Plague - Feb 25

He had gone on performing his obscure, ill-paid duties until a somewhat ________(年事已高).

He could certainly have ________(提出正式的主张), if not his rights—of which he wasn’t sure—at least the promises given him.

Thus he confirmed the wisdom of an opinion often voiced by our mayor, a business magnate of the town, when he insisted vehemently that ________(最终/归根结底/总之) (he emphasized this choice expression, which indeed ________(常常用在他的辩论里)) there was no reason to believe that anyone had ever died of hunger in the town.

To be precise, he couldn’t picture ________(这样的癖好) existing in a plague-stricken community, and he concluded that ________(...的机会很渺茫) the plague’s ________(取得[艰难的]进展) among our fellow citizens.

That evening, as he watched Grand’s ________([目送他]离去), it ________(医生突然意识到) what it was that Grand was trying to convey; he was evidently writing a book or something of the sort.

According to him, he felt a particular aversion from talking about his “rights”—the word was one that ________(让人停止)—and likewise from mentioning a “promise”—which would have implied that he was ________(要自己应得的[权益]) and thus ________(显示出) an audacity incompatible with ________(他所从事的卑微的职位).

What little he told of his personal life ________(保证/担保/证明) acts of kindness and a capacity for affection that no one in our times dares ________(承认).

He realized how absurd it was, but he simply couldn’t believe that a pestilence ________(大规模的) could befall a town where people like Grand were to be found, ________(有着无伤大雅癖好、籍籍无名的公职人员).

Also—this, anyhow, was what he told Dr. Rieux—he had come, after long experience, to realize that he could always count on ________(量入为出地生活); all he had to do was to ________(按收入比如减少他的需求).

Yet to express such emotions, simple as they were, the least word cost him a terrible effort. And this difficulty in ________(找不到/说不出[合适的]字眼) had come to be ________(他一生的祸根).