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Kino, a poor fisherman, has just found a very large and valuable pearl and is going to the nearest town to sell it. He needs money urgently to get medical help for his baby who has just been stung by a scorpion. Before Kino found the pearl, the only doctor available had refused to treat the baby because Kino could not afford to pay for the treatment.

 

A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet. A town is a thing separate from all other towns, so that there are no two towns alike. And a town has a whole emotion. How news travels through a town is a mystery not easily to be solved. News seems to move faster than small boys can scramble and dart to tell it, faster than women can call it over the fences.

 

Before Kino and Juana and the other fishers had come to Kino’s brush house, the nerves of the town were pulsing and vibrating with the news—Kino had found the Pearl of the World. Before panting little boys could strangle out the words, their mothers knew it. The news swept on past the brush houses, and it washed in a foaming wave into the town of stone and plaster. It came to the priest walking in his garden, and it put a thoughtful look in his eyes and a memory of certain repairs necessary to the church. He wondered what the pearl would be worth. And he wondered whether he had baptized Kino’s baby, or married him for that matter. The news came to the shopkeepers and they looked at men’s clothes that had not sold so well.

 

The news came to the doctor where he sat with a woman whose illness was age, though neither she nor the doctor would admit it. And when it was made plain who Kino was, the doctor grew stern and judicious at the same time. “ He is a client of mine, ” the doctor said. “I am treating his child for a scorpion sting.” And the doctor’s eyes rolled up a little in their fat hammocks and he thought of Paris. He remembered the room he had lived in there as a great and luxurious place. The doctor looked past his aged patient and saw himself sitting in a restaurant in Paris and a waiter was just opening a bottle of wine.

 

The news came early to the beggars in front of the church, and it made them giggle a little with pleasure, for they knew that there is no alms-giver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky.

 

Kino has found the Pearl of the World. In the town, in little offices, sat the men who bought pearls from the fishers. They waited in their chairs until the pearls came in, and then they cackled and fought and shouted and threatened until they reached the lowest price the fisherman would stand. But there was a price below which they dared not go, for it had happened that a fisherman in despair had given his pearls to the church. And when the buying was over, these buyers sat alone and their fingers played restlessly with the pearls, and they wished they owned the pearls. For there were not many buyers really—there was only one, and he kept these agents in separate offices to give a semblance of competition. The news came to these men, and their eyes squinted and their finger-tips burned a little, and each one thought how the patron could not live forever and someone had to take his place. And each one thought how with some capital he could get a new start.

 

All manner of people grew interested in Kino—people with things to sell and people with favors to ask. Kino had found the Pearl of the World. The essence of pearl mixed with essence of men and a curious dark residue was precipitated. Every man suddenly became related to Kino’s pearl, and Kino’s pearl went into the dreams, the speculations, the schemes, the plans, the futures, the wishes, the needs, the lusts, the hungers, of everyone, and only one person stood in the way and that was Kino, so that he became curiously every man’s enemy. The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town; the black distillate was like the scorpion, or like hunger in the smell of food, or like loneliness when love is withheld. The poison sacs of the town began to manufacture venom, and the town swelled and puffed with the pressure of it.

 

By John Steinbeck (an exerpt) 珍珠

 

吉纳，一位穷渔夫，刚发现了一颗非常大而且非常珍贵的珍珠，准备去最近的城镇把它卖掉。他急切需要钱给刚给蝎子螫伤的孩子看病。吉纳发现珍珠前，他---一位可以看病的医生拒绝给孩子治病，因为吉纳付不起治疗费。

 

一个小镇就像个集群动物，有神经系统 头 肩膀和肢。它与其他城镇不想连。因此没有两座城镇是相似的。城镇里还有完整的感情。要知道消息是怎样传遍整个小镇的可是个难解之谜。消息传得似乎比小男孩冲出去告诉别人的速度还快，比女人隔着篱笆大声说消息的速度还要快。

 

在吉纳 胡安纳和其他渔夫回到吉纳的茅草屋前，小镇的神经正随着消息--吉纳发现了世界上最大的珍珠--传播而奔腾，跳动。跑得气喘吁吁的小男孩还没说出这个消息，母亲们早已知晓了。消息席卷而过茅草屋，激起波浪泡沫，然后冲进镇里的石头灰泥瓦房里。消息传到正在花园里散步的牧师，他的眼中露出若有所思的表情，他想起教堂的有些地方该维修了，他纳闷珍珠值多少钱。他想知道是否为吉纳的婴儿施过洗礼，或是否主持过他的结婚仪式。消息传到零售商那儿的时候，他们看着卖的不太好的男式衣服。 

 

消息传到医生那儿的时候，他正在给一位妇人看病，这位夫人的疾病其实就是“年龄太老的问题”，尽管他们两人都不承认这点。弄清楚谁是吉纳后，医生变得严肃认真而又明智起来。医生说，“他是我的一个病人，我在给他的孩子治疗被蝎子螫伤的伤口。”眼珠在肿眼泡的眼眶内转来转去，医生想起巴黎，想起那他住过的既宽敞又豪华的房间。越过他的老年病人，医生仿佛看见自己坐在巴黎的一家餐馆，男侍者正在打开酒瓶。

 

消息早早地传到了教堂前乞讨者，他们咯咯地高兴地笑着，因为他们知道没有比突然变富的穷人更慷慨的慈善家了。

 

吉纳发现了世界上最大的珍珠。城镇里，在小办公室里，坐着那些从渔夫手中购买珍珠的人，他们坐在椅子上等珍珠送上门，然后他们高声争论，争吵不休，高声喊叫，恐吓威胁，直到达成渔夫可以承受的最低价格。但是有一个价格底线，他们不敢低于这个价格了，因为曾有渔夫因为价格太低而绝望得宁愿把珍珠募捐给教堂。买完珍珠后，这些购买者单独坐着，手指不住地把玩着珍珠，希望拥有这些珍珠。因为实际上并没有许多购买者---只有一个买主，是他把这些代理人各自分派在不同的办公室，营造出竞争的假象。这些人得知这个消息后，他们斜着眼寻思着，内心都开始不安分起来，人 人都在想他们的老板怎样也不会长生不死，必须有人取代他的位子，人人都在想怎样用部分资本就能开始创业。

 

人人都对吉纳产生了兴趣---卖东西的人和想要得到好处的人。吉纳已经发现了世上最大的珍珠。珍珠的价值与人的本质混淆在了一起，促成了一种奇怪的黑色残渣。每个人突然都与吉纳的珍珠相联系，吉纳的珍珠踏进了他们的梦想，投机买卖 阴谋 计划 未来 需要 欲望和渴望，只有一个人挡他们的道了，那就是吉纳，因此，他就奇怪地成了每个人的敌人。消息搅动起镇内无限的邪恶和丑恶现象，黑色的邪恶物质就像是被蝎子螫伤时的痛苦，像闻到美味食物引发的饥饿感，或像是求爱遭受拒绝的孤独感。小镇的毒囊开始产生毒液，在它的压力作用下城镇膨胀 骄傲 自负起来。

 

Gold 

 

Mankind's fascination with gold is as old as civilization itself .The ancient Egypitains esteemed gold ,which had religious significance to them ,and King Tutankhamen was buried in a solid gold coffin 3,300 years ago .The wandering Israelites worshiped a golde calf ,and the legendary King Midas asked that everything he touched be turned into gold .

 

Not only is gold beautiful ,but it's virtually indestructible .It will not rust or corrode ;gold coins and products fabricated from the metal have survived undamaged for centuries .Gold is extremely easy to work with ;one ounce ,which is about the size of a cube of sugar can be beaten into a sheet nearly 100 square feet in size ,and becomes so thin that light pass through it .An ounce of gold can also be strethced into a wire 50 miles long .Gold conducts electricity better than any other substnace except copper and silver ,and it is particularly impotant in the modern electronics industry .

 

People have always longed to possess gold .Unfortunately ,this longing has also brought out the worst in the human character .The spanish conuistadores robbed palaces ,temples ,and graves and killed thousands of Indians in their ruthless search for gold .Often the only rule in young California during the days of the gold rush was exercised by the mob with a rope .Evern today ,the economic running of South Africa's gold mines depends largely on the employment of black labourers who are paid about &40 a month ,plus room and board ,and who must work in conditions that only be described as cruel .About 400 miners are killed in mine accidents in South Africa each year ,or one for every two tons of gold produced .

 

Much of gold's value lies in its scarcity .Only about 80,000 tons have been mined in the history of the world .All of it could be stored in a vault 60 feet square ,or a supertanker 

 

Great Britain was the first country to adopt the gold standard ,when the Mastet of the Mint ,Sir Isaac Newton ,established a fixed price for gold in 1717.But until the big discover in Australia and South Africa ---there simply wasn't enough gold around for all the trading nations to link their currencies to the precious metal .

 

An out-of- work prospcetor named George Harrison launched South Africa into the gold age in 1866 when he discovered the metal on a farm near what is now Johannesburg .Harrison was give a &12 reward by the farmer .He then disappeared and reportedly was eaten by a lion .

 

One of the big gold-mining areas in Russia is the Kolyma River region ,once infamous for its prison camp .The camp has gone ,but in a way nothing has changed .Many exprisoners have stayed on to work the mines and are supervised by ex-guards .

 

Despite the current rush to buy gold ,75per cent of the metal goes into jewellery .Italy is the biggest users to gold for this purpose and many Italian jewellers even tear up their wooden floors and burn them to recoversthe tiny flecks of gold .

 

Historically ,the deisre to hoard gold at home has bee primarily an occupation of the working and peasant classes ,who have no faith in paper money .George Bernard Shaw defended their instict elouently :"You have to choose between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence fo the members of the goverment ,"he said ,"and with due respect to these gentlemen ,I advise yo ---to vote for gold ."

 

黄金

 

人类对黄金的迷恋与文明一样历史悠久。古埃及人敬重对他们具有宗教意义的黄金，3300年前，图唐卡蒙国王埋葬于金棺中。到外迁徙的以色列人崇拜金牛犊。传说中的迈达斯国王要求他能点石成金。

 

黄金不仅外形漂亮，而且事实上质地坚不可摧。它既不会生锈也不会受腐蚀；残存下来的金币和黄金制品几个世纪仍完整无损。黄金制很容易加工，一盎司黄金，大约一块方糖大小的，可以打成一块几乎有100平方英尺的藩片，薄得可以透光。一盎司金也可以被锻铸成一根50英里长的金属线。除了铜和银外，金的导电性能比其他的任何物质都好，在现代电子工业中黄金起着特别重要的作用。

 

人们总是渴望拥有黄金。不幸的是，这种渴望也阐释了人性中最邪恶的一面。西班牙16世纪征服墨西哥和秘鲁的征服者在残酷无情地寻找黄金的过程中抢劫宫殿，神殿，墓穴，杀死了成千成千上万的印第安人。年轻的加利福尼亚在淘金热时期经常只有一个法规：被暴徒用绳子绞死的私刑。即使今天，南非金矿的经营主要也是靠雇用黑人劳工，包食宿，每月付大约40英镑，必须工作在只能用“悲惨”来形容的环境。南非每年约有400名矿工死于矿难，也就是说每生产2 吨黄金就有一名矿工死亡。

 

黄金的主要价值在于物稀。全世界整个历史上已挖掘的金矿只有8万吨左右。一个边长为60英尺的正方形金库房或是一艘大型油轮就可以存放所有的黄金。

 

造币厂厂长以撒 牛顿爵士1717年确立了黄金的固定价格，大不列颠是第一个采用本位制的国家。但直到19世纪后半叶，黄金的大量发现（1848年开始于加利福尼亚，后来在澳大利亚和南非），所有的贸易国才有足够的黄金把货币与黄金挂钩。

 

1886年，一位名叫乔治，哈里森的失业采矿者在靠近现在的 约翰内斯堡的一个农场发现了黄金后，南非开始进入了黄金时代。农场主付给哈里森12镑的报酬。他之后失踪了，据传闻他被狮子吃掉了。

 

科累马河地区是俄罗斯大型黄金采矿区之一，曾经是声名狼籍的战俘集中营。战俘集中营已不存在了，但是在某种程度上并没有会变化，许多囚犯继续留下来在矿上工作，受到前任看守的监督。

 

尽管现在仍有人抢险购黄金，但75 %的黄金做成了珠宝。意大利是黄金制作珠宝的最大国家，许多意大利珠宝商不惜拆掉木地板焚烧以收回黄金微粒。

 

从历史的角度看，主要是不相信纸币的工人和农民阶层的人渴望在家中贮藏黄金。雄辩的乔治理 伯纳 萧替这种本能辩护说：“你们不得不选择是相信黄金的自然稳定性，还是相信政府官员的诚实和智力的普通稳定性，’他说‘”恕我冒昧，我建议你们-----选择黄金。”