82
Pb
Lead
铅
207.2
A Polite Society
文明社会
I walked into Winkler’s office with a smile and a nod. Then I shot him in the knee. He shrieked and fell over sideways, clutching his leg. From the floor he glared up at me. “What did you do that for?”
我带着微笑走进温克勒的办公室，向他点点头问好，然后给了他膝盖一枪。他尖叫着去抓他的腿，一侧身摔倒在了地上。他躺在地板上瞪着我：“你这是干什么？”
“To convince you I mean business.” I patted him down, took his gun. “Are you Professor Harvey Winkler?”
“为了让你相信的是认真的。”我搜了他的身，把他枪拿走了，“您是哈维·温克勒教授吗？”
“Yes.”
“我是。”
“Author of A Polite Society: the Case for the Mandatory Arming of the American Citizenry?”
“《文明社会：美国公民需要要强制武装的理由》的作者？”
“How did you get in here?”
“你是怎么进来的？”
“I’m not a criminal. I’m a good Republican, a lifetime member of the NRA, a Boy Scout leader, and an elder in Fort Myers Baptist Church. And, of course, as required by Federal law, I’m packing heat. So who was going to stop me? You haven’t answered my question.”
“我可不是罪犯。我是一名优秀的共和党人，是国家情报局的终身职员，还是一名童子军领袖，同时是迈尔斯堡浸信会教堂的长老。而且，当然了，按照联邦法律的要求，我还随身带着枪。所以谁能来阻止我呢？您还没有回答我的问题。”
“Something had to be done. The crime rate was—”
“必须得有人做点什么。犯罪率可是——”
He shut up when I put the gun to his head. “Yes or no.”
当我把枪对准他的头时，他闭嘴了。“是，或不是。”
“Yes.”
“……是。”
I paused. “I’m afraid I have to ask you for identification.”
我犹豫了一下：“恐怕我得要求你证明一下你的身份。”
With some difficulty, Winkler produced his driver’s license. The picture checked out. I returned it to him. “Thanks. Now I’m going to kill you.”
温克勒动作有些困难，不过还是给我看了他的驾驶执照。照片没错。我还给了他。“谢谢。现在我要杀了你。”
“No! Wait! You can’t kill me without even explaining why!”
“不！等等！你甚至不解释一句就杀了我？！”
“Hmm. That would be rude, wouldn’t it? Very well, Professor Winkler. It’s because your book is responsible for a constitutional amendment which sent the murder rate in this country sky-high.”
“嗯。那是不太礼貌的，可能？那好吧，温克勒教授。我杀你是因为你的书是修改了宪法，而这次修改使这个国家的谋杀率变得很高。”
“It’s not murder to shoot a criminal in self-defense.”
“在自卫时开枪打死罪犯那才不是谋杀。”
“Let’s not get bogged down in abstractions, professor. Let’s focus on United flight 1658 last month. That’s the one some poor loony tried to hijack with a paper dagger with the word ‘knife’ printed across it in block letters. You may have seen the black-box film footage of the incident on TV.”
“教授，咱们别因为争论陷入困境。我们来谈谈上个月联合航班1658航班吧。一个可怜的疯子试图用纸匕首劫持飞机，那上面还用粗体字印着‘刀子’两个字呢。您可能也已经看到电视上播的了吧，黑匣子录下了当时发生的情况。”
“That was unfortunate, but—”
“那是很不幸，可是——”
“Half the armed citizenry on the plane pulled out guns and started blazing away. The cabin decompressed and the plane disintegrated in mid-air. So much for your notion that an armed society is a polite society.”
“飞机上有一半自我武装的公民拔枪射击。飞机舱减压，飞机在空中瓦解了。您那套“武装社会就是文明社会”的话还是到此为止吧。”
“All right, I’ve heard you out. Now do me the courtesy of listening to my side of the argument.”
“好吧，我明白你的观点了。现在请礼貌听听我的观点……”
“I’ve read your book. There was a woman aboard that plane. Loving wife. Mother of three. Her death outweighs anything you could possibly say.”
“我读过你的书。那架飞机上有一个女人。那是个深爱着她的丈夫的妻子，也是三个孩子的母亲。她的死比你能说的任何话都重。”
Professor Winkler’s face was contorted with pain. But he wasn’t about to give up. He was a game old bird, I had to give him that. “Our society is more polite!” he insisted. “And against that overall gain, even the tragic death of your wife …”
温克勒教授的脸疼得扭曲起来。但是他还没想放弃。他是一只老鸟，我必须得夸他这么一句。“我们的社会更加文明了！”他坚持说，“并且从整体利益上来说，甚至你妻子的悲惨死亡……”
“Oh, she wasn’t my wife,” I said. Professor Winkler stared at me uncomprehendingly. “I’m just doing this as a favor for a friend.”
“哦，她不是我的妻子，”我说。温克勒教授莫名其妙地盯着我。“我做这个只是为了帮一个朋友的忙而已。”
Then I shot him and, with a polite tip of the hat, left his office.
然后我向他扣动了扳机，文明地戴上帽子，离开了他的办公室。