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'There certainly is a problem！'mary's voice sounded loud and high in the quiet room．She stared at the small animals under the magnifying glass．'Baby rats with no eyes，no ears，six leqs！Oh John！John！What have you done？'
“绝对有问题。”玛丽的声音在寂静的屋子里显得又响又亮。她盯着放大镜下面的小动物。鼠崽儿没有眼睛，没有耳朵，6条腿！“哎！约翰呀约翰！你都干了些什么？”
He looked at her strangely．'It's awful，isn't it？But I had to know． And remember， Mary—their mothers have had five parts per million of these chemicals in their drinking water for two weeks．That's a lot—much，much more than we're putting in the river．'
他奇怪地望着她。“很糟糕，是吧？但我必须知道。要记住，玛丽——它们的母亲是喝了两个星期的掺有百万分之五的这些化学物质的水。那是很大量的，远远超过我们放入河中的。”
Mary looked away from the rats．She remembered the beau-tiful afternoon that they had spent with John's children，sail-ing on the clear blue water．'John，these waste products are dangerous！'she said．'We've got to stop putting them in the river！'
玛丽的视线离开老鼠。她想起了和约翰的孩子们共度的美好下午，航行在清澈碧蓝的河水里。“约翰，这些废料有危险！”她说。“我们必须停止向河中倾倒。”
'Of course，of course．'John put his hand on her arm， to comfort her．But it was the same hand—the hand that had held the rats．'Of course we'll stop it，if we need to，Mary．The company can build machines to clean the waste products．I'll start my report for David Wilson next week．'
“当然，当然。”约翰将手放在她的臂上，安慰着她。然而就是这同一只手曾拿过老鼠。“如果需要，我们当然会停止这样做，玛丽。公司会制造出机器去清理废料。下星期我给大卫·威尔逊起草一个报告。”
'But…'she turned round to face him．His hand fell from her arm．'Don't you think we should stop making the paint now，John？Perhaps it'll take years to build those machines，and we're putting the chemicals into the river right now！'
“但是……”她转过身面对着他。他的手从她的臂上落下来。“约翰，你不认为我们应该现在就停止制造这种油漆吗？也许要花几年时间去制造那些机器，而我们现在正在往河里倾倒化学物品！”
A shadow crossed his face．His eyes looked at hers，then away， out of the window．
一个阴影从他脸上掠过。他双眼注视着她的双眼，然后移开，向窗外望去。
'I… don't think we need to do that now，Mary． We're putting very little into the river at the moment．And the com-pany will build those machines，won't they？'
“我……不认为我们现在就需要这样做，玛丽。目前我们只是放入河里一点点。再说公司会制造出那些机器的，对吗？”
She remembered her long years of work，the hundreds of unsuccessful experiments．She touched his hand，and smiled．'I hope so，John，'she said．'I really hope so．'
她回忆起多年的工作，上百次失败的实验。她触摸着他的手笑了。她说，“我希望如此。我真的希望如此。”
She turned，and went quickly out of the room．
她转身飞快地走出屋子。
