-眉山-

<Straight Face >Preface------We are not safe(2)

This year,we chose to go again to the same place in the Vingin Island.It is a sort of paradise on earth and I needed a complete break after seven months playing King Lear for the Loyal Shakespeare Company.The holiday was idllic and there was no recurrence of the breathing problem.On our return I got ready to work on a film starring Johnny Depp called From Hell.It was to be shot in Prague.The story concerned Jack the Ripper,who,in the version,led a double life as Queen Victoria’s personal physician Sir William Gull.The part was a blend of the benign with Grand Guignol and I was greatly looking forward to it.It was the first big budget film I’d been involved with for some time.The twin directors,the Hughes brothers,were extremely likeable,had been over to the house,and even up to Straford to see King Lear,stayng until the small hours to have a drink with all the actors at the Dirty Duck.I’d been for costume fitting and had grown some appropriate sideburns.
今年，我们又去了维尔京群岛上相同的地方，那里简直就是天堂。在为皇家莎士比亚剧团演出了7个月的《李尔王》后，我需要彻底地放松。在这个悠闲的假日里，我的呼吸问题并未出现。返程时，我决定在由Johnny Depp主演的《开膛手杰克》里出演一个角色。电影是在布拉格进行拍摄的，整个故事围绕着Jack &Ripper展开，在这个版本里，他作为维多利亚女王的私人医生——William Gull爵士，却一直过着双重人格的生活。整部电影是《大木偶剧院》的改良版，对此我充满期待。这也是我一段时间以来参与的第一部高成本电影。Hughes兄弟，这对孪生导演，非常讨人喜欢。他们不仅亲自拜访了我的家，还去斯特拉特福德看了《李尔王》，直到在Dirty Duck和所有演员小酌之后才匆匆离开。我的角色已经定妆完毕，为此我还适当留了一些鬓角。
A week before my departure,the asthmatic symptoms returned.I had to stop in the middle of a tennis as I had no breath.I went to my doctor who prescribed a similar treatment to the previous year and sent me for an X-ray.
在我开工之前的一个礼拜，我的哮喘复发了，因为无法呼吸，我在网球比赛中中途退场。我的医生用了和之前类似的治疗方法，并让我做了X 光检查。
I didn’t seem to improve a great deal during the following days,which is a bit worrying,but nevertheless,the evening before my flight,I began to pack.At just after six’o clock,I telephoned the surgery to see if the result of my X-ray had came through.Yes,they had,and they were normal.Would I like to speak to my doctor?They rang her extension but she couldn’t be traced.’Doctor Watson’s here.Would you like to speak to her?’Doctor Watson’s consulting room looks like a nursery.It is cammed with toys and books to amuse some of her younger patients while she is trying to examine them.She allowed me to speak no more than a coupled of sentences on the phong before interrupting.”Why are you sounding so short of breath?Get into the car at once and come down to the surgery.’
接下来几天，我的哮喘未见好转，这有些让人担心，但是无论如何，我还是在登机前夜整理行李。六点，我打电话给外科医生询问我的X射线检查结果是否出来了。答案是肯定的，一切正常。我犹豫着是否要给医生通电话。他们拨通了她的分机，却无人接听。“Watson医生在这，你想和她说通话吗？” Watson医生的诊所就像一个托儿所，里面总是堆满了用于安慰小朋友的玩具和书，好让医生替他们检查。我还没说几句就被她打断了：“你怎么听上去这么气短？马上乘车到诊所来。”
I did as I was told.’There is no way you are going to Prague in the morning,’she announced after she’d examined me .I’m concerned that you might have a blood clot on you lungs.Flying could kill you.Another doctor might allow you to go,but,if he did,he’d be a fool.’My whole world had begun to turn topsy-turvy.I telephoned Tervor there and then,trying to keep the alarm out of my voice,and ask him to contact the Production Office in Prague and explain the situation.He then collected me and drobe me to the hospital.The doctor wouldn’t allow me to drive.
我照办了。“早上你绝对不能去布拉格，”她检查完后说，“我现在怀疑你肺上有血块。坐飞机会要了你的命！别的医生也许会放你走，但他这么做了的话，他就是一个庸医。” 我的世界从这一刻开始变得一团糟。我马上给Trevor打电话，尽量不让自己的声音显得紧张，让他和制片工作室联系并说明情况。随后他来接我并送我去医院------医生不准我开车。
That evening ,I was given all the tests including an ECG and a scan.As the scalpel-sharp Dr Watson had suspected,there was a thrombosis on the arteries leading to each lung.They’d found them in time, and things didn’t looked all that serious.At least they were treatable.’Was it the long-haul flights?’I asked the consultant .’Could easily have been,Sitting in one position for long periods without moving restricts the flow of blood.It’s a common cause of thrombosis.’I weighed up the future.The Huges brothers,Trevor told me,had reacted magnificently and had hastily rescheduled the shoot so that I could have six weeks to recover.That was a relief.Full of warmth and concern,they phoned the hospital from Prague and reassured me about my continuing in the film at a later date.
那天晚上，我做了全面检查，从心电图到扫描检查。如心思敏锐的Watson医生所猜测的那样，血栓形成堵塞了通向肺部的动脉，他们不久就找到了它们，事情看来并不那么糟糕，至少还有救。“这会费很长时间吗？”我问我的咨询师。“很有可能。久坐、缺乏运动阻碍了血液的流动，这是引起血栓形成的重要原因。”我不得不好好考虑下今后的事情。Trevor告诉我，Hughes兄弟已经采取了妥善的措施，他们重新安排了进程，好让我能留出六周时间来治疗康复，这一切让我很欣慰。之后，他们极为关心地从布拉格打电话到医院来慰问我，我的戏分将被保留并留待日后进行拍摄。
The next day, the consultant came to see me.He told me that he’d beem looking closer at the scan,trying to determine the cause of a thrombosis.There was an irregularity in my pancreas.It appeared to be a growth.He wanted me to see a speacialist.Like all good medical peolpe,he gave me the message loud and clear,straight between the eyes—then left me on my own for the implicationa to sink in and the imagination to get to work.
第二天我的咨询师来看望我，他告诉我为了确定血栓形成的真正原因，他又仔细看过扫描检查的结果，发现我的胰脏里有一个不规则物体，并且有不断扩大的趋势，他建议我赶紧去找一位专家。和所有优秀的医务人员一样，他直视着我的眼睛，将信息利落地传递给了我。但是留给我的却是那些意喻不明的暗示，我不由地开始胡思乱想。
They found there was indeed a tumour and the urbane surgeon announced that he would have to remove it.It must have been there before I began to work on King Lear,growing a bit,hanging around,biding its time.Before any of us could say knife,I was being wheeled down to to operating theatre,the anaesthetist was sinking a needle into a vein and,some six and a half hours later,the operation was over,I became dimly aware,as I lay propped against a hillside of pillows,that a large piece of blue sticking plaster which I hadn’t been there before now crossed my midriff,that there were banks of flowers all round the room,looking uncomfortably like a Mafia funeral,and that I was ravenous hungry.Both the surgeon and the pathologist believed that the ‘lethargic’ tumour had been removed without leaving a trace.To be sure,I would have to have some radiotherapy,’Just to knock on the head anything that might be lurking.’said the surgeon with a reassuring grin.I pulled out of the film there and then.The future was too uncertain.
肿瘤得到了证实，城里医院表示可以完全移除。在我开始演出《李尔王》以前，肿瘤就存在了，它长大了一点，等我发现。还没等我们缓过神来，我就被推进手术室。麻醉师进行了静脉注射。大约六个半小时后，手术结束了。我靠在一堆枕头上，略微清醒，一大块蓝色的膏药粘在腹部。房间里摆满了鲜花，简直像是黑手党葬礼现场。我当时出奇地饿，外科医生和病理学家都坚信这个“昏睡”的肿瘤被一点不剩地摘除了。当然，我还需要做一些化疗，“以防任何东西潜伏”，外科医生一边说一边保证似地咧嘴笑了。很快我决定退出了电影的拍摄。毕竟未来是如此难以预料。
It is three weeks to the day since I had the operation.There is a majority twelve-inch scar just below my waist which lookslike Jack the Ripper had embarked on personal vengeance at my absence.I’m feeling sore,housebound,impatient to be better but,above all,grateful that,unbeknownst to me,a guardian angel was hovering that evening in late June,guiding Dr Watson to make her incredibly perceptive diagnosis.She passes it modestly as a ‘wild guess’.But it saved my life.Of that I am certain.
手术后三个星期，我的腰下多了一条12英寸的巨型疤痕，好像Jack & Ripper对我缺席电影的报复。疼痛使我不能离开屋子半步，我不禁迫不及待地希望好转。但幸运的是，守护天使在冥冥之中确实降临在了那个六月末的夜晚，引导Watson医生凭直觉做出了那个不可思议的诊断。她谦逊地说那只是胡乱猜测，却真真实实地救了我的命。这一点，我确信不疑。
So that’s what I mean when I talk about not taking anything for granted,espeacially as far as health is concerned.We never know what’s around the corner.I’ve started to come to terms with it all now,even though the physical and emotional shock has been considerable.I swim every morning,though not with quite the vigour to which I’m accustomed;I’ll work up to that.I walk twice a day-and sleep.Do I sleep!A lot of the rest of the time,in between the injections,blood tests and the intakes of pills ,I thank of my lucky stars.And I thank Dr Watson.My friends has been concerned and astonishedby degrees.The house is bulging with flowers and get-well-soon cards.The rest is up to me.
这就是我说万事皆非理所当然的用意，尤其是“健康”。因为我们永远不能预知未来。我已经接受现实，然而身心损伤巨大。虽然没有以前那么精力充沛，但我依然每天早上游泳，我要努力让自己好起来。我每天散两次步——还有睡觉。在注射、验血和吃药之间有大片的休息。我感谢上天眷顾，感谢Watson医生。我的朋友们也逐渐接受了这个多少令人震惊的消息。房子总是堆满了鲜花和祝福康复的卡片。剩下的就得看我自己了。
I pick up a novel and put it down again.I listen to some music.I wander around the garden,conscious that pulling up weeds isn’t the most sensible thing I can do.Seamus,our wonderful,exuburant dog,leaps around me totally oblivious of my predicament.We cuddle up together when we have our afternoon nap.Food is a bit of problem.An awful lot of wind,but gradually it’s getting better.At least my appetite is back.If anyone else tells me it’s two steps forward and one step back I’ll blip them.Someone said to me the other day,’Now you’ve got all this leisure time,yu should really take advantage of it,deadhead the roses,enjoy the summer,doze off in the sun(what sun?)-write a book...’
我拿起小说又放下；我听了一些音乐；我在花园徘徊----明白除草不是明智的选择。Seamus，我们奇妙的，精力旺盛的小狗，在我身旁蹦跳撒欢，似乎完全忘了我的窘境；我们依偎在一起睡午觉；进食有些麻烦；风很大，但渐渐收敛；我的食欲恢复了；如果说这是好事多磨，我也愿意停留片刻。某日有人对我说：“你现在有了这些空闲，可得好好利用啊。修剪玫瑰，享受夏日，沐浴着阳光小憩（阳光？），还有----写一本书……”
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