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.
讓我們承認那個小鎮的醜陋吧。它的氣氛做作、平靜，而且，你需要花時間去發現，它為何與世界其他地方的許多商業中心有所不同。你如何能想象這樣的一種景致，例如，一個沒有鴿子，沒有任何樹木或花園的小鎮，在這裏，聽不見鳥兒振翅或樹葉的沙沙聲——簡而言之，這是一個完全相反的地方。在這裏季節隻能依靠天空來辨別。春天的來臨也隻能通過空氣的感覺，或是由小販從郊區帶來的一籃籃花兒來感知，春天在市場被叫賣著。在夏天裏，房子被太陽烘得幹透，灰色的塵埃布滿了牆壁，你別無選擇，隻有躲在拉上的百葉窗後，在室內逃避那些炙熱的日子。秋天則泥沙泛濫。隻有冬季帶來真正愉悅的氣候。
也許，了解一個城鎮最簡單的方法，是了解它的市民如何工作，如何戀愛和如何死亡。在我們的小鎮上（不知是否受了天氣的影響？）這三件事在同樣灼熱難耐卻已司空見慣的空氣中，以極為相同的方式完成。實際上，每個人都覺得無聊，便投入到各自愛好的培養中。我們的市民都努力工作，但唯一的目標是發財。他們最主要的興趣是商業，而生活之首要目的，就如他們自己所說的，是“做生意”。自然，他們也免不了一些像海浴、看電影等簡單的娛樂。但是，他們非常明智地把這些消遣留到周六下午與周日，而其他時間卻盡可能地用來賺錢。黃昏，他們離開辦公室後，會在固定的時間裏聚集在咖啡館，在相同的林蔭大道上散步，或是在陽台上透透氣。年輕人的熱情強烈但為時不長，年長者的不良嗜好很少超出沉溺於保齡球、宴會和社交的範圍，或者是沉湎於那種打出一張牌，就能賺大筆錢的俱樂部。