阿爾伯特·卡繆/Albert Camus
阿爾伯特·卡繆（1913—1960），法國作家，生於阿爾及利亞的蒙多維，幼年喪父，生活貧困但學習刻苦並獲哲學學士學位。1935年開始從事戲劇活動，一生鍾愛戲劇創作。主要劇本有《誤會》、《卡利古拉》等，除了劇本，卡繆還創作了很多著名小說，中篇小說《局外人》是他的成名作，也是荒誕小說的代表作。1957年獲諾貝爾文學獎。這篇文章藉由小鎮景物的刻畫，對人類盲目追逐商業文明進行控訴。語調是卡繆擅長的戲謔與諷刺；語言簡潔、深刻，而文章氣脈自相貫連，是散文中之極品。
The town itself,let us admit,is ugly.It has a smug,placid air an d you need time to discover what it is that makes it different from so m any business centers in other parts of the world.How to conjure up a pi cture,for instance,of a town without pigeons,without any trees or gar dens,where you never hear the beat of wings or the rustle of leaves--a thoroughly negative place,in short?The seasons are discriminated only in the sky.All that tells you of spring's coming is the feel of the ai r,or the baskets of flowers brought in from the suburbs by peddlers;it's a spring cried in the market-places.During the summer the sun bakes the houses bone-dry,sprinkles our walls with grayish dust,and you have no option but to survive those days of fire indoors,behind closed shutt ers.In autumn,on the other hand,we have deluges of mud.Only winter b rings really pleasant weather.
Perhaps the easiest way of making a town's acquaintance is to ascer tain how the people in it work,how they love,and how they die.In our little town (is this,one wonders,an effect of the climate?) all three are done on much the same lines,with the same feverish yet casual air.The truth is that everyone is bored,and devotes himself to cultivating habits.Our citizens work hard,but solely with the object of getting ri ch.Their chief interest is in commerce,and their chief aim in life is,as they call it,"doing business." Naturally they don't eschew such sim pler pleasures as sea-bathing,going to the pictures.But,very sensibly,they reserve these pastimes for Saturday afternoons and Sundays and em ploy the rest of the week in making money,as much as possible.In the e vening,on leaving the office,they forgather,at an hour that never var ies,in the cafe's,stroll the same boulevard,or take the air on their balconies.The passions of the young are violent and short-lived;the vi ces of older men seldom range beyond an addiction to bowling,to banquet s and socials,or clubs where large sums change hands on the fall of a c ard.