting his brows; "and as to my advice, you shall have it if I like you, and not unless. Rich people shall not have my time by paying for it; it belongs exclusively to the folk here in the valley. I do not care about fame or fortune, and I look for neither praise or gratitude from my patients. Any money which you may pay me will go to the druggists in Grenoble, to pay for the medicine required by the poor of the neighborhood. "
没有什么比招待客人却还收钱更让我难以接受了。医生皱着眉头说，对我来说，如果我喜欢你，我就给你治，否则免谈。有钱人花钱找我，我都不干，我的时间只愿花在山谷里的乡亲们身上。我对名利看得很淡，也不指望从病人那里得到赞美和感激。您付给我的钱将被拿到格勒诺布尔的药房去，用于购买附近穷人需要的药品。
Any one who had heard the words flung out, abruptly, it is true, but without a trace of bitterness in them, would have said to himself with Genestas, "Here is a man made of good human clay. "
医生的话直截了当，但的确没有任何恶意，谁听了这话都会像热奈斯塔一样想：这可真是个大善人啊。
"Well, then, I will pay you ten francs a day, sir, " the soldier answered, returning to the charge with wonted pertinacity, "and you will do as you choose after that. We shall understand each other better, now that the question is settled, " he added, grasping the doctors hand with eager cordiality. "In spite of my ten francs, you shall see that I am by no means a Tartar. "
那么，我就每天付您十法郎吧，先生。军人以一贯的固执说道，至于这钱怎么用，随您的便。既然这个问题已经解决了，我想我们彼此会更加了解对方的。他真挚地握住医生的手，补充说，尽管只是十法郎的事，但以后您会了解，我绝不是不讲情义的阿拉伯人。
After this passage of arms, in which Benassis showed not the slightest sign of a wish to appear generous or to pose as a philanthropist, the supposed invalid entered his doctors house. Everything within it was in keeping with the ruinous state of the gateway, and with the clothing worn by its owner. There was an utter disregard for everything not essentially useful, which was visible even in the smallest trifles. Benassis took Genestas through the kitchen, that being the shortest way to the dining……room.
贝纳西握了握手，一点儿也没表现出自己有多希望能像慈善家一样慷慨、仁慈的迹象。然后，那个自称病人的人便走进了医生的屋子。屋里的所有东西，与那破损不堪的大门和医生的破衣烂衫都很相称。从这里的一切，甚至是最微不足道的细节中，我们都可以看出医生对无实用价值的东西毫不关心。贝纳西带着热奈斯塔走过厨房，这是通往餐厅最近的路。
Had the kitchen belonged to an inn, it could not have been more smoke……begrimed; and if there was a sufficiency of cooking pots within its precincts, this lavish supply was Jacquottes doing……Jacquotte who had formerly been the cures housekeeper……Jacquotte who always said "we, " and who ruled supreme over the doctors household. If, for instance, there was a brightly polished warming……pan above the mantelshelf, it probably hung there because Jacquotte liked to sleep warm of a winter night, which led her incidentally to warm her masters sheets. He never took a thought about anything; so she was wont to say.
厨房跟小旅店里的厨房一样被熏得黑黑的，不过炊具倒挺齐全。这些铺张的准备可都是雅科特的功劳……她以前是神父的管家……她说话总喜欢用我们这个词，像主人似的管着医生家里的大小事。比如说，壁炉台面上放着一只暖床炉，擦得锃亮，之所以会买这个是因为雅科特喜欢冬天的晚上睡得暖和点儿。顺便提一句，她也会用炉子帮主人暖暖被子。用她的话说，她的主人从不会操心这方面的事。
It was on account of a defect, which any one else would have found intolerable, that Benassis had taken her into his service. Jacquotte had a mind to rule the house, and a woman who would rule his house was the very person that the doctor wanted. So Jacquotte bought and sold, made alterations about the place, set up and took down, arranged and disarranged everything at her own sweet will; her master had never raised a murmur. Over the yard, the stable, the man……servant and the kitchen, in fact, over the whole house and garden and its master, Jacquottes sway was absolute. She looked out fresh linen, saw to the washing, and laid in provisions without consulting anybody. She decided everything that went on in the house, and the date when the pigs were to be killed. She scolded the gardener, decreed the menu at breakfast and dinner, and went from cellar to garret, and from garret to cellar, setting everything to rights according to her notions, without a word of opposition of any sort or description. Benassis had made but two stipulations……he wished to dine at six oclock, and that the household expenses should not exceed a certain fixed sum every month.
雅科特身上有别人所不能容忍的缺点，而贝纳西却正是因此而雇了她。雅科特喜欢管着家里的一切，而贝纳西恰好需要这样一位可以帮他主持家务的女人。所以雅科特管着家里的买进、卖出、调换、安置、拆除、布置、打乱等一切事务，而且都按她的意思去做。她的主人从不说什么。她完全按自己的意愿管理着这个院子、马厩、男仆、厨房，实际上是整个房子、花园还有主人。她保管日用织品、换洗衣物，储备食物也从不需和任何人商量。家里的一切都由她安排，她还可以定下宰猪的日子。她可以训斥花匠，制定每顿饭的食谱，在阁楼和地窑间跑来跳去，想怎么收拾就怎么收拾，从来没人反对。贝纳西只有两个要求……保证每天六点钟吃晩饭，每个月的花费不要超出固定的数额。