Plague - Feb 04

But you can get through the days there without trouble, once you have formed habits. And since habits are precisely what our town encourages, all is ________(也许不是件坏事/终究有好处).

Nevertheless, there still exist towns and countries where people have now and then an inkling of something different. In general, it doesn’t change their lives. Still, they have had an intimation, and that’s ________(带来很大的好处).

The passions of the young are violent and short-lived; ________(老年人的恶习不外乎...) an addiction to bowling, to banquets and “socials,” or clubs where large sums ________(在一张牌的起落之间已然易主).

Certainly nothing is commoner nowadays than to see people working from morn till night and then proceeding to ________(在牌桌上挥霍), in cafés and in ________(闲扯) what time is left for living.

The men and women consume one another rapidly in what is called “the act of love,” or else ________(安于平淡的婚姻生活). We seldom find ________(两个极端中的中间点). That, too, is not exceptional.

Being ill is never agreeable, but there are towns that ________(继续忠于某人/支持某人), so to speak, when you are sick; in which you can, ________(not very much, 不很好、马马虎虎、勉强凑合), ________(to behave in a very free and open way 这里是放松些的意思).

In our little town (is this, one wonders, an effect of the climate?) all three are done ________(similarly), with the same feverish yet casual air. The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits.