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We are less credulous than we used to be.
我们不再像以往那样轻易相信别人了
In the 19th century, a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion
在19世纪 小说家常在小说结尾处
by presenting his readers with a series of coincidences --
给读者准备一系列的巧合
most of them wildly improbable.
大部分是牵强附会 极不可能的
Readers happily accepted the fact
当时的读者却愉快地接受这样一些事实
that an obscure maidservant was really the hero's mother.
一个低贱的女佣实际上是主人公的母亲
A long-lost brother, who was presumed dead,
主人公一位长期失散的兄弟 大家都以为死了
was really alive all the time
实际上一直活着
and wickedly plotting to bring about the hero's downfall. And so on.
并且正在策划暗算主人公 如此等等
Modern readers would find such naive solutions totally unacceptable.
现代读者会觉得这种天真的结局完全无法接受
Yet, in real life, circumstances do sometimes conspire to bring about coincidences
不过 在现实生活中 有时确实会出现一些巧合
which anyone but a 19th century novelist would find incredible.
这些巧合除了19世纪小说家外谁也不会相信
When I was a boy,
当我是个孩子的时候
my grandfather told me how a German taxi driver, Franz Bussman,
我祖父给我讲了一位德国出租汽车司机弗朗兹·巴斯曼
found a brother who was thought to have been killed 20 years before.
如何找到了据信已在20年前死去的兄弟的事
While on a walking tour with his wife, he stopped to talk to a workman.
一次 他与妻子徒步旅行 途中 停下来与一个工人交谈
After they had gone on,
接着他们继续往前走去
Mrs. Bussman commented on the workman's close resemblance to her husband
巴斯曼夫人说那工人与她丈夫相貌很像
and even suggested that he might be his brother.
甚至猜测他可能就是她丈夫的兄弟
Franz poured scorn on the idea,
弗朗兹对此不屑一顾
pointing out that his brother had been killed in action during the war.
指出他兄弟已经在战争中阵亡了
Though Mrs. Bussman was fully acquainted with this story,
尽管巴斯曼夫人熟知这个情况
she thought that there was a chance in a million that she might be right.
但她仍然认为自己的想法仍有百万分之一的可能性
A few days later,
几天后
she sent a boy to the workman to ask him if his name was Hans Bussman.
她派了一个男孩去问那人是否叫汉斯·巴斯曼
Needless to say, the man's name was Hans Bussman
不出巴斯曼夫人所料 那人的名字真是汉斯·巴斯曼
and he really was Franz's long-lost brother.
他确实是弗朗兹失散多年的兄弟
When the brothers were reunited,
兄弟俩团聚之时
Hans explained how it was that he was still alive.
汉斯说明了他活下来的经过
After having been wounded towards the end of the war,
战争即将结束时 他负伤被送进医院
he had been sent to hospital and was separated from his unit.
并与部队失去联系
The hospital had been bombed
医院遭到轰炸
and Hans had made his way back into Western Germany on foot.
汉斯步行回到了西德
Meanwhile, his unit was lost and all records of him had been destroyed.
与此同时 他所在部队被击溃 他的所有档案材料全部毁于战火
Hans returned to his family home, but the house had been bombed
汉斯重返故里 但他的家已被炸毁
and no one in the neighbourhood knew what had become of the inhabitants.
左邻右舍谁也不知原住户的下落
Assuming that his family had been killed during an air raid,
汉斯以为全家人都在空袭中遇难
Hans settled down in a village 50 miles away
于是便在距此50英里外的一座村子里定居下来
where he had remained ever since.
直至当日
