評論
打印
'Look，John，'he said．'Your report says that we should build some new machines to clean up the waste products before they go into the river， right？And those machines will cost two million pounds！Where do you think we can find all that？Money doesn't grow on trees，you know！'
“你瞧，約翰，”他說，“你的報告說我們應該制造一些新機器，在將廢料倒到河里以前將它們凈化，對吧？而那些機器將花費兩百萬英鎊！你想我們能從哪兒搞到所有這些錢？你知道錢不會從天上掉下來！”
'No，of course not．'John's mouth was dry．He took a drink of water，and felt his hand shaking．'But we're selling a lot of the new paint．We're making millions of pounds every month from that，aren't we?'
“對，當然不會。”約翰的嘴開始發干。他喝了一口水，他感覺他的手在顫抖。“但是我們正在賣大量的新油漆。我們每月都從中掙上幾百萬英鎊，不是嗎？”
'We're doing very well， yes，'said Wilson．'But if we spend two million pounds to build these new machines，the paint will have to cost more， and we won't sell so much．'
“是的，我們干得非常好，”威爾遜說。“但是如果我們花兩百萬英鎊去造這些新機器，油漆價格就會貴些，我們就賣不了那么多。”
'But—we've got to do it，'said John．'These waste prod-ucts are much more dangerous than I'd thought．Didn't you read that in my report？When I put the chemicals in rats'drinking water，some of the baby rats were born without eyes and ears． One didn't have any legs， and one had six．'He shivered．'And some were born without legs when they drank only two parts per million．We can't put those chemicals in the river．'
“但是——我們必須這樣做，”約翰說，“這些廢料比我以前想像的還要危險。你難道沒在我的報告里讀到嗎？我在老鼠的飲用水里放入化學品，生出來的一些幼鼠沒有眼睛和耳朵。有一只沒有腿，還有一只有6條腿。”他戰栗著。“有些只喝了百萬分之二，生出來就沒有腿。我們不能將那些化學品放入河里。”
'Of course I read that，John．I read your report very care-fully indeed．And your report also says that on most days we put less than two parts per million into the river．No，wait，listen to me for a minute！We both know that no drinking wa-ter comes out of this part of the river，don't we？ And in two kilometres the river goes out into the sea．So why is it danger-ous？Nobody is ever going to drink it，John！We don't need to build these new machines！'
“我當然讀到，約翰。我的確很認真地讀了你的報告。你的報告也說到大部分日子里我們放入河里的是少于百萬分之二。不，請等一下，聽我說一會兒！我們倆都知道飲用水不是來自河的這一方，不是嗎？再流兩公里，河水就進入大海。所以怎么會有危險呢？從沒有人會去喝它，約翰！我們不需要制造新機器！”
