We'll give the dispenser something to do. If we go on prescribing mist: alb: he'll lose his cunning."

The students laughed, and the doctor gave them a circular glance of enjoyment in his joke. Then he touched the bell and, when the porter poked his head in, said:

"Old women, please."

He leaned back in his chair, chatting with the H.P. while the porter herded along the old patients. They came in, strings of anaemic girls, with large fringes and pallid lips, who could not digest their bad, insufficient food; old ladies, fat and thin, aged prematurely by frequent confinements, with winter coughs; women with this, that, and the other, the matter with them. Dr. Tyrell and his house-physician got through them quickly. Time was getting on, and the air in the small room was growing more sickly.

... By about six o'clock they were finished. Philip, exhausted by standing all the time, by the bad air, and by the attention he had given, strolled over with his fellow-clerks to the Medical School to have tea. He found the work of absorbing interest. There was humanity there in the rough, the materials the artist worked on; and Philip felt a curious thrill when it occurred to him that he was in the position of the artist and the patients were like clay in his hands. He remembered with an amused shrug of the shoulders his life in Paris, absorbed in colour, tone, values, Heaven knows what, with the aim of producing beautiful things: The directness of contact with men and women gave a thrill of power which he had never known. He found an endless excitement in looking at their faces and hearing them speak; they came in each with his peculiarity, some shuffling uncouthly, some with a little trip, others with heavy, slow tread, some shyly. Often you could guess their trades by the look of them. You learnt in what way to put your questions so that they should be understood, you discovered on what subjects nearly all lied, and by what inquiries you could extort the truth notwithstanding. You saw the different way people took the same things. The diagnosis of dangerous illness would be accepted by one with a laugh and a joke, by another with dumb despair. Philip found that he was less shy with these people than he had ever been with others; he felt not exactly sympathy, for sympathy suggests condescension; but he felt at home with them. He found that he was able to put them at their ease, and, when he had been given a case to find out what he could about it, it seemed to him that the patient delivered himself into his hands with a peculiar confidence.

"Perhaps," he thought to himself, with a smile, "perhaps I'm cut out to be a doctor. It would be rather a lark if I'd hit upon the one thing I'm fit for."

It seemed to Philip that he alone of the clerks saw the dramatic interest of those afternoons. To the others men and women were only cases, good if they were complicated, tiresome if obvious; they heard murmurs and were astonished at abnormal livers; an unexpected sound in the lungs gave them something to talk about. But to Philip there was much more. He found an interest in just looking at them, in the shape of their heads and their hands, in the look of their eyes and the length of their noses. You saw in that room human nature taken by surprise, and often he mask of custom was torn off rudely, showing you the soul all raw. Sometimes you saw an untaught stoicism which was profoundly moving. Once Philip was a man, rough and illiterate, told his case was hopeless; and self-controlled himself, he wondered at the splendid instinct which forced the fellow to keep a stiff upper-lip before strangers. But was it possible for him to be brave when he was by himself, face to face with his soul, or would he then surrender to despair?

Words:

pallid 没有血色的

confinements 限制

shuffling 曳行

uncouthly 粗鲁地，没有教养地

extort 强取，敲诈

stoicism 自我克制的人

参考译文

"我们得给药剂师找点火儿干。如果我们接着开白色合剂，他们的鬼心眼儿就用不上了。"

学生们笑起来。医生扫了他们一圈，非常欣赏自己开的玩笑。随后他按了一下铃，见那个勤杂工探进脑袋来，便说：

"请叫长期女病号。"

他向后靠在椅子上，同住院内科医生闲聊着。在这当儿，勤杂工将女病人带进来。一批批贫血的女孩子，额前留着很长的刘海，嘴唇没有血色，她们消化不了那些既糟糕又不够分量的食物；那些上了年纪的女人有胖的有瘦的，由于生育过多而过早衰老了，一到冬天就咳嗽；总之有各式各样的病号。帝勒尔医生和住院内科医生给她们迅速地检查了一遍。时间就这么过去了，小房子里的空气变得越来越令人作呕。

......到了大约六点钟，病人都看完了。菲利普因为始终站着，空气又那么污浊，再加上他在用心观察，所以已累得精疲力尽。他和几个同伴溜达着到医学院去喝茶。他发现这是个引人入胜、有趣的工作。这里有粗糙的人形，他们是艺术家手中的原材料。想到自己正处在艺术家的位置，而病人就是他手中的胶泥，他感到一种奇怪的兴奋。他想起了自己在巴黎的日子，觉得好笑，所以他耸了耸肩。那时他迷上了颜色啦、色调啦、明暗的搭配啦，天知道还有些什么，他一心想创造出美的事物。直接和男人们、女人们接触，给了他一种他过去从来不知道的力量，这力量使他振奋激动。他发现，看着他们的面孔，听着他们说话，本身就是一种无穷的兴奋力量；他们走进来，每个人都有自己的特点，有的人笨拙地拖着脚，有的人带着轻快的步伐，有的是步履蹒跚，还有的则腼腆羞涩。你常常可以从他们的模样上猜出他们的职业身份。你可以学会怎么提问才能使他们听懂，你会发现在哪些事情上他们几乎都说谎，你还知道怎样询问才能逼出真情来。你会看到在同样的事情上人们有着不同的态度。如果诊断出危险的病症，有的人会一笑置之，或是开个玩笑，而有的人会绝望地说不出话来。菲利普发现自己与这些人在一起时，不象以前与别的人打交道时那样羞怯拘谨。确切地说，他不是产生了同情，因为同情意味着居高临下。和他们在一起，他感到如鱼得水。他发现，他能够使他们解除紧张不安。当一种病例交到他手中，看看能如何处置的时候，在他看来似乎是患者以一种特殊的信任把自己交到他手里。

"也许，"他笑着思量，"也许我天生就是当医生的材料。要是我碰上了一个唯一适合我的工作，这倒是相当有意思。"

菲利普觉得，在所有助手中只有他一个人看出了每天下午的戏剧性。对于其他助手来说，男人和女人只不过是病人。如果病例复杂，他们就来劲儿；如果病例平淡无奇，他们就打不起精神来。他们听到杂音、发现肝部异常，就大惊小怪。肺部有什么意料不到的声音会给他们提供谈话的材料。而对菲利普来说却远不止于此。他发现，观察他们，看他们头和手的形状，他们的眼神、鼻子的长度，光这些就很有趣。在这个房间里，你看到人类的本性遭到奇袭，那些习俗的假面具常常被粗野地撕下来，把赤裸裸的灵魂展现在你的面前。有时你会看到出自本能的自我克制。一次菲利普给一个粗鲁、没受过教育的男人看病，他告诉病人已经没有什么希望了。菲利普自己不动声色，他看到那男的本能地在生人面前表现地很坚强，菲利普对人的卓越的本能惊叹不已。但是，当这个人独处，面对着自己的灵魂时，他还有可能这样勇敢吗？到那时他会陷入绝望吗？

　
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