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11 The Public Enquiry
11 公眾聽證會(huì)
Two days later, the Enquiry began. Scientists came from London to ask questions about the disease that was killing the seals. Before he had gone to Scotland, John had been to see David Wilson about the Enquiry. David Wilson had asked John to speak for the company.
兩天后，聽證會(huì)開始。來自倫敦的科學(xué)家就海豹死亡的病因提了問題。約翰在去蘇格蘭之前曾為聽證會(huì)見了大衛(wèi)·威爾遜。大衛(wèi)·威爾遜要約翰代表公司說話。
You're our chief biologist, John, 'he said. 'You're an im-portant man. They'll believe you. '
“你是我們的主管生物學(xué)家，約翰，”他說。“你是一個(gè)重要人物，他們會(huì)相信你。”
John said nothing. He didn't want to speak at the Enquiry, but he knew he had to. David Wilson smiled. Or at least, his mouth smiled. But his eyes watched John carefully, all the time, like the cold eyes of a fish.
約翰什么也沒說。他不想在聽證會(huì)上講話，但他知道他必須講。大衛(wèi)·威爾遜笑了，至少他的嘴是在笑。但他的眼睛像冰冷的魚眼自始至終小心地望著約翰。
'Think carefully about what you say, John. If you say the wrong thing next week, hundreds of people will lose their jobs. And the first person to lose his job will be you, John. I promise you that. '
“仔細(xì)想想你要說的，約翰。如果下周你說錯(cuò)了，幾百人將失去工作，而第一個(gè)失業(yè)的將是你，約翰，我敢向你保證這一點(diǎn)。”
The Enquiry room was crowded. There were a lot of journal-ists and photographers there, and a lot of people from the town and the factory too. John's train was late, and he caught a taxi from the station. When he came into the room, he saw Simon, sitting with the journalists. Christine was near him, with Andrew and some young people from Greenworld. John smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. She looks very white and ill, he thought. It's probably the baby. He remembered how ill his wife Rachel had been in the mornings, before Christine was born, and he smiled sadly to himself.
聽證會(huì)大廳擠滿了人，有很多記者和攝影師，還有許多從鎮(zhèn)上和工廠來的人。約翰的火車誤點(diǎn)，他從車站搭了一輛出租車。當(dāng)他進(jìn)屋時(shí)，看見了西蒙與記者們坐在一起。克里斯汀在他附近，還有安德魯及綠色世界的一些年青人。約翰沖她微笑，但她沒有理他。她看上去非常蒼白虛弱，他這樣想。也許是因?yàn)楹⒆印Ｋ浀盟钠拮永浊袪栐谏死锼雇∏暗哪切┰绯恳埠芴撊酰约嚎嘈χ?/p>
