03-02-08-化学秘密 [12]
．'And what about children who play by the river，Father？What if they drink the river water？What then？'
'Nobody drinks water from that part of the river，'he said．'And I've told you—it isn't dangerous to children．'
Christine closed the door quietly behind her．
■ 9 我不相信你
“这不是真的，克里斯汀，西蒙的消息是错误的。”
“我不相信你，爸爸。”
约翰和克里斯汀互相怒视着。这对他们俩都是一个痛苦恐怖的时刻。这事发生在婚礼后3个月的一个夜晚，克里斯汀带回一些令人高兴的消息，她回来告诉她父亲她将要有小宝宝——他的第一个外孙或外孙女！他们就此谈论了一会儿，但是过后克里斯汀开始谈论西蒙的新工作。西蒙发现一些有关油漆厂废料的消息。他的消息对公司有威胁。西蒙在报纸上写了一篇文章，说来自油漆厂的废料可能正在杀死幼豹。大卫·威尔逊马上写信给报纸，说西蒙的文章完全是不真实的。
所以，克里斯汀和父亲并没有高兴地谈论孩子，而是争论了整个晚上。约翰早就知道他们会有这场争论。下星期镇上将举行一个公众听证会，那时政府官员将努力发现事实真相。科学家和律师们将为双方的争议辩护。镇上所有的人都在谈论这次听证会——也谈论西蒙的报刊文章。
“为什么大卫·威尔逊给报纸写信，爸爸？”克里斯汀问道。“他不是一个科学家，他只是一个商人。为什么你不给报纸写信？”
“我已经给报纸写过，”约翰痛心地说，“你明天也许会读到我的信。”
“哦。你是怎么说的？”克里斯汀问。
约翰感到痛苦。他原不想写这封信。他和大卫·威尔逊为此大吵了一场。但最后他还是同意了。他以前曾同意隐瞒许多坏事，所以再多一次也无妨。
“我说我们的废料没有对河水造成危害。我们已经谨慎地测试了许多年。如果它们被水稀释，它们根本没有危险。在河水中废料通常仅占一百万分之一点五，仅此而已。而海豹不在河里。他们远在海里。我在信中写了这些，在下周的听证会上我会说同样的话。”
在他讲话时克里斯汀认真地望着他。她看到他的脸是那样疲倦和悲伤。他大部分时间一直看着他的手，而没有看着她。
“爸爸，我想相信你。但我不能，”她轻声地说。
他抬起头。“那就别相信，”他气愤地说，“如果你愿意，你就相信西蒙好了！他毕竟是一个记者——我只是一个生物学家和你的父亲。你为什么要相信我呢？”他气愤地站起来，朝房门走去，打开门说：“对不起，克里斯汀，我这一天太艰难了，我累了。我不想坐在这儿听我女儿说我撒谎。回家找西蒙去吧，我要睡了。”
她慢慢站起来。“这很重要，爸爸，”她缓慢地说，“这对每个人都重要。”
“我知道它重要，克里斯汀。但是油漆厂也重要。它给了你很多，也给了我和这个城镇的居民很多。难道你就不能试着记住这点，而暂时忘却海豹吗？”
“有比钱更重要的东西，爸爸。”
“有吗？你把这话告诉所有在公司工作、住在镇上的人。当工厂由于西蒙那些愚蠢的文章而关闭时，他们将靠什么生存？他们能给孩子们幼豹的照片充饥吗？”
克里斯汀望着他许久以后才走出门。“那么在河边玩的孩子们怎么办，爸爸？他们如果喝了河水怎么办？那时该怎么办？”
“没人会喝那个地方的河水，”他说，“并且我已告诉过你，那对孩子们没有危险。”
克里斯汀轻轻地将门在身后关上。
■ 10 Greenworld
Two days 1ater Christine and Simon arrived at John's house．It was very early—five o'clock in the morning —and they didn't knock at the door，or try to wake anyone up．In fact John wasn't there；Christine knew he had gone to Scotland to see Mary．He was coming back on the morning of the Enquiry．
Christine and Simon walked quietly down to the boathouse by the river．Without talking，they put the boat in the water，and sailed away across the river．
On the other side of the river they met two friends，Peter and Susan．Their friends were wearing white clothes，with Greenworld written on them．Simon and Christine also put on white clothes．Then they all got into the boat and sailed up-stream，towards the paint factory．
It was a windy morning，and the waves on the river were quite big．But Christine was a good sailor，and in about half an hour，they reached the factory．Two photographers stood by the river，taking photos of them．
'OK，Simon，where is it？'shouted Christine．
'Over there，look—in front of that post！'he said．Chris-tine sailed the boat towards the post．When they were near it，they could see under the water．It was the pipe that took the waste products out of the factory．
'OK，here！'shouted Simon．Christine turned the boat to-wards the wind，and Susan caught hold of the post．Then Si- mon and Peter climbed out of the boat into the water．
The water was moving fast here，and they had to hold onto the pipe and the boat．Peter then took several strong paper bags out of the boat．The bags were small but very heavy，be-cause they were filled with building cement．Peter passed the bags one at a time to Simon，and Simon went down under the water and pushed each bag into the pipe．A few minutes later the mouth of the pipe was full of bags of cement．
Simon came up out of the water for the last time．'It's OK！'he shouted．'We've done it！The cement is wet already，and in a few hours it'll be as hard as a rock．Nothing can come out of that pipe now！'the two men climbed back in-to the boat and smiled at the photographers．Then Simon stood up in the boat with Christine，and held up a long white sheet．On the sheet was written：
GREENWORLD
This pipe kills seals！
At that moment two things happened．A man ran out of the factory，shouting angrily．And the wind suddenly became stronger．It caught the sail and sent it quickly from one side of the boat to the other．The back of the sail hit Christine hard on the back of the head．She fell into the water，like a bag of potatoes．Then the wind caught the sail again and threw it back across the boat
'Nobody drinks water from that part of the river，'he said．'And I've told you—it isn't dangerous to children．'
Christine closed the door quietly behind her．
■ 9 我不相信你
“这不是真的，克里斯汀，西蒙的消息是错误的。”
“我不相信你，爸爸。”
约翰和克里斯汀互相怒视着。这对他们俩都是一个痛苦恐怖的时刻。这事发生在婚礼后3个月的一个夜晚，克里斯汀带回一些令人高兴的消息，她回来告诉她父亲她将要有小宝宝——他的第一个外孙或外孙女！他们就此谈论了一会儿，但是过后克里斯汀开始谈论西蒙的新工作。西蒙发现一些有关油漆厂废料的消息。他的消息对公司有威胁。西蒙在报纸上写了一篇文章，说来自油漆厂的废料可能正在杀死幼豹。大卫·威尔逊马上写信给报纸，说西蒙的文章完全是不真实的。
所以，克里斯汀和父亲并没有高兴地谈论孩子，而是争论了整个晚上。约翰早就知道他们会有这场争论。下星期镇上将举行一个公众听证会，那时政府官员将努力发现事实真相。科学家和律师们将为双方的争议辩护。镇上所有的人都在谈论这次听证会——也谈论西蒙的报刊文章。
“为什么大卫·威尔逊给报纸写信，爸爸？”克里斯汀问道。“他不是一个科学家，他只是一个商人。为什么你不给报纸写信？”
“我已经给报纸写过，”约翰痛心地说，“你明天也许会读到我的信。”
“哦。你是怎么说的？”克里斯汀问。
约翰感到痛苦。他原不想写这封信。他和大卫·威尔逊为此大吵了一场。但最后他还是同意了。他以前曾同意隐瞒许多坏事，所以再多一次也无妨。
“我说我们的废料没有对河水造成危害。我们已经谨慎地测试了许多年。如果它们被水稀释，它们根本没有危险。在河水中废料通常仅占一百万分之一点五，仅此而已。而海豹不在河里。他们远在海里。我在信中写了这些，在下周的听证会上我会说同样的话。”
在他讲话时克里斯汀认真地望着他。她看到他的脸是那样疲倦和悲伤。他大部分时间一直看着他的手，而没有看着她。
“爸爸，我想相信你。但我不能，”她轻声地说。
他抬起头。“那就别相信，”他气愤地说，“如果你愿意，你就相信西蒙好了！他毕竟是一个记者——我只是一个生物学家和你的父亲。你为什么要相信我呢？”他气愤地站起来，朝房门走去，打开门说：“对不起，克里斯汀，我这一天太艰难了，我累了。我不想坐在这儿听我女儿说我撒谎。回家找西蒙去吧，我要睡了。”
她慢慢站起来。“这很重要，爸爸，”她缓慢地说，“这对每个人都重要。”
“我知道它重要，克里斯汀。但是油漆厂也重要。它给了你很多，也给了我和这个城镇的居民很多。难道你就不能试着记住这点，而暂时忘却海豹吗？”
“有比钱更重要的东西，爸爸。”
“有吗？你把这话告诉所有在公司工作、住在镇上的人。当工厂由于西蒙那些愚蠢的文章而关闭时，他们将靠什么生存？他们能给孩子们幼豹的照片充饥吗？”
克里斯汀望着他许久以后才走出门。“那么在河边玩的孩子们怎么办，爸爸？他们如果喝了河水怎么办？那时该怎么办？”
“没人会喝那个地方的河水，”他说，“并且我已告诉过你，那对孩子们没有危险。”
克里斯汀轻轻地将门在身后关上。
■ 10 Greenworld
Two days 1ater Christine and Simon arrived at John's house．It was very early—five o'clock in the morning —and they didn't knock at the door，or try to wake anyone up．In fact John wasn't there；Christine knew he had gone to Scotland to see Mary．He was coming back on the morning of the Enquiry．
Christine and Simon walked quietly down to the boathouse by the river．Without talking，they put the boat in the water，and sailed away across the river．
On the other side of the river they met two friends，Peter and Susan．Their friends were wearing white clothes，with Greenworld written on them．Simon and Christine also put on white clothes．Then they all got into the boat and sailed up-stream，towards the paint factory．
It was a windy morning，and the waves on the river were quite big．But Christine was a good sailor，and in about half an hour，they reached the factory．Two photographers stood by the river，taking photos of them．
'OK，Simon，where is it？'shouted Christine．
'Over there，look—in front of that post！'he said．Chris-tine sailed the boat towards the post．When they were near it，they could see under the water．It was the pipe that took the waste products out of the factory．
'OK，here！'shouted Simon．Christine turned the boat to-wards the wind，and Susan caught hold of the post．Then Si- mon and Peter climbed out of the boat into the water．
The water was moving fast here，and they had to hold onto the pipe and the boat．Peter then took several strong paper bags out of the boat．The bags were small but very heavy，be-cause they were filled with building cement．Peter passed the bags one at a time to Simon，and Simon went down under the water and pushed each bag into the pipe．A few minutes later the mouth of the pipe was full of bags of cement．
Simon came up out of the water for the last time．'It's OK！'he shouted．'We've done it！The cement is wet already，and in a few hours it'll be as hard as a rock．Nothing can come out of that pipe now！'the two men climbed back in-to the boat and smiled at the photographers．Then Simon stood up in the boat with Christine，and held up a long white sheet．On the sheet was written：
GREENWORLD
This pipe kills seals！
At that moment two things happened．A man ran out of the factory，shouting angrily．And the wind suddenly became stronger．It caught the sail and sent it quickly from one side of the boat to the other．The back of the sail hit Christine hard on the back of the head．She fell into the water，like a bag of potatoes．Then the wind caught the sail again and threw it back across the boat