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Tony was talking about how he wound up getting paid to care less – less about his sick patients,
托尼說他是如何因?yàn)樯訇P(guān)心病人，
less about the specialism that demanded years of study, less about the career he had spent decades practising.
少關(guān)心需要多年學(xué)習(xí)的專業(yè)，也不太關(guān)心他幾十年來從事的職業(yè)而得到報(bào)酬的。
But all the talking proved something else: he still cares – a bit too much for his own good.
但所有的談話都證明了另一件事：他仍然在乎——對他自己來說有點(diǎn)過分了。
Remembering his 30-plus years as a pharmacist, he recalled, in a Midlands singsong,
在一首英格蘭中部民謠中，他回憶起自己30多年的藥劑師生涯，
a man who once came in with a sore on his head that kept catching on his razor.
有一次，一個(gè)頭上有瘡的男人走進(jìn)來，手里一直抓著剃刀。
Tony had a look. “I says, ‘Get to the doctor.’
托尼看了看。“我說，去看醫(yī)生。”
“He says, ‘What, in a few weeks?’ ‘No. Now.’”
“他說，什么，幾周后？“不是。現(xiàn)在。”
It turned out to be a skin cancer that the doctor began treating straight away.
結(jié)果他得的是一種皮膚癌，醫(yī)生馬上開始治療。
Then there was the woman who wanted more antibiotic eyedrops.
還有一位女士想要更多的抗生素眼藥水。
Tony just knew something didn’t look right and refused to sell her anything.
托尼知道有些東西看起來不對勁，所以拒絕賣給她任何東西。
Instead he packed her off to the GP.
相反，他把她送到了全科醫(yī)生那里。
And the doctor immediately flagged up a possible brain tumour.
醫(yī)生立刻發(fā)現(xiàn)她可能長了腦瘤。
“A hunch,” Tony shrugged. “Through years of experience you just develop an instinct.”
“預(yù)感。”托尼聳了聳肩。“經(jīng)過多年的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，你就會(huì)發(fā)展出一種本能。”
Such are the memories by which he measures out his life.
這就是他用以衡量自己生命的記憶。
No sprints down a hospital corridor, no anguished shouting in an operating theatre.
不用在醫(yī)院的走廊里疾跑，也不用在手術(shù)室里痛苦地喊叫。
His has been an unheroic career – but a life-changing, even life-saving, one.
他的職業(yè)生涯并不是英雄主義的，但卻改變了他的生活，甚至拯救了他的生命。
“They’ve had cancer, marriage split-ups … men even talk about their impotence.”
“他們得了癌癥，婚姻破裂...男人甚至?xí)務(wù)撟约旱年栶簟！?/div>
No wonder they bring these troubles to his counter: in his mid-50s,
難怪他們把這些麻煩帶到他面前：在他50多歲的時(shí)候，
Tony emits the ready sympathy of a dad at the school gates at hometime.
托尼在家時(shí)，在校門口流露出父親般的同情。
How many of these patients guessed that their own chemist was sick?
這些病人中有多少人會(huì)猜到他們自己的藥劑師生病了？
Over the past few years, depression has dug its claws into Tony.
在過去的幾年里，抑郁已經(jīng)把它的利爪伸向了托尼。
He is tired all the time. His weight, blood sugar and blood pressure have shot up.
他總是很累。他的體重、血糖和血壓都急劇上升。
