当我出发时，并没有预感到即将发生的事情。突如其来的袭击让我措手不及。

When I set out I had no thought or premonition of what was to occur. The attack came suddenly. 

在过去的几个星期里，我几乎日以继夜地忙于一个著名的铁路法律案件，几天前我才成功赢得了这场官司。实际上，我多年来一直在为法律事业而奋斗。有几次，我的朋友兼医生沃尔尼博士曾警告我：

For many weeks I had been toiling, almost night and day, at a famous railroad Jaw case that I won triumphantly but a few days previously. In fact, I had been digging away at the law almost without cessation for many years. Once or twice good Doctor Volney, my friend and physician, had warned me.

“贝尔福德，如果你不放慢脚步，你很可能会突然崩溃。你的神经或大脑迟早会承受不住。告诉我，有哪一周你没看到报纸上关于失语症的报道？某个迷失的人，过去和名字都被抹去，这都是由于过度工作或焦虑导致的小脑栓子造成的。”

'If you don't slacken up, Bellford,' he said, 'you'll go suddenly to pieces. Either your nerves or your brain will give way. Tell me, does a week pass in which you do not read in the papers of a case of aphasia- of some man lost, wandering nameless, with his past and his identity blotted out-and all from that little brain-clot made by overwork or worry?'

我无奈地回应：“我一直认为，那些情况下的脑栓子其实是在新闻记者的脑中发现的。”

'I always thought,' said I, 'that the clot in those instances was really to be found on the brains of the newspaper reporters.'

沃尔尼博士摇头道：“这种病确实存在。你需要换个环境或者休息一下。你每天只在法院、办公室和家之间往返，却用法律书籍作为娱乐，早晚会出问题。”

Dr. Volney shook his head, "The disease exists,' he said. 'You need a change or a rest. Court-room, office and home -there is the only route you travel. For recreation you-read law books. Better take warning in time.'

我辩解说：“周四晚上，我和妻子一起玩牌；而星期天，她会给我读她母亲的周信。法律书籍是否真算不上娱乐，这一点尚待考量。”

'On Thursday nights,' I said defensively, 'my wife and I play cribbage. On Sundays she reads to me the weekly letter from her mother. That law books are not a recreation remains yet to be established.'

那天早晨，我走路时思索着沃尔尼博士的话。此刻的我感觉和往常一样，但精神状态似乎更加饱满。

That morning as I walked I was thinking of Doctor Volney’s words. I was feeling as well as I usually did -possibly in better spirits than usual.

由于在不太舒适的长途车座上睡了很久，我醒来时感到肌肉僵硬。我把头靠在座椅上努力思考，过了一段时间，我自言自语：“我一定有个名字。”我开始翻找口袋，但什么也没找到：没有名片，没有信件，也没有纸张或标识。然而，在我的外套口袋里，我竟然发现了将近3000美元的大钞。“我肯定是某个人，”我对自己说，重新开始思索自己的身份。

I awoke with stiff and cramped muscles from having slept long on the incommodious seat of a day coach. I leaned my head against the seat and tried to think. After a long time I said to myself: 'I must have a name of some sort.' I searched my pockets. Not a card; not a letter; not a paper or monogram could I find. But I found in my coat pocket nearly $3,000 in bills of large denomination. 'I must be someone, of course,' I repeated to myself, and began again to consider.

车厢内挤满了人，大家似乎有共同的兴趣，因此他们自由交谈，气氛轻松愉快。其中一位身材敦实、戴着眼镜的绅士，散发着明显的肉桂与阿洛艾香气，他友好地点头后坐下，占用了我的半边座位，并展开了一份报纸。在他阅读间歇的时间里，我们像旅途中相识的朋友一样聊起了时事。我发现自己能够自如地与人交谈，至少我的记忆支持了我。渐渐地，我的同伴说道：

The car was well crowded with men, among whom I told myself, there must have been some common interest, for they intermingled freely, and seemed in the best good-humour and spirits. One of them- a stout, spectacled gentleman enveloped in a decided odour of cinnamon and aloes - took the vacant half of my seat with a friendly nod, and unfolded a newspaper. In the intervals between his periods of reading, we conversed, as travellers will, on current affairs. I found myself able to sustain the conversation on such subjects with credit, at least to my memory. By and by my companion said:

“你当然是我们的一员。这次西部派来的可真是一群优秀的人。我很高兴他们在纽约召开大会；我以前从未去过东部。我叫R.P. Bolder，来自密苏里州的希克利格罗夫，经营Bolder & Son。”

'You are one of us, of course. Fine lot of men the West sends in this time. I'm glad they held the convention in New York; I’ve never been East before. My name's R. P. Bolder - Bolder & Son, of Hickory Grove, Missouri.'

虽然没有准备好，但面对这种突发情况，我迎难而上，这是人们常有的反应。此时，我需要同时承担起命名的责任，扮演婴儿、牧师和父母。朋友身上弥漫着药物的气味给了我灵感，而他手中的报纸上赫然出现了一则引人注目的广告，这令我倍感鼓舞。

Though unprepared, I rose to the emergency, as men will when put to it. Now must I hold a christening, and be at once babe, parson and parent. My senses came to the rescue of my slower brain. The insistent odour of drugs from my companion supplied one idea; a glance at hi newspaper, where my eye met a conspicuous advertisement, assisted me further.

“我叫爱德华·平克汉默，”我顺口说，“我是药剂师，家在堪萨斯州的科诺波利斯。”

'My name,' said I glibly, 'is Edward Pink hammer. I am a drug-gist, and my home is in Cornopolis, Kansas.'

“我就知道你是药剂师，”我的同行友好地回应，“我看到你右手食指上的伤痕，那是药杵磨出的痕迹。你也是我们全国大会的代表吧？”

‘I knew you were a druggist,' said my fellow-traveller affably. I saw the callous spot on your right forefinger where the handle of the pestle rubs. Of course, you are a delegate to our National Convention.'

“这些人都是药剂师吗？”我好奇地问。

'Are all these men druggists?' I asked wonderingly.

“没错。这辆车是从西部开过来的。他们都是传统的药剂师，不像那些只用老虎机而不需要处方的现代药商。我们自己提炼镇痛药，滚制药丸，春天还会卖些花种，甚至经营一些糖果和鞋子。我告诉你，汉平克，我有个想法想在大会上提出——新点子正是他们所需要的。你知道那两瓶药水：硫酸铊和罗谢盐——一种是毒药，另一种却无害。它们的标签很容易混淆。药剂师通常把它们分开放置，这是错误的。我认为应该将它们并排放置，这样当你需要其中一瓶时，就可以直接对比，从而避免混淆。你懂我的意思吗？”

'They are. This car came through from the West. And they’re your old-time druggists, too- none of your patent tablet-and-granule pharma shootists that use slot machines instead of a prescription desk. We percolate our own paregoric and roll our own pills, and we ain't above handling a few garden seeds in the spring, and carrying a sideline of confectionery and shoes. I tell you, Ham pinker, I’ve got an idea to spring on this convention - new ideas is what they want. Now, you know the shelf bottles of tartar emetic and Rochelle salt Ant. et Pot. Tart. and Sod. et Pot. Tart. - one's poison, you know, and the other's harmless. It's easy to mistake one label for the other. Where do druggists mostly keep 'em? Why, as far apart as possible, on different shelves. That's wrong. I say keep 'em side by side so when you want one you can always compare it with the other and avoid mistakes. Do you catch the idea?'

“不错的主意，”我赞同道。

‘It seems to me a very good one,' I said.

“很好！当我在大会上提出这个想法时，你一定要支持我。这样，我们就能让那些自以为是市场唯一药片的东部橙磷酸盐和按摩膏的教授们相形见绌。”

'All right! When I spring it on the convention you back it up. We’ll make some of these Eastern orange-phosphate-and-massage-cream professors that think they're the only lozenges in the market look like hypodermic tablets.'

“如果我可以帮上什么忙，”我逐渐热情起来，“那两瓶——”

'If I can be of any aid,' I said, warming, 'the two bottles of -er’

“抗锑钾和碳酸钾的钠盐。”

'Tartrate of antimony and potash, and tartrate of soda and potash.'

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