An influenza patient (from infest to inherit)
After little more than an informal examination, the doctor concluded that Mr.Malcolm Smith’s organism was infested with a particularly virulent strain of the influenza virus. “The virus has infiltrated every part of your system, I’m afraid, and its pernicious influx has inflicted a great deal of damage,” he said. “Your present state of inertia is inherent in this type of condition, and you’re in a very serious state.”
“Please don’t let me die now, doctor,”Malcolm Smith whispered, barely audibly. “I am an influential person and still have a great deal of important work to do. I shall see to it that you will inherit a substantial sum under my will, if you save me.”
“I shall do everything in my power, I promise!”replied the good doctor. “I don’t wish to unduly inflate your hopes, but I have developed a quite ingenious concoction with a goodly number of secret ingredients, which may well infuse some vitality into your system. Alas, in these times of runaway inflation, being a beneficiary under your will is one thing, but what my bank account would really need is an infusion of cash now. If I am correctly informed, you used to inhabit that grand estate by the lake before you became ill, and recently sold your shareholding in International Consolidated Inc. and are not exactly short of ready cash. So how about your writing me a cheque for 20,000 dollars to begin with?”
“You are infringing on my rights as a patient,” Malcolm Smith objected feebly.
“Ah, we must not be so inflexible, must we now?” responded the doctor. “You see, as long as you are an inhabitant of this hospital, I am in charge of your destiny, do you understand?”
一个流感病人
做完非正式的检查后，医生得出结论，马尔科姆.史密斯的机体大量滋生了一种非常致命的流感病毒。“恐怕病毒已经渗入你的身体的每部分，它有害的汇集已经造成很大的破坏，”他说。“你现在的懒惰状态是这种情况所固有的，你的情况很严重。”
“医生，请不要让我现在就死，” 马尔科姆.史密斯低声说，几乎听不到他的声音。“我是个有影响的人，还有很多重要的工作要做。如果你救了我，我保证根据我的遗嘱你将继承很大一笔钱。”
“我保证，我将尽力而为！”这位良医回答道。“我不想让你的希望不适当地膨胀，但我已研制了一种精巧的合剂，它由很多秘密的成分组成，将给你的身体注入一些活力。唉，像现在这种通货膨胀失去控制的时候，成为你的遗嘱的受益人是一回事，但我的银行账目最需要的是现在注入现金。如果我了解的情况没有错，你生病前住在湖边豪华的庄园里，最近你出售了国际统一有限公司的股权，现在也并不怎么缺现钱。给我一张20，000美元的支票作为开始，怎么样？”
“你侵犯了我作为病人的权利，”马尔科姆.史密斯无力地抗议道。
“啊，我们现在不能那么顽固，对吗？”医生回答。“你看，只要你这个医院的住院户我就支配着你的命运，懂吗？”
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